a nothing and ye your selves rage against me with such violence as a cruel hard-hearted tyrant is enraged with against a poor helplesse innocent and forsaken friendlesse Orphan or at best ye deal with me as cunning sophisters and subtill disputants seeking to catch me in your intricate discourses and doubtfull debates you make a pit for your friend This for the general sense of those two verses containing an expostulation about his friends unfriendly dealing with him Now to the particulars Doe ye imagine to reprove words The word we translate imagine notes a very curious exquisite and elaborate invention of any thing The Vulgar referrs imagining 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the words with which they did reprove not to the act of reproving Ye make a neat frame of wards to reprove me and Ad increpandum tantum verba concinnatis Vulg. so the sense rises thus you artificially imagine mint and coyne elequent speeches and subtill argumentes to reprove and convince me with As if you came hither to shew your selves Logicians and Oratours rather than loving friends This is your dealing You imagine Num verba nuda putatis arguere q d. putatesne verba satis esse ad arguendum disceptandum sine ratione Planior fuerit sensus si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ante 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subaudias an cogitatis arguere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meris verbis Merc. words to reprove with Others thus Do you thinke that words reprove That great words shall overcome me without weight of reason This sence referres also to the speech of Iobs friends as if he had said Do you stand devising words against me or wording it with me Do you thinke that your sine phrases and elaborate polisht language will carry the matter with me will words repoove me And so we may connect it with the sentence immediately fore-going How forcible are right words But what doth your arguing reprove Your arguings that are slight arguings Your words are meere words a sound and a noise * Verba nuda sola Vt mulier mulier bona Lana lana alba si quae alia Gramaticis observata Drus words set alone are often taken for words only for naked words words without any due clothing of comelinesse and moderation and without any ballast or weight of reason and discretion And doe you my friends imagine to gain me by such a parcel of words as these But according to the sense toucht before Iob rather referrs to the opinion which his friends had of his words Do ye imagine to reprove words That is doe you thinke that you have nothing to answer or reprove but a company of empty sillables have I not spoke reason or sence all this while Doe you thinke you dispute with some idle-headed fellow who cares not what he saith or saith he knows not what Do you think that your words are strong and full of reason that yours are irrefragable arguments and mine but idle talk or a frothie discourse That 's a second interpretation and that which I conceive more clear to this place It followeth And the speeches of one that is desperate which are as winds We must understand or repeat the first branch And do ye imagine to reprove the speeches of one that is desperate which are as wind The speeches of one that is desperate The word signifies a person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diffidit desperavit spem omnem rei alicujus efficiendae aut consequâ—nde abjecit seu amisit that is quite without hope who thinkes his estate past remedy or redresse his wound incurable his losses irreparable and his breaches such as can never be made up or healed So Jer. 2. 25. where the Prophet counsels the Church to return and repent but Thou saist there is no hope or as we read it in the margin thy case is desperate what doe you talke of repentance and of returning now all 's lost all is gone I am undon my estate can never be recovered Doe ye imagine to reprove the speeches of one that is desperate Some referre this also to the friends of Iob thus Doe yee thinke that bare words are answer enough for me and that the speeches of a desperate mad man which are nothing but wind and sound are sufficient to refute me And therefore you rise up against me in this storm and fury speaking any thing without study or premeditation But we may rather understand it of Job himself and that as before he gave their sence of his words that they were but wind So here he gives us their apprehension of his person that sure he was mad or desperate Doe ye imagine that I am desperate or distracted because I have little or no hope to be restored Because I have lost my estate my strength my children doe ye also think I have lost my wits my reason and understanding I confesse I am even worne to pieces and brought to nothing I am spent and consumed with sorrows that 's my condition but am I therefore desperate and regard not what I speak It is an easie and a compendious way of refuting all a man can say to say he is mad His words must needs be but wind without weight who is himself without reason Doe ye think to reprove the words of one that is desperate that are as wind Or as Haud sane ita convenit ut pro futilibus verba mea habeatis eo quod afflictonibus attritus sum tabefactus Merc. Mr Broughton reads Doe ye hold the termes of the forlorne a wind That is doe ye thinke because I am in such a sad condition and in appearance in a desperate condition that therefore my words are light and vain such as are no more to be regarded or heeded than a puffe of wind And so it is as if he had said ye ought not to slight what I speak because I am in such a low forlorne condition That of Solomon comes to this sence Eccl. 9. 16. The poor mans wisdome is despised and his words are not heard It is common in Scripture to put light vain and unprofitable words under this expression they are but wind In the 15th of this book verse 3. Should he reason with unprofitable talk or with speeches wherewith he can doe no good Should a wise man utter vain knowledge and fill his belly with the East-wind That is should a man talk nothing but that which is vain and unprofitable And so Jer. 5. 13. The Prophet shall become wind That is their prophecies shall become wind whatsoever they speak said that unbelieving people shall be put as a vain thing it shall be as nothing it shall pass away and the place of it shall be known no more Thus they undervalued the Prophets in those times when they spake the truth of God and brought them immediate messages from heaven Hence observe First That words without reason meer
a gift as whosoever hath it is sure and safe for ever And therefore the gift being much more precious than that of Simon Magus Take heed of offering this kind of mony for it your works and doings To doe so is the worst Simonie in the world Better offer literall money for those gifts of the holy Ghost then this figurative money for the favour of God in the pardon of sin What Peter threatned Simon Magus may be affirmed of them Their money must perish with them That is their prayers and teares their sorrows and their humblings their almes and good deeds forasmuch as they have thought that this gift of pardon may be obtained by such money They have neither part nor lot in that mercy for their hearts are not right in the sight of God A good worke trusted to is as mortall as a sin unrepented of Againe There is somewhat to be done when we have sinn'd but nothing to be paid That 's Gospel-language when a man hath sinned to say What shall I doe Those converts in the Acts who enquired What shall we doe were told by the Apostles of some what to be done Repent and be baptized believe and thou shalt be saved These are waies wherein salvation is tender'd not works for which it is bestowed It is a dangerous error so to lift up the grace of God as to deny the industry of man through grace because he can do nothing by way of satisfaction that therefore he must doe nothing The Apostles gave Gospel-counsell yet when men asked them what shall we doe to be saved They said not ye must doe nothing God will save you by his free-grace no they called them to repent and beleeve c. Take heed when ye have sinned to say we need not mourne for sin we need not be humbled we need not repent for Lord what can we do unto thee O thou Saviour of men These are the inferences of our own spirits not of the Spirit of Christ They who lift up the grace of Christ to lessen the necessity of gracious actings in themselves shew they know not the meaning of his grace and have not indeed tasted how gracious the Lord is To deny our owne righteousnesse and to be very active in the waies of righteousnesse is the due Gospel-temper The Apostle Phil. 3. 8. counts all things but losse and dung all duties and humblings all legall righteousnesse and obedience not that he refused righteousnesse or neglected duties but he would not mingle them with Christ or bring them in as contributions to the purchase of blessednesse Our righteousnesse and holy duties are dung and drosse in justification but they are gold and precious things in sanctification without these we cannot walk worthy of our holy calling or as it becomes the Gospel of Christ So much for these words what shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men Here is the Compellation or the title under which Job bespeaks the Lord and it is a royall one The preserver of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Narsar conservavit observa vit custodivit dise dit de qualibet custodia dicitur significat etiam se ris vectebasque elaudere licet proprie custos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur sed confundi scias Drus The words signifies both to preserve and to observe and hence it is applied to our keeping the law of God Psal 119. 22. I have kept thy testimonies I have kept them by observation that is I have obeyed thy Commandements The word is often applied to God in reference to mans protection and preservation Deut. 32. 10. Moses describes the care of God over his people Israel He found them in the wildernesse as a people wandring and going astray and he kept them as the apple of his eye that is he looked to them and had a continuall tender care over them So Psal 17. 8. Keep me as the apple of thine eye The Septuagint render it O thou observer of men What shall I doe unto thee O thou who art the observer and looker into the very hearts of men Lord saith he what wilt thou have me to doe Thou lookest quite through me and seest all that is in me I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui prespectam habis mentem hominum Sept. need not declare my selfe unto thee thou knowest me altogether Thou who art the searcher of the heart and the trier of the reins Thou who art a most vigilant watcher over all my waies what have I done or spoken but thou knowest and canst easily observe Thus Job speaks at the 14th of this booke vers 16. Thou numberest my steps a man observes another curiously when he tels how many steps he treads it is an expression noting the exactest observation Salomon joynes the act of keeping with observing Prov. 24. 12. If thou saiest behold he knoweth it not this is the refutation of an Atheist doth not he that pondereth the hears consider it and he that keepeth thy soule doth not he know He that preserves us in our wayes must needs see us in all our waies Again Preserving or keeping may be understood two waies First There is a preserving or keeping of man that he shal not escape And Secondly A preserving or keeping of man that he shall not Custos hominu sc qui homine talibus malis quasi quadam custodia includis it non sit effugium take hurt Some understand it in the first sence O thou preserver of men that is O thou who art so strict a keeper and watcher over men that they cannot escape thine hand A man is said to be in safe custodie when he is a prisoner and so the sence is thus given Lord thou hast me fast enough I cannot breake away from thee I am lockt up within iron-gates and barrs what wouldest thou have me doe unto thee Thou maiest put what conditions thou pleasest upon me I must submit Such language we have Lam. 3. 5 7. which may illustrate this He hath builded against me and compassed me with gall and travell he hath hedged me about that I cannot get out he hath made my chaine heavie You see he speakes of God as we may speake with reverence as of the master of a prison who saith to his under-officers there is such a one looke to him well make his chaine heavie that he may not get a way put him in a place where there is a strong wall least he breake prison This sence of the word makes Job speaking like Jeremy He hath builded against me he hath compassed me about he hath made my chaine heavie upon me But the second sence according to the letter of our Translation is most cleare and apt O thou preserver of men Thou who keepest man least he take hurt or fall into danger As if Job had bespoke God thus Thou art the Saviour and protectour of men thou hast not only given man a being but thou providest for his
this truth Heare it and know thou it for thy good So much concerning the Division or Parts of this first Speech or dispute made by Eliphaz in answer to the former complaint powred out by Job against the day of his birth and the night of his conception in the third Chapter The six Verses lately read containe as I said before the first Argument we have the Preface in the second Verse and the Argument it selfe in the four following The point which Eliphaz desires to prove and clear is this that Job was guiltie of hypocrisie of close hypocrisie at the least if not of grosse hypocrisie The Medium or reason by which he would prove it is the unsuitablenesse of his present practise to his former Doctrine His actions under sufferings contradict what himselfe had taught other sufferers And this speaks him guilty The Argument may be thus formed That mans religion is but vaine and his profession hypocriticall who having comforted others in and taught them patience under affliction is himselfe being afflicted comfortlesse and impatient But Job thus it is with thee thou hast been a man very forward to comfort others and teach them patience yet now thou art comfortlesse and impatient Therefore thy religion is vaine and thy profession is hypocriticall Is not this thy feare Here is a goodly religion indeed a proper peece of profession and such is thine this is all thou art able to make out Thus you have the Logicall strength or the Argument contained in the words We shall now examine them in the Grammaticall sense of every part as they lye here in order And first for the Preface If we assay to commune with thee wilt thou be grieved but who can withhold himselfe from speaking The words import as if Eliphaz had said thus unto Job we thy friends have all this while stood silent we have given thee full liberty and scope to speak out all that was in thine heart let it not grieve thee if we now take liberty to speak our selves and indeed a necessity lies upon us to speak Two things Eliphaz puts into this Preface whereby he labours to prepare the minde of Job readily to hear and receive what he had to say unto him First he tels him that he speaks out of good will and as a friend to him If we assay to commune with thee wilt thou be grieved Pray doe not take it ill we meane you no harme we would but give you faithfull counsell we speak from our hearts not from our spleen we speak from love to thee let it not be thy griefe Secondly he shewes that he was necessitated to speak as love provokes so necessity constrains who can withhold himselfe from speaking either of these considerations is enough to unlock both eare and heart to take in wholesome counsell What eare what heart will not the golden key of love or the iron key of necessity open to instruction when a friend speaks and he speaks as bound when kindnesse and dutie mix in conference how powerfull If we assay or try The word signifies properly to tempt either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tentavâ—t in bonum vel in malum periculum fecit expertus est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A lyâ—um quasi Graculum vel loquutoâ—ium dictum quod Deus inde responsa daret for good or evill and because in temptation an assay or experiment is made of a man how bad or how good he is Therefore the word is applyed to any assaying or experimenting of things or persons This very word is winning and gaining upon Job We will but try a little if we can doe thee any good or bring lenitives to thy sorrowes we will not be burthensome or tedious we will but assay to commune with thee The word notes serious speaking The place where God communed with his people in giving answers from Heaven is express'd by this word 1 Kings 6. 19. The Oracle he prepared in the house within c. or the communing-place where God spake Wilt thou be grieved The word signifies to be extreamly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fessus corpore vel animo insanivit furiit wearled even unto rage or fainting Here Elipphaz seemes to hint at Jobs former distemper'd speeches If we speak wilt thou promise us not to fall into such a fit of passion as even now thou wast in And yet whatsoever comes of it or howsoever thou takest it I must discharge my duty and my conscience therefore he addes who can withhold himselfe from speaking That is no man can withhold himselfe from speaking in such a case as this to heare thee speak thus would even make a dumb man speak Christ saith in the Gospel If these should hold their peace the stones would cry there is such a sense in these words if we thy friends should hold our peace when thou speakest thus the very stones would cry out against thee for speaking and against us for holding our peace The Hebrew word translated withhold signifies to shut up a thing so as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clausit coâ—â—cuit 1 Kings 8 35. that it cannot come out It is applyed to the locking up of the Clouds that they raine not to the holding in of fire that it cannot break forth Jer 20. 9. where the Prophet very elegantly fits it to the restraining of speech which is the very point in hand His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones I was weary with forbearing So it implyes that the friends of Job had as it were a fire in their bosomes which they could no longer restraine they were as Clouds full of water full of deaw and raine they were not able to suspend themselves from dissolving and showring upon Job both reproofe and counsell advises and exhortations We may observe from this Preamble That it is wisdome to sweeten reproofe with friendly insinuations Reproofe is a bitter Pill it is a wholesome yet a bitter Pill and there is need to wrap it up in Gold and Sugar that pleasing both eye and palat it may be taken downe the better It is the Apostles counsell to his Galatians Gal. 6. 1. Brethren if a man be overtaken with a fault yee that are spirituall restore such an one in the spirit of meeknesse The word restore is an allusion to the Art of Chirurgerie in setting a bone out of joynt soft words and a soft hand fit the Patients minde to endure that painfull operation By fals into sinne the soule breaks or disjoynts a bone he that will set such a minde must handle it gently We may observe the holy skill of some of the Saints in prayer preparing God for receiving of Petitions by prefaces and humble insinuations as it were getting within him Thus did Abraham Gen. 18. when he prayed for Sodome Let not my Lord be angry if I who am but dust and ashes speake unto thee There is such a spirituall art in winding a reproofe into
part of his character or commendation Thou art reported to be a man fearing God is not this thy feare Feare is taken either for the whole compasse of Gods worship or for that awfulnesse of affection with which we worship God which we ought to mingle and mix in all our actions and duties Therefore saith the Apostle Heb. 12. Let us have grace to serve him with reverence and godly feare And Psalme the second Serve the Lord with feare God is to be served in love and yet God loves no service which hath not this ingredient Holy feare Feare is the most proper affection which we creatures dust and ashes who are at such an infinite distance from God can put forth in his worship God condescends so farre as to be loved by us yea he calleth for our love as a friend or as a father as a familiar as one in neer relation but considered in his Majesty glory and greatnesse feare is the most suitable affection in our approaches unto God The name of God in some languages is derived from feare and God is expresly called Fear by Jacob Gen. 31. in that dispute with Laban where he telleth him Except the fear of his father Isaac had been with him c. Verse 42 And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac Verse 53. that is by that God whom his father Isaac feared Jacob was a man so holy that he would take nothing into his mouth to swear by but onely the holy Name of God Religious swearing is one of the highest acts of worshipping as vaine swearing is one of the highest acts of prophaning the name of God Thy confidence The word which we translate confidence signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inconstantia levitas per Antiphrasin constantia considenâ—ia also and that most properly folly inconstancy levity when the Prophet Jeremy reproveth the idolatry of those times speaks to worshippers of Idols he expresses it by this word They are altogether bruitish and foolish Jer. 10. 8. And holy David Psalme 49. 13. speaking of wicked men who make riches their portion and who lay out all their endeavours in the raising of an outward estate gives this account of their practise in the 13 Verse This their way is their folly this is the course that worldly men take and they think it is a very wise course but indeed their way is their folly Some translators reade that text this their way is their confidence as here in Job and so they make the sense out thus this way of worldly men in gathering riches in heaping up abundance of these outward things is their confidence that is they have nothing else to trust unto they have nothing beyond the world to trust unto this their way is their confidence So againe Prov. 15. 26. A foolish man or a man of folly despiseth his mother And once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more Psal 85. 8. where the Psalmist goeth up like Habakkuk to his Watch-tower to hearken for an answer of his prayer I will hearken what the Lord will say for he will speake peace unto his people but let them not returne againe to folly So some reade it in this Text of Job is not this thy fear thy folly that is was it not meere folly for thee to bragge and boast of thy feare sc That thou didst feare God c. But the word is often taken in a contrary sense as we translate for constancy or confidence and sometimes for hope and thus Job 31. 24. If I have said to gold thou art my hope or my confidence and Chap. 8. 14. speaking of the Hypocrite whose hope shall be cut off the same word is used and Prov. 3. 26. The Lord shall be thy confidence and he shall keep thy foot from being taken and not to heape many places Psal 78. 7. That they may set their hope in God In this sense it is generally understood here Is not this thy fear and thy confidence sc all the trust thou hast placed in thy God Feare and confidence are acts of naturall worship Confidence or Trust is the resting of the soule upon another here the resting of the soule upon the Word or promises of God upon the power faithfulnesse and truth of God an act thus put forth by the soule is confidence Now saith Eliphaz is not this thy confidence thou hast spoken much of resting and trusting upon God and his Word upon his power and faithfulnesse is not this that which thou hast all this while talked of See what a goodly confidence it is Doth it look like a proper piece of grace Confidence is an act beyond faith a soule confiding walkes in a higher Region of grace and comfort than a soule only believing there may be believing where there is not this confiding As patience is hope lengthned so confidence is hope strengthned Assurance is the highest degree of faith and confidence is the highest degree of assurance It carries with it first cheerfulnesse opposite to sorrow secondly courage opposite to fear and despondency of spirit thirdly boldnesse adventurousnesse opposite to cowardice Confidence having a good cause and a good call will take a Beare by the tooth or a Lion by the beard Fourthly it notes boasting or a kinde of spirituall wise bragging opposite to sinfull modesty or concealement of what God hath done for us Or take it thus Confidence is the noblest exercise of faith which looking steadily upon God in himselfe and in Christ through the promises raises the soule above all fears and discouragements above all doubts and disquietments either about the removing of evill or the obtaining of good Hence confidence is well called the rest of the soule therefore such as attaine to confidence are said to be in peace in perfect peace Isay 26. 3. Him wilt thou establish in perfect peace whose heart doth trust upon thee And this act of confidence or trust is proper and peculiar to God no creature must share in it This is worship commanded in the first precept Thou shalt have no other Gods before mee Whatsoever we confide in unlesse it be in subordination unto God we make it our God And it is one of the highest acts of the soule not onely as we respect the taking in our own comforts but also the giving out glory unto God This confidence is well coupled with holy feare the more we feare God so the more we trust him such feare is the mother and nurse of confidence But confidence is directly contrary yea contradictory to carnall feare he that trusts God indeed leaves both soule and body temporall and eternall estate with him without ever sending a fearefull thought or a jealous looke after either It followes And the uprightnesse of thy wayes It is the word used in the description of Job Cap. 1. 1. There it is in the concrete perfect here in the abstract uprightnesse We may reade it Is not this the perfection of thy wayes
love unto the world keeps awake but how few are there whom love to Christ keeps awake It was an harsh and in one sense an ignorant speech of a wise man amongst the Heathens who said There is no man who may not more holily be in any company than with himselfe alone And Nemo est cui non sanctius sit â—â—m quolibet esse quam secum Sen. yet there is a truth in it For if a man be by himself alone and deale only with his own heart probably he might be as profitably with any company as with himself One mans heart in it self is as bad as anothers and usually it is worst when it is by it selfe Some like Nebuchadnezzar being secluded from men converse only with beasts those most beastly beasts lusts in their own bosomes Dan. 4. 3. But to be alone from men to converse with God to be alone from men to converse with Christ is infinitely better then all the society of men The reason why many receive but little of Christ little of Heaven is because they are so much in the croud of the Pietas periclitatur in negoâ—iis world so long upon the Rack of earthly care they seldome let their hearts settle The Ballances must stand at an even poize before you can weigh aright If you desire to know which beares most weight in your hearts Earth or Heaven Christ or the Creature let your hearts stand still That in Psalm 4. 4. reaches this sense fully Commune with your owne hearts upon your beds and be still Our hearts will not be spoken with unlesse we be quiet And as the Picture-drawer cannot take the features of the face to the life so neither can we of our hearts or lives unlesse we have the patience to sit for it JOB Chap. 4. Vers 14 15 16. Feare came upon me and trembling which made all my bones to shake Then a Spirit passed before my face the haire of my flesh stood up It stood still but I could not discern the form thereof an Image was before mine eyes there was silence and I heard a voyce saying WE have already given the Logicall dependance of this whole Context from the 12 Verse unto the end of the Chapter and therein shewed how Eliphaz confirmes the principall Proposition lying in the 17 Verse by Divine Authority a Vision received from Heaven A thing saith he was secretly brought to me and mine eare received a little thereof in thoughts from visions of the night when deep sleep falleth on men Thus the manner of the vision is described in generall The effects of the vision upon Eliphaz and the particular manner how the vision appeared are now further described and set forth This 14 Verse contains one eminent effect of the vision with the consequents of it assoon saith he as I was in that heavenly rapture and extasie Fear came upon me and trembling which made all my bones to shake It was very usuall for Prophets and Holy men to be surprized with fear at the appearance of Jehovah in his messages by Angels or other visions It is naturall unto man to fear at the sight of an Angel and it is a received opinion among the Jews that whether God or an Angel did appear it was present death which they collect from divers Scriptures Ex. 33. 20. when Moses desired to see the face of God the Lord answered there is no man can see my face and live Those words of Gideon import as much Judg 6. 22. When Gideon perceived that he was an Angel of the Lord he said Alas O Lord God for because I have seen an Angell of the Lord face to face as if he had said alas woe is me I shall certainly dye And Judg. 13. 21. Manoah concludes it We shall surely dye because we have seene God when an Angel appeared to them Hence also Jacob Gen. 32. 30. after his wrastling with the Angel which was Christ called the name of the place Penuel which is The face of God for saith he I have seen God face to face and my life is preserv'd as noting that it was a wonderfull priviledge not to dye at such a sight the very appearance of God is death to the Creature And that which Hagar spake Gen. 16 13. may well be interpreted to this sense when flying from her Mistris God came to her in the Wildernesse she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her Thou God seest me the reason is added by way of admiration for she said Have I also here looked after him that seeth me Which words may well be translated Do I live after him sc God that seeth me for here one act of life is put for the whole looking or seeing for living Have I seen or Ex Habraeâ— ita reddi potest Etiamnè jam â—â—deo sâ—u lucem hanâ— espicio vivo post videntem me Parens have I beheld the light after God hath seen me that is Am I alive after God hath seen me How wonderfull The effect of this vision upon Eliphaz was not death but fear yet no ordinary fear but fear which looked almost as pale as death it was fear joyned with trembling and no ordinary trembling but such a fit of trembling as shook his very bones We have often spoken of fear both in this and in the former Chapters but such a fear as met Eliphaz we have not met with before That before was the grace of fear spirituall fear but this is the passion of fear naturall fear And it is naturall to man as some of Est homini naturale conspecto angelo etiam bono timere Bold ex Beda Origen Chrysostome the Ancients have observed to fear thus at the appearance of God by Angels Fear is caused by the apprehension of some evil imminent or at hand that 's the definition of naturall fear Now when God manifests himself though the greatest good be at hand yet the soul hath some misgivings and apprehensions of evil hence comes fear the foundation of this fear is laid in guilt sin is in the soul and guilt may be upon the soul thence naturall fear works when God who is all holy manifests himself And in special there is much unbelief remaining in the heart this fear is strengthned by unbelief Wherefore do ye fear saith Christ O ye of little faith Where there is little faith there is much fear and as unbelief prevails so fear prevails too Thirdly this fear arises from the suddennesse and unexpectednesse of the thing God as you may observe in all those Revelations of himself comes suddenly that which comes before we see it causeth fear when we see it sudden motions without us work strange commotions within And fourthly the over-powring Majesty and super-excelling excellency of God in any such revelation causeth astonishments of spirit a little appearance of God makes the creature disappear One drop of the Divine Ocean swallowes up all man and one
speaking to me Thus it suits well with what he said at the 12 Verse Now a thing was secretly brought unto me And we may further clear it by that 1 Kings 19. 12. where the expression is of the same importance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vox sabtilis silentii dulce susurrum vox sine sono here we have silence and a voice there after the noise of a great winde and of an Earthquake it is said that Elijah heard as some render it the voice of a subtile fine slender attenuated silence or as we translate a still small voice a sweet ravishing whisper a voice without a sound Hence we have a kinde of musick which in our common language we call still musick A twofold reason may be given why the Lord spake as it were in silence First that the secret manner of speaking might be an Argument that the matter spoken was a secret a mystery not common or ordinary Secondly to dispose the hearer to receive it with more care reverence and attention A man must set himselfe to heare with diligence while another speaks with silence A loud voice findes us out comes to us but we must come to a low voice and finde that out When the Speaker takes least pains with his tongue the hearer must take most pains with his eare And this manner of speaking was used by the ancient Heathen in their mysterious Oracles and Revelations As when God revealed a secret he spake secretly and as it were whispered those truths in the eare whispering is speaking within one degree of silence so the Devill who imitates God in what he can that he may draw credit unto his own deceivings is described in his instruments to speak thus Isa 8. 19. When they shall say unto you seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto Wizards that peep and that mutter they speak as it were silently they onely whisper their diabolicall incantations and lying impostures And Isa 29. Thou shalt be brought down and shalt speak out of the ground and thy speech shall be low out of the dust and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar Spirit out of the ground and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust The Prophet in this alludes to the manner of Witches and Inchanters who had familiar Spirits which he here applyes in a threat unto the people the time shall come that you shall be brought down by your enemies that you shall speak out of the ground you shall lye at their feet like poore captives that cry submissively and pitifully for quarter O mercy mercy spare my life that 's the thing aimed at by the Prophet that God would abase them so before their enemies that they should whisper out of the ground to their enemies for pity as a Witch whispers from the ground to her miserable Clients who come for counsel Tertullian in his Apologetick describes the heathen Magitians thus they speak belohing and gasping humming and hawing rather then speaking The old Poet cals this Poppisme by which sortes ducent frontemque ma numque Praebebit vati crebrum poppisma petenti Juvenal Auruspâ—â—es de circo ex orâ—s pressi sono quod poppisma dicitur fuâ—u a colligebant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word he shews how their Idol Prophets answered the deluded people their miserable Clients when they came for counsell To which the Hebrew word Tâ—sipht saph used by Isaiah in the eighth Chapter before cited is very like both in sound and sense There yet another interpretation of these words more proper and answerable to our translation There was silence and I heard a voice saying This referres the silence to Eliphaz as a preparation to his hearing the voice there was silence that is I stood still and spake never a word but waited to heare what should be spoken I was silent and all things about me wâ—re husht and silent too Then I heard a voice and so Junius gâ—osses Being saith he compos'd and strengthned a little after my former fear I attended Me â—ontinebaâ— tacitus expectans revelationem silently to the Spirit that I might hear what should be spoken unto me We reade Rev. 8. 1. that there was silence in Heaven for halfe an houre and Verse 5 we reade of voices and thunderings before those great voices there was great silence usually before great speaking there is great silence I was silent and all were husht then I heard a voice silence prepares for audience In Congregations before the Preacher begins all hold their peace In Courts of justice when the Judge is to speak the Crier cals for silence It was a usuall word amongst the rites of the Heathen Favour your tongues or spare your speech when the mysteries of their superstition were Favete linguis revealed we may take the present Text in this sense that Eliphaz set himselfe in a silent posture to attend the message which was to be revealed unto him There was silence and I heard a voice saying If we take the former interpretation then for as much as Eliphaz after those terrours and tremblings the shaking of his bones and standing up of his haire the confused form of a spirit and an amazing Image before his eyes for as much I say as after all these he hears a still silent voice We may observe That God after terrours usually sends in comfort and refreshings God having terrified Elijah by a mighty rushing winde in the vision before noted by an Earthquake which brake the Rocks and by a fire then comes as here in the Text a still small voice a voice of silence and God was in that voice It is put as a principall distinction amongst the Ancients to know whether a revelation were from a good Angel or from a bad Angel When a revelation was made by a good Angel though he fill'd the heart with fear at the beginning of his speech yet he gave comfort in the end and closed with in consolation We may observe in those revelations such heartning chearing language as this Be not afraid be of good chear so to Daniel so to John so to Zechariah so to Mary so to Gideon But when a revelation was made by an evill Angel or by a Witch as it filled the hearers with feare so it left them full of feare it wounded them with terrours and it applyed no cure no playster nothing medicinable to heale those terrours We finde indeed 1 Sam. 28 that when Saul consulted with the Witch of Endor as soon as the Spirit appeared it is said that the Witch her selfe was afraid and there is no mention made of Sauls being afraid at the first so that Saul fals a comforting the Witch and said to her be not afraid She was afraid not of the Spirit that appeared but of Saul because he had made a law against Witches and hence Saul comforts her in assurance of impunity notwithstanding that sinne both against the law of God and his
he judgeth no cleare light to be putting a negative particle in both branches of the Verse whereas in the Hebrew there is no expresse negation in the latter These I say are led by this reason or rule It is frequent in Scripture when there is a negative in the former clause of a Verse then to understand a negative also in the latter clause though none be exprest For instance Psal 9. 18. The needy shall not alway be forgotten the expectation of the poore shall not perish for ever so we read but in the Hebrew the latter clause is the expectation of the poore shall perish for ever there is no Negative in the Originall but our Transtators and not only they but all that I have seen upon the place render it so supplying the Negative particle of the former in the latter clause of that sentence And without that negative the sentence is not only imperfect but untrue Thus The needy shall not alwayes be forgotten the expectation of the poore shall perish for ever this were a contradiction but reading it the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever makes the whole a truth and congruous in it self Againe Pro. 17. 26. To punish the just is not good to strike Princes for equity so the letter of the Hebrew but we reade it thus To punish the just is not good nor to stricke Princes for equity I might give ynu other examples but a tast may suffice Thus in the Text before us when it is said in the first clause he put no trust in his servants we take up the negative and say in the second neither hath he put light into his Angels or he did not put light in his Angels or he put no perfect light in his Angels or he judged not cleare light to be in his Angels Secondly they who according to our Translation render it madnesse or solly vain boasting or vanity these take the Originall in that figurative sence before given When a man from a reflection upon his own worth boasts out his own praises which because it is a point of extreame vanity and folly therefore the word is elegantly applyed to signifie folly c. He charged his Angels with folly He put or laid folly upon or to his Angels He put for so the Hebrew word bears Not that the vanity which is in Angels is of Gods putting but the folly that is in them he puts to them or charâ—eth it upon them or layeth it to their charge As we say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such a one put it home upon him that is he charged him soundly or fully with such a crime or offence To charge is a judiciall or Law-term implying that the Lord sitting in judgement to examine the state of Angels charged them by way of accusation and upon triall found them in a sense guilty of that which though they had not formed into any one sin yet might be formed and shap'd into any sin Folly or vaine-glory Having given some account of those tearms Charging and Folly He charged his Angels with folly it growes to a great doubt what Angels we are here to understand what Angels did God thus charge with folly The quere or doubt lies whether we shall lay this charge at the doore of the good Angels or of the bad or of both Many of the Ancients restrain it to the evill Angels to the Apostate Angels God put no trust in them he saw folly in them taking it for confessed that the Angels which stood the good Angels are trusty servants discreet and wise farre from either unfaithfulnesse or folly such as God hath put trust in and they never deceiv'd his trust such whose obedience is made the pattern of ours by Christ himself in his patterne of prayer Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven And would the Lord regulare us by them who are themselves irregular or make them our copy in doing his will whose folly renders them unfit to be trusted with the doing of his will Therefore say these such a charge suits not the state and condition of the good Angels Others cast it upon the good Angels that God put no trust no not in them I conceive from either there may be a good sense though I incline to the latter For in the Apostate Angels take it in the broadest sense God saw no light no goodnesse no faithfulnesse at all they have plainly discovered themselves and shewed not only weaknesse and unfaithfulnesse but wickednesse and utmost folly But to confine it to the evill Angels or to understand it chiefly of them is too narrow for the Text especially seeing Angeli boni exse nihil habent nisi insantam negativè i. e. nullam exse sapâ—entiam nullam veritatem bonitatem nullam this is but a light a too easie charge for those Apostate Spirits to say onle thus that God found unfaithfulnesse in them and charged them with folly for in them rebellion was found and they stand charged to this day with High Treason against the Crowne and dignity of the King of Heaven and are therefore committed to prison and reserved in chaines of darknesse to the judgement of the great day As for the good Angels God may be said to charge them with folly without any wrong either to the holinesse of their nature or the stedfastnes of their obedience For upon examination or intuition rather he finds they have no wisdome or stability but by Divine bounty and establishment As the apostate Angels were positively full of folly and unfaithfulnes so the good Angels might be charged with folly negatively namely that they had no faithfullnesse but as assisted and propt up But we may take the Angels in a third or middle consideration neither for the fallen or apostate Angels nor for the good and confirmed Angels as distinct or since this distinction But by Angels we may understand the Angelicall nature the whole complex nature of Angels in their creation and constitution was such as God could not trust fully unto such as he saw folly in We may demonstrate this plainly because a great part of the Angels and it is questioned whether or no the geater part but it is clear that a great part of the Angels a whole Regiment at least proved disloyall and fell together therefore the Angelicall nature in that abstracted notion is subject to folly and unfaithfulnes as well as man although they are of a more excellent make and constitution then man God looking upon Angels in generall saw they were not to be trusted the event also shewing many of them who were as good by nature as they who stand falling from him discovering their folly and nakednesse to all the world But it may be questioned yet how there could be folly in the Angelicall nature for as much as God viewing and reviewing all the works which he had made saw every thing which he had made and behold it was very
hath every affliction all sorrowes in him and the justice of God may forme the most dreadfull shapt afflictions out of his sins And as the sparke lyes closely in the fire or the flint till you smite or blow them up so sin lyes secretly in our hearts till some temptation or occasion smites and brings it out Againe we may observe That Man can sin without a teacher You need not instruct him or teach him to doe evill He doth that by a naturall instinct since his nature was corrupted He sins as the sparks fly upwards or as a bird flyes in the ayre whom no man directs how to use her wings Nature is her rute There needs much teaching against sin and it is the businesse of all the Ordinances to bridle us from acting our corruptions But man walkes in the ways of wickedness without guide or precept It was the ancient error of the Pelagians that the sin of man came only by imitation they denied that man had a stock of corruption in his nature or that his nature was corrupted but seeing others sin he sinned an opinion which carries its condemnation in its own face as wel as in our hearts And though similitudes are no proofs yet the reason of a similitude is mans sinning is therefore compared to a sparks flying to shew how naturally he sins A spark flyes upward without any to lead it the way and a bird would flye though she should never see another bird flye And if a man could live so as never to see any one example of sin all his dayes yet that man out of his own heart might bring forth every sin every day Example quickens and encourages the principles of sin within us but we can sin without any extrinsick motion or provocation without pattern or president from without Lastly observe To sin is no burden or labour to a natural man For it is his nature It is no paines to the sparke to flye upwards what we doe naturally we doe easily Holy duties are no burdens to a godly man because through grace he doth them naturally he hath an inward principle which dictates the law of holines to him though he should want outward teaching He hath an unction from the holy Ghost and knoweth all things 1 Joh. 2. 20. Not that a godly man becomes like God Omniscient or knowing all for at most we know here but in part but he knows all things necessary and so farre as necessary his new birth teaches him He lives not meerely upon the outward teaching he hath both light liberty in himself and so hath a tendency to these things in his own spirit as there is a tendency in fire to ascend We should wonder and rejoyce to see how grace conquers the course of sinful nature The new man is born to mercy and holinesse to grace and glory as the sparks fly upward Hence it is said He that is born of God cannot commit sin for the seed of God remaineth in him As the sparke cannot flye downward because the heate of fire remaines in it The Apostle affirmes it of himselfe and his Fellow-labourers in the Gospell we can doe nothing against the truth but for the truth 2 Cor 13. 8. The possibilities and impossibilities of a regenerate man are directly opposite to those of a naturall man The one cannot sin the other cannot but sin the one can doe nothing against the truth the other can doe nothing for the truth gracious acts become as naturall as sinfull when nature is changed from sin to grace What a blessed change is this that man should doe good as readily as once he did evill that he who was borne free to iniquity should be re-borne free to righteousness as the sparke flye upward A godly man is a heavenly sparke He hath a fire in his nature which carries him upward for ever Thus having opened these two verses being the grounds of the following exhortation let us now examine the matter of the exhortation it selfe contained in the 8th verse Verse 8. I would seeke unto God and unto God would I commit my cause Our Translation omits one word in the beginning of this sentence which though it may be understood in our reading yet the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expression of it betters the sense Surely or truly I would seeke c. There are two opinions about the meaning of these words Some conceive that Eliphaz speaks in high contempt of Job and I may give you their sense by that proud schooling which the Pharisee gave the poor Publican Luke 18. As that Pharisee insulted over the publican thus I thank God I am not such a one as thou art c. but I fast and I pray c. So they represent Eliphaz here insulting over Job I thank God I am not such an impatient person as thou art no such rude curser of my day or complainer of my trouble I am not I thank God so distracted and so distempered as thou art and if I had been in thy case I should have shewed more wit and grace too then to do as thou hast done I should never have been so vaine and foolish so forgetfull of my own duty or the Lords Soveraignty as to cry out against and accuse his providence and dealings with me to lay about me like a mad man as thou hast done no I would have songht unto God and committed my cause unto him this should have been my course such and such the frame and temper of my spirit But I rather take these words in a good sense implying much sweetnesse and meeknesse of spirit in Eliphaz And so this verse is as an application of the Doctrine contained in the former two As if Eliphaz had said Seeing matters stand thus in themselves and these are undoubted truths that afflictions come from our selves and that our sinnes are our own and seeing thy case stands thus that now thou art under great afflictions and troubles I doe assure thee my loving friend Job were I in thy condition I will give thee faithfull counsell and tell thee my heart what I would doe I would no longer stay complaining against my day cursing creatures distempering my head and disquieting my heart with these passions but I would even goe and addresse my selfe unto God I would apply my selfe to Heaven I would seeke for remedy there earth affords it not I have ever found this the way to ease my heart when burdened to asswage my sorrowes when encreased to compose my spirit when distracted to strengthen my resolutions when unsetled I can give thee this rule with A Probatum est an assurance from mine own experience in the use of it and with clearnesse of conscience that it is my purpose in such cases to use it ever I would seeke unto God The word signifies a very diligent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat quaerere diligenter cuâ— curâ— sed interregatione veâ—biâ— ut plurimum search I would
defence is dismayed That word which is common to all places of safety being supposed by our translators as the proper name of some one place of more eminent safety Further although this word Exalted implies safety yet in the Originall we have two words They are exalted to safetie He that is exalted according to the sence of that word is safe But to shew the compleatnesse of their safety safety or salvation is expressed He is exalted to safety with salvation or he is safely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Endyadis exalted in safety It is a full and a perfect safety to which God exalts his mourners and oppressed servants They are as safe as salvation it selfe can make them That 's the force of the Hebraisme From the former clause of the verse we may observe First That advancement is the gift of God He setteth on high those that are low Psal 75. 6 7. Promotion commeth neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South neither this way nor that way nor any way of man but God putteth downe one and setteth up another When a man is advanced by the favour of a Prince it is God that setteth him up If a man be advanced by the vote of the people yet it is God that setteth him up Though a man be advanced by that which may seeme to have most contingency in it by a lot yet it is God that setteth him up Prov. 16. 33. The lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. The Lord gives speciall direction to mans peradventure and certainly determines what we call contingent Secondly observe They that are low and mourning are nearest to exaltation and safety To be very low it is to be as it were in a due posture and readinesse to be exalted very high He setteth the low on high Luk. 1. 51. He hath put downe the mighty from their seate and hath exalted the humble and meeke or hath exalted the lowly and the meeke We are not to understand it onely of those who are low that is lowly in minde that frame of heart which is wrought above in the highest heavens is in this sense lowest upon the earth but we may understand it likewise of those who are low in their estates many that are low in mind may be high in place a man may have aboundance of humility in the height of outward eminency Therefore I say we must take in both Before honour goes humility as a high mind before a fall Prov. 15. 33. And Psal 113. 6 7. He raiseth up the poore out of the dust and listeth the needy out of the dunghill that he may set him with Princes c. And as it is in reference to particular persons so to the Church and people of God in generall when they are low then look for their raising up The Scripture is frequent in this Deut. 32. 36. Psal 12. 6. Psal 102. 13. And in that notable place Isa 33. 9 10. The Ambassadours of peace weepe bitterly the earth mourneth and Lebanon languisheth and Carmel shakes off her fruit c. All places every creature is brought in mourning with that mourning people When it was thus with them Now will I arise saith the Lord now will I be exalted now will I lift up my selfe There are three Nowes for it to note That the speciall Now of their exaltation But the text saith God would then be exalted Was he brought low God is alwayes alike exalted in himselfe but he is not alwayes alike exalted in his people therefore when he saith now will I be exalted the meaning is I will exalt this people who are low that my name may be exalted and lifted up in the sight of all people Therefore our low estate should be so farre from sinking that it should lift up our faith in beleeving deliverance and exaltation A low estate is a great advantage for faith faith hath surest footing when we lye prostrate upon the ground There faith stands firmest because there faith meets with most promises Promises are the foundation of faith The people of God have never so much of the word about them as when they have least of the world about them The covenant sits closest to us when we are divested of the creature When the river is at the lowest ebbe we are sure the tide is comming in The night is darkest a little before day breakes When the dayes are shortest and the winter sharpest then the spring of mercy is at hand As the highest flourish of ungodly ones is the immediate forerunner of their downfall Psal 92. 7. When the wicked spring as the grasse what then would you know the meaning of it The next words are a comment upon the former It is that they shall be destroyed for ever So the lowest downfall of the godly is usually the immediate forerunner of their advancement When the godly wither as the grasse the interpretation of it is That they shall flourish for ever Observe in the third place from that word exalted to safety That God can set his people on high beyond the reach of all their enemies Beyond the reach of their heads or counsels and beyond the reach of their hands and swords Isa 33. 16. The munitions of rockes shall be their place of defence He setteth them on high that no ladders can be found long enough to scale these rocks nor any Artillery or engine strong enough to batter them downe And least any should say but we will hold the siege till we starve them out it followes in the text Bread shall be given him his waters shall be sure I remember a story in Alexanders warres that when he came to besiege the Sogdians a people who dwelt upon a rock or had the literall munition of rocks for their defence they jeered him and asked him whether his Souldiers had wings or no Unlesse your Souldiers can fly in the ayre we feare you not It is a most certaine truth when God exalts a people he can set them upon a rock so high that unlesse their adversaries have wings and those more then Eagles wings to soare higher then God himselfe they are beyond annoyance He carries his owne upon Eagles wings what wings then must they have who get above his people There are these two things about which the thoughts of men are most conversant The one is to be set on high the other is to be set in safety They both meet in the mercy here promised He setteth on high those that are low that 's their honour He exalts them to safety that 's their comfort The first thoughts of men are spent to get a great estate but their next thoughts are to keep and protect it Experience hath often shewed us the men of the world rolling riches and Titles together into a mountaine but it hath been a mountain of snow one hot day hath melted all down The mountain of outward blessings upon
light at high-noon So then this word includes all kinds and degrees of happines yet here it is properly to be understood of the happines of this life which only is consistent with correction There are no rods in Heaven and we shall be past children before we come thither Thirdly we may answer plainly that the word in the Hebrew Simplex genuina responsio est quod nomen ipsum quo He braei beaâ—itudinem notant est plurale tantum ut latinis opes dâ—vitiae Ames in Ps 3. is only Plurall or Duall being never read in the singular number As in the Latine we have many the like words It is further observable concerning this word that it is alwayes applied unto man whereas the word Barac blessed is applied both to God and man This happinesse is a speciall and peculiar happinesse of man The Lord being infinitely above both obeying and suffering Happy is the Man Enosh the Hebrew word for Man of whom happinesse under correction is predicated is very sutable to this businesse of correction Enosh signifies a sickly weake miserable man We might render the full sence of the word thus Happy is that miserable man whom God corrects That is look upon a man according to the ordinary account of the world and calculation of reason he is a miserable man a weake sickly man yet happy is this weake sickly miserable man in the account of God and by the calculation of faith Grace makes that good sence which is a contradiction both in nature and in reason A miserable man and a happy man one and the same In Psal 1. the word Ish is used Blessed is the man that is Blessed is that excellent man that holy man that strong man walking and delighting in the Law of the Lord. Yea blessed with the same blessednesse is that miserable man smarting under the rod of the Lord whom God correcteth And yet blessednesse is joyned with all the words by which man is expressed It is joyned with Adam Psal 32. 1. Blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven Adam is the generall word for Man and is therefore most fitly joyned with blessednesse in pardon of sinne because all men are sinners and no man can be blessed except he be pardoned Blessednesse is joyned also with Geber a strong powerfull and mighty man Psal 94. 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law Blessed is Geber the great man the honourable man the highest by birth or place whom thou chastnest The Chaldee Paraphrase restraines the word Man to an individuall Beatus AbrahaÌ„ virpius quem corripuit Deus Chald. Paâ—ap to Abraham as if Eliphaz had put the instance in Abraham and said Behold happy was that holy man Abraham whom God corrected therefore despise not thou the chastning of the Almighty I can give thee a famous example of a godly man corrected Abraham thy Ancestor met with afflictions as well as thou and yet he was a most happy man therefore despise not thou the chastning of the Lord. But the word is generall and so we are to understand it though this be a truth in any or every instance among the servants of God I must yet put in a caution for the right understanding of this proposition Blessed is the man whom God corrects The meaning is not as if happinesse were the portion of every miserable man or of every man that is afflicted doe not thinke so many are at once corrected and cursed troubled and miserable in trouble To many their present sorrows are but the fore-tasts of eternall sorrowes As Christ spake in a common case These things are but the beginning of sorrowes So we may say to the particular cases of many groaning under sicknesse poverty disgrace c. Alas poore soules ye are so far from being happy in these that these are but the beginnings of your unhappinesse God doth but begin to call for some arreares due to his justice which you must be a paying and satisfying to all eternity There is no happinesse in affliction naturally considered it is accidentall to afflictions that happinesse is associated with them Affliction in it selfe is grievous and it would be only so to us did not the over-ruling admirable dispensations of God temper order dispose and worke it to an end above its own nature it is the art and wisdome of the Physitian which corrects poysonous simples and ingredients so as to make them medicineable And did not the wisedome and goodnesse of of God correct our corrections they would not be medicine to us but poyson It is not correction but the hand of God with it and in it which makes us happy Happie is the man whom God correcteth The word which we translate * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arguit redarguit corripuit praeparavit verba contra aliquem disputaÌ„do ostendendojus Quod et si verbis plerumque fiat pertinet tamen ea vox ad sevirorem discip inam verbera quae cujuspiaÌ„ peccati reprehensionem comitari solet Pined correct signifies to reprove or to convince by arguments or dispute To argue a man down from his errour by the strength and clearnesse of reason or divine authority So Levit. 19. 19. Thou shalt not suffer sinne upon thy brother thou shalt surely rebuke him Thou shalt rebuke him it is the word here used that is thou shalt bring such arguments as may convince him of his sin and lay his wickednesse open before him This word is applied to corrections and afflictions in Scripture because with convictions we feele corrections frequently joyned The Lord argues the matter and as it were disputes with some very long who yet will not let in divine truth nor be perswaded though they are perswaded What doth he then Then he sends correction with his redargution he cloaths his words with blowes disputes with a God in his hand and brings an argument from feeling when reasoning prevailes not In this booke of Job Elihu shewes it Chap. 33. 16 19. Then he openeth the eares of men and sealeth their instruction he is chastened also with paine upon his bed Hence observe First That afflictions to the children of God at sorest are but corrections Blessed or happie is the man whom God corrects You will say but what is a correction And how in a strict sence differenced from judgements and punishments and wherein doe they agree They agree first in the efficient cause God layes his hand on man in both Secondly They agree in the matter the same evill the same trouble to one man is a correction to another a judgement Thirdly they may agree also in the degree A trouble or an affliction may fall and lie as heavy and be as painfull to sence upon a child of God as upon the vilest wretch in the world he may be as poore as friendlesse as sicke as sorrowfull in his outward man as any wicked man he may lie in the
friends from the 13 unto the 24 verse To him that is afflicted saith he pity should be shewed from his friend my brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brooke c. Fourthly He yet submits himself to their judgement and direction if they would speak reason to him at last and come home to his case indeed or if they could fully and candidly discover to him any errour he was willing to be rectified This he professes and it is a most ingenious profession in the 24. and 25. verses Teach me saith he and I will hold my tongue and cause me to understand wherein I have erred c. As if he had said All that you have spoken hitherto doth not reach my condition ye have quite mistook my case yet you shall see I doe not stand out against you because I will stand out it is not my will that opposes what you have spoken but my understanding therefore if you can shew me better reason I lay down the bucklers and yield my selfe a prisoner to your selves and unto truth I delight not to lengthen out contentions nor am I resolved to have the last word Teach me and I will hold my tongue Fifthly He adds an expostulation mixed with an aggravation An expostulation about and an aggravation of their high jealousie and low opinion of him in the 26. and 27. verses Doe ye imagine to reprove words and the speeches of one that is desperate which are â—â— wind As if he had said Doe you think that you have had to deale with a man that onely makes a noyse or speaks a great many words which have more sound then sence doe ye think I am out of my wits and in stead of arguing with you doe onely rave like a mad man at you Ye have not had vaine windy words from me but words full of weight and matter words of truth and sobernesse wherefore then doe you speak thus Doe ye imagine to reprove words and the speeches of one that is desperate Doe ye think I speak like one who knows not what he speaks Or that I have at once lost my hope and my understanding Sixthly He gives them advice and admonition to take better heed to what they should after say if they intended to to say any more or to continue their counsell and discourse with him in the three last verses of this sixth Chapter Now therefore be content looke upon me for it is evident to you if I lie returne I pray you c. In the 7th which concludes his speech he offers three things especially to be observed First A renewing of many arguments and considerations by which he confirmes the equity of his request to have his life cut off upon which sad subject he insists from the beginning of the Chapter to the end of the 17th verse Is there not an appointed time to man upon the earth Are not his dayes like the dayes of an Hireling c. Secondly After all his high straines of contest with man we have an abasement of himselfe as unworthy that God should take notice of him either by mercies or judgements in the 18. and 19. verses What is man that thou shouldst magnifie him and that thou shouldest visit him every morning c. A godly man will stand when he sees cause upon his termes with men but he ever falls low before and hath not a word to reply against God He is sometime angry when men vilifie him but he ever admires why God should magnifie him What is man c. Thirdly He concludes his speech with an humble acknowledgement of his own sinfulnesse and with an earnest request for the pardon of his sin Lord saith he I have sinned what shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men vers 20 c. After all this heat and passion after all these complainings Jobs heart lay levell before the Lord yea he abases himselfe to exalt and give glory to God with humble confession and an earnest supplication for the pardon of his sin Thus we have the generall parts and substance of his answer to that charge of Eliphaz in the two former Chapters But Job answered and said c. In these words and the three following verses Job gives us the refutation or rejection of that reproof given him by Eliphaz And he refutes it by shewing the reason why Eliphaz as he supposed was so sharpe and bitter in reproving him And further he shews cause why he rejects his counsell or consolation The reason upon Amicos taxat quod antequam ipsum reprehender ent non expendissent suam miseriam Coc. which he puts off those reproofs is this because Eliphaz had not duly considered his sorrowes or was not so sensible of them as a man should be that undertakes a friend in his condition The sum of his argument against what Eliphaz had spoken may be thus formed He cannot duly reprove or convince another of impatience in complaining who hath not fully weighed those calamities which are the cause and ground of those complaints But Eliph z thou hast not fully weighed and considered my case and condition my troubles and calamities which are the ground and cause of my complaints Therefore thou canst not duly reprove or convince me of impatience The Assumption or second Proposition of this argument is couched in the second verse O that my griefe were throughly weighed and that my calamity were laid in the ballances together As if he had said I had never received such harsh censures such a judgement or reproofe if thou hadst duly weighed my sorrows if thou hadst faithfully studied my case thou hadst never rebuked me thus The weight of his calamity himselfe expresseth two ways First Comparatively at the third verse by putting it into the ballance with the sand of the sea For now saith he it would be heavier than the sand of the sea Secondly He sets forth the greatness of his calamity demonstratively by declaring in what manner he had been afflicted My affliction is not an ordinary affliction I am wounded with the arrows of the Almighty and those poisoned arrows and those arrows drinking up my spirits I have not onely some single great affliction or many small ones upon me but I have terrour and terrours yea I have an army of terrours yea an army of terrours always incamping about me and charging me continually why Eliphaz thou didst never clearly consider these things much lesse hast thou had a sympathy or fellow-feeling of them Thou hast not bin afflicted in my afflictions Thou hast not sorrowed my sorrowes nor wept my tears Therefore it is that thou hast so sharply reproved me and put so much gall and wormwood into thy discourse So then the summe of this first part may be thus given taking it out of those high and hyperbolicall straines in which his passion was carried as if Job had thus answered Eliphaz It is an easie matter to slight that which a man doth not know and to thinke
and when he wills he can reach the life Secondly observe If God put out his power no creature can stand before it If God doe but let loose his hand man is cut off presently It is but as a little twigge or as grasse before the sith or before a sword there is no more in it As when God openeth the hand of his mercy he satisfieth the desire of every living thing Psal 145. 2. So when God looseth the hand of his judgements he takes away the life and comforts of every living thing God hath a hand full of blessings and mercies if he please but to open that hand all things are filled with comfort God hath another hand full of judgments and afflictions if he open or loosen that all creatures fall before him like a withered leafe The reason why the enemies of God live and are mighty is because God doth not fully loosen his hand against them if he would but unprison his power and let out his hand he can with ease destroy and cut them off in a moment Therefore the prophet prayes but for this one thing Psalm 74. 11. That God would pluck his hand out of his bosome why with drawest thou thy hand even thy right hand pluck it out of thy bosome Lord saith he this is the reason why enemies yet prevail thy hand is tyed up that is Thine owe act hath tyed up thy hand thy will stayes thy power or thy power is hid in thy will Gods power kept in by his will is his hand in his bosome Among men a hand in the bosome is the embleme of sloth Prov 19 24. Man hides his hand in his bosome because he will not be at the paines to worke God is said to hide his hand in his bosome when it is not his will and pleasure to work therefore he saith Lord if thou wouldest but let loose and put out thy hand all mine enemies shall be consumed And that 's the reason why there are such various dispensations of providence in these times when the enemy prevailes God with draweth his hand he keepeth his hand in his bosome And when at any time his servants have victorie it is because his hand hath liberty If God holds his hand men stretch forth theirs in vain Observe Thirdly Assurance of a better life will carry the soule with joy through the sorrows and bitterest pains of death It was not any Stoical apathy or ignorant regardlessenesse of life which raised the heart of Job to these desires He did not invite his end like a Roman or a philosopher or by the height and gallantry of naturall courage set the world at nought and bid defiance to destruction But he had laid up a good foundation against this day upon this he builds his confidence He knew as Paul that he had Christ while he lived and should have gaine when he dyed The joy which was set before him made him over-look the crosse which was before him So much of his request now he tels us the consequence or effect it would have upon him in case it were granted Vers 10. Then should I yet have comfort yet I would harden my selfe in sorrow Let him not spare for I have not concealed the words of the holy One Then should I yet have comfort If I had but this suit granted I were refreshed notwithstanding all my sorrows the very hope of death would revive me Nothing doth so much refresh the soule as the hearing of a Prayer and the grant of a desire when desire cometh it is as a tree of life saith Solomon therefore Job might well say when my longing comes I shall have comfort and lest any should think that as David would not drinke the water he so longed for when it was brought unto him So when the cup of death should be brought to Job he might put it off somewhat upon those termes which David did and say I will not drinke it for it is my bloud my death therefore he adds Yea I would harden my self in sorrow As if he had said though some call hastily for death and repent with as much haste when death comes yet not I I would harden my selfe c. The Hebrew to harden hath a three-fold signification among the Jewish writers though it be used but this once onely in all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat 1. Solidare roborare 2. Calefarere urere 3 Orare suppliciter praecari Scripture And hence there is a three-fold interpretation of these words I would harden my selfe in sorrow It signifies 1 To Pray or to beseech 2 To heat or to Warm yea to scorch and to burn 3 To harden or to strengthen strengthning is hardning in a metaphor According to the first sense the text is rendred thus Then should I yet have comfort yea I would pray in my sorrow that is I would pray yet more for an increase of my sorrow that I might be cut off If I had any hope that my request should be granted this hope would quicken my desire and I would pray yet more that I might obtain it Secondly as the word signifies to warm or to heat the sense is given thus Then should I have comfort yea I would warm my selfe in my sorrow And so it refers it to those refreshings which his languishing soul his soul chilled as it were with sicknesse and sorrows should receive upon the news of his approaching death This newes saith he would be as warm cloaths to me it Hac spe certissin â moriendi incalescerem refocillarer would fetch me again out of my fainting to heart of dying But besides a warming or a refreshing heat the word also notes scorching burning heat Mr. Broughton takes that signification of the word I shall touch that and his sence upon it by and by We translate according to the third usage of the word I would harden my self and so the construction is very fair I should yet have comfort yea I would harden my self in sorrow that is I would now set my selfe to endure the greatest sorrowes and afflictions which could come upon me for the destroying and cutting off the threed of my life And so he seems in these words to prevent an objection before hinted Why Job dost thou desire to be cut off and to be destroyed thou hast more pain upon thee already then thou art able to bear thou cryest out of what thou hast thou must think when death comes thy wound will be deeper and thy pain sharper Iob seemes to answer I have considered that before I know there will be a hard brunt at parting I prepare for it and am thus resolved I would harden my self in sorrow that is I would set my selfe to bear the pangs and agonies of death if I had but this hope that my miserie were near expiring The Apostle useth that phrase 2 Tim. 2. 3. in his advices to young Timothy Thou as a good souldier of Jesus Christ endure
passe out against him A if he had said Let not God spare me let him write â—s bitter a sentence against me as he pleaseth for my part I would not conceale the word of the most High but I would publish his judgement and sentence against me yea I would praise him and extoll him for it The vulgar Latine to this sence I would not contradict the word of the holy One Let him not spare me for as for my part whatsoever God shall determine and resolve whatsoever word God shall speake concerning me I will never withstand or open my mouth against it This is a truth and carries in it a high frame of holinesse when we can bring our hearts to this that let God write as bitter things against us as he pleaseth we will never contradict his word or decree but our minds and spirits shall submit wholly and fully to his dispositions of us and dispensations towards us It is as clear an evidence of grace to be passive under as to be active in the word of God Not to contradict his writ for our sufferings as not to conceale what he speaks for our practise But I rather stick to the former interpretation Job giving this as a reason of his great confidence in pursuing his petition for death because he had been so sincere holding forth the word of God both in doctrine and in life And so we may observe from it First That the testimony of a good conscience is the best ground of our willingnesse to die That man speakes enough for his willingnesse to die who hath lived speaking and doing the will of God and he is in a very miserable case who hath no other reason why he desireth death but onely because he is in misery This was one but not the only reason why Job desired death he had a reason transcending this I have not concealed the words of the holy One and I know if I have not concealed the word of God God will not conceal his mercy and loving kindness from me David bottoms his hopes of comfort in sad times upon this Psal 40. 9 10. I have preached righteousness in the great Congregation I have not refrained my lips O Lord thou knowest he was not actively or politickly silent I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart if lay there but it was imprisoned or stifl'd there I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvations I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great Congregation Upon this he fals a praying with a mighty spirit of beleeving vers 11. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me O Lord let thy loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve me for innumerable evils have compassed me about The remembrance of our active faithfulness to the truth of God will bear up our hearts in hoping for the mercy of God He that in Davids and in Jobs sence can say I have not concealed the words of the most high may triumph over innumerable evils and shall be more then a conquerer over the last and worst of temporal evils death God cannot long conceal his love from them who have not concealed his truth Secondly observe positively That the counsels of God his truths must be revealed God hath secrets which belong not to us but then he puts them not forth in a word nor writes them in his book he keeps his secrets close in the cabinet of his decrees and counsels but what he reveals either in his word or by his works man ought to reveal too It is as dangerous if not more to conceal what God hath made known as to be inquisitive to know what God hath concealed Yea it is as dangerous to hide the word of God as it is to hide our own sins And we equally give glory to God by the profession of the one as by the confession of the other Paul with much earnestnesse professes his integrity about this as was even now toucht Act. 20. Fourthly observe That the study of a godly man is to make the word of God visible I have not concealed that is I have made plain I have revealed or I have published the words of the holy One Much of Jobs mind is concealed under that word I have not concealed For in this negative there is an affirmative as if he had said this hath been my labour and my businesse my work in the world to make known so much of the will of God as I know This was the work of Christ here below Father I have glorified thee upon earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do Joh. 17. 4. What this work was he shewes vers 6th I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world Lasty observe That it is a dangerous thing for any man to conceale the word of God either in his opinion or in his practice For it is as if Job had said if I had ever concealed the words of God I had bin but in an ill case at this time God might now justly reveale his wrath against me if I had concealed his word from others or God might justly hide his mercies from me if I had hid his word from men Smothered truths will one time or other set the conscience in a flame and that which Jeremiah spake once concerning his resolution to conceale the word of God and the effect of it will be a truth upon every one who shall set himselfe under a resolution to doe what he under a temptation did Jer. 20. 9. Then I said I will not make mention of him nor speake any more in his name what followes Then his word was in my breast as a burning fire shut up in my bones and I was weary with forbearing If a gracious heart hath taken up such a sodaine resolution to conceale the word of God he quickly repents of it or smarts under it He findes that word as a burning fire in his bones he is not able to bear it I was weary with forbearing saith the prophet Nothing in the world will burthen the conscience so much as concealed truth and they who have taken a meditated resolution that they will not reveale the word of God may be sure that word will one time or other reveale it selfe to them in the Light and heat of a burning fire seeding upon their consciences I have not concealed the words whose words The words of the Holy One Who is that The Holy One is a periphrasis for God When you hear that Title The holy One you may know who is meant This is a Title too bigge for any but a God All holinesse is in God and God is so holy that properly he onely is Holy Hence the Scripture sets God forth under this as a peculiar attribute The Holy One The Prophets often use this addition or stile The Holy One of Israel The Holy One Is One separate or set apart from all filthinesse
plant while it is rooted by the springs of heavenly promises And what is mine end that I should prolong my life The letter of the Hebrew is That I should prolong or lengthen out my soul that my soul should inhabit longer in the tabernacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of my body The word prolong is differently joyned to life or dayes Deut. 5. 16. Honour thy father and thy mother as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee that thy dayes may be prolonged c Ezek. 12 22. Son of man what is that proverbe that you have in the land of Israel saying The dayes are prolonged and every vision faileth To prolong dayes and prolong life are the same Yet hear the word Nephesh soul which we translate life may be taken for desire which is a vehement act of the soul The soul expresses it self so much in desires that the same word may expresse both And so we may render Jobs sence thus What is my end that I should lengthen out or extend my desires any further after the things of this world or that I should defer and put off my desires after the things of the world to come Is there any thing in this life worth my staying for it or any thing so worthless in the next that I should not wish presently to enjoy it In this sence the word Nephesh is often used as Gen. 23. 8. Abraham speaks to the children of Heth If it be your soul or your desire we translate if it be your mind that I should bury my dead So Prev 23 2. If thou be a man given to thy appetite or whose desires are thy Lord and master as the elegancy of that place beares And again Psal 27. 12. Psal 41. 2. Eccl 6. 9. The word is applied to signifie the will or desire So here What is mine end that I should prolong my life or my desire of life His End may be considered two wayes First His end may be taken for the latter part of his life which Eliphaz promised would be very comfortable Thou shalt come to thy grave in a good old age as a shock of corn commeth into the flore As if Job should say you are promising me good dayes and a happy old age but what is mine end what 's the latter part of a mans life that he should desire to prolong his dayes to take it out why should I desire to prolong my life I am now well stricken in years and as for the end the latter part of a mans life it is nothing for the most part but trouble and sorrow As old Barzillai 2 Sam. 19. 35. when David offered him the pleasures of the Court answers I am thus old and can I taste my meat and taste my drink or hear musique What is the Fagge-end of mans life that one should hunger after it The sweetest comforts of this life are in the fore-part of life in the spring of youth in the strength and flower of age As for the winter of life what is that but wet and cold but clouds and darkness What is my end of old age that I should desire my life to be prolonged or eeked out to that But rather we may take this End First For the end of his troubles As if he had said What end so gainfull or comfortable can I have of these evils that should recompence my pains in bearing them till I receive it No worldly comforts can answer my sorrows and therefore why should I desire to prolong my life for them Secondly Take End for the very last term of life not that latter part or condition of a mans life troublesome old age as before or a renewed estate as here But take End for the ending the termination the period of life What is my end that I should prolong my life and so End is as much as death what is my death that I should desire to live I know no evil in death that should make me afraid of the end of my life I know no such trouble in dying that I should be desirous to spinne out this troublesome life longer surely the trouble and pain of death is not so much as the present trouble and pain of my life and as for any other trouble I fear none then What is my end that I should prolong my life that I should not desire death or that you should be so angry with me for desiring it Hence observe first There is no strength in man that may give him assured hope of long life What is my strength that I should hope No though man be in the flourish of his age the greenesse of his years yet what is youth or strength or beauty what all those fair leaves and fruits which hang upon and adorn this goodly tree that he should hope to hand long Man in his best estate is altogether vanity Psal 39. 5. He that hopes to live upon any of these things hopes in a vain thing trusts but in a shadow Our hopes to live this natural life as well as the spiritual and eternal must be in the living God The Image of death sits upon the best of our strength and beauty while we grow we decline and while we flourish we wither The lengthening of our dayes is the shortning of them and all the time we live is but a passage unto and should be but a preparation for death We are most miserable if in this life only we have hope and we are most foolish if our hopes of this life be in our own strength And because there is no strength in nature which may give us hope to live long It is our greatest wisdome to consider what provision we have in grace to maintain our hopes that we shall live for ever They are in an ill case who when they cannot hope to live long care not to settle their hopes of living eternally It is a most sad spectacle to see a languishing body and a languishing hope meet in one man Some have a Kalender in their bones shewing them they have but few dayes here and many distempers upon the whole body crying in their ears with a loud voice what is your strength that you should hope to live who yet prepare not at all to die They are both unready and unwilling to be dissolved when they see no hope to keep up their tabernacle from desolution Secondly taking the word in the last sense which I conceive rather to be the mind of the holy Ghost in this place observe That there is no evil in the death of a godly man which should make him unwilling to die or which should make him linger after this life What is the end of a godly man that he should prolong his life All the bitterness of death is removed or sweetned by Christ Death the King of terrours is made a servant to let us in to our comforts by the power of Christ that prince of life who hath abolished death and brought life
and a vaine thing of a good conscience The meaning then is faith and a good conscience are our best helds and friends because faith carries us unto Christ who is our best help Faith pitches upon Christ and a good conscience feasts us in the favour of God Faith alone is no help but faith is our help because it is not alone Grace left alone would be our strength but little more then nature is and our spirit little more then the flesh And therefore our comforts are not to be resolved into this That we have grace in our hearts but into this That we and our graces are in the hand of Christ Faith can live no where but upon Christ That which faith respects as our help is Christ in whom we beleeve not the act of beleeving We are helped by the grace within us but the grace within us is not our help Secondly Observe A godly man in the darkest affliction or night of sorrow finds a light of holy wisdome to answer all the objections of his enemies and the suspitions of his friends Is wisdome departed quite from me Doe you think I have nothing to say nothing to reply by way of apologie for what I have don or spoken Though Job had many afflictions upon him and his friends against him yet see how he recollects himselfe Is not my help in me he makes out the goodnesse of his cause in the midst of a thousand evils and can plead his own integrity in the throng of many jealousies and contradictions Is not my help in me Doe you think you have so daunted me that I am not able to make out my own estate or that I know not what I am The truth is sometimes God leaves his servants in so much darkness for their tryal and exercise that they cannot see their own estates but cry out they are lost and undone Many a good soul cannot reflect upon his graces or get his heart into any communion with Christ in promises This is walking in darkness and seeing no light As our sins are sometimes secrets to us so also our graces may But let a man be encompast with never so many outward afflictions yet if his spirit be free he is able to judge of his own interests through all the black clouds which hang over him through all the distractions and confusions that are about him The eye of faith is usually quickest in a dark night And while trouble is near at hand beholds Christ near at hand He can never be without help who carries his help about him or within him Nor can he utterly want counsel to direct him whose heart is as a councel Table where Christ the wisdom of God is ever President and in the Chair My worldly comforts are quite driven from me but wisdome is not I am afflicted and therefore should not be thus suspected but pittied Vers 14. To him that is afflicted pitty should be shewed from his friend but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty This verse begins the third Section of the chapter wherein Job draws up a strong charge against his friends for their uncharitablenesse See the progresse and links of his Discourse First he refuted and answered their objections against him from the first to the 8 verse Secondly he renewed his complaint which was the ground of all their objections from the 8th verse unto the end of the 13th Here at verse 14. he begins a charge against his friends of unkindness indiscretion yea of cruelty in managing of this dispute against him He giveth it first in general or by way of Preface To him that is afflicted pitty should be shewed from his friend But he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty As if he had said You should have dealt otherwise with me then you have in this case though blessed be God I find help within me God hath given me the light of his spirit and wisdome to discern my own condition yet it is no thank to you I have found no help in my friends you have dealt unfriendly with me you should have pittied me but you have opposed me and so forsaken that duty which the fear of the Almighty teaches He proceeds to illustrate this more particularly by way of similitude comparing his friends to a brook whose waters fail when we are athirst or when there is most need of water To him that is afflicted The word signifies Him that is melted and the reason is because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Solvit dissolvit liquidum fluidum reddidit Sic mea perpetuis liquescant pectora curis Ovid. de Pont 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Tributum sic dictum quia paulatim liquescere facit facultates maximo si nimium imponatur Buxtorf b Quidam Pontificii volunt suam Missam hac voce hebraica fuisse appellatam Recte quidem per eam scilicet pietas omnis liquefacta est dâ—ssoluta Rivet affliction dissolves the spirit of a man and as it were melts his heart therefore it is called the fire of affliction To be dissolved or melted and to be afflicted are the same And that effect is ascribed to fear and trouble of spirit arising from affliction Psalm 22 15. My heart saith David a type of Christ in the middest of my belly is like melting wax By reason of the heat and greatness of his trouble and the anguish of his spirit he was as metal melted in a furnace At the defeat of the Israelites before Ai it is said the hearts of the people melted and became as water Josh 7. 5. And in the sixth Psalm verse 6. David cryes up the exuberance of his sorrowes by this word I melted or watered my couch with tears Thus the Prophet threatning a day of great fear against Jerusalem tells them They shall be as when a Standard-bearer fainteth Isa 10. 18. When the Battell waxes hot and a vanquisht army is running and crying for quarter the standard bearer is in greatest danger all make up to him and then he fainteth or melteth away with fear a Tributes and taxes are exprest in the Hebrew by a word coming from this root because if heavily imposed they melt away the estates of a people b It is a witty observation that whereas some of the Papists conceive their word Masse was derived from this Hebrew word Massas which signifyeth to melt One of ours answers let it be so It suites this sense of the word exactly and the effect oâ— that abhominable Idolatry for the Masse hath dissolved and melted away truth and pitty out of the Popish Territories To him that is offlicted pitty should be shewed That word pitty in the Hebrew signifies a sacred sweet affection of mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pietas bonitas benignitas per Antiphrasin impletas crudetitas ex Calâ—aicae linguae usu benignity goodness and piety And by Contraries in which sense words are often used in that language it notes First Reproach Prov. 14. 34 Sin is chesed a reproach to any people Secondly Impiety and cruelty harshness and severity Thirdly It signifies any abhominable wickedness Levit. 20. 17. where Moses speaking of
deseruerit An hac amicitiae jus c. ut nunc ego à vobis audio Merc. being taken for reproach and harsh dealing and so the meaning is made out with a kind of admiration thus Should reproaches be cast upon a man that is afflicted from his friend should he be told that he hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty and that wisdome is driven from him Do you think I am not able to discover your dealings should you go about to reproach me in this condition should you tell me thus harshly that I am departed from the fear of God Is this thinke you a fair carriage towards me when you saw me melted and afflicted you should have given me sweet and comfortable words not reproachfull words Job according to this sence sound his friends dealing with him as the Jews with Christ to whom being a thirst they gave vinegar to drink Or as David in the type speaks they gave me gall for my meat and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink here seems to be a like meaning You have given me reproaches in stead of comforts slandered me instead of refreshing me and is this the course you should take As Absalom said to Hushai 2 Sam. 16. 17. Is this thy kindnesse to thy friend when he seemed to fall away from David unto him So Iob might speak to Eliphaz Is this thy kindnesle to thy friend to load him with reproaches when you see him over-laden with afflictions A fourth thus Shall he that consumes by the reproaches of his friend forsake the fear of the Almighty The meaning whereof is this Doe Qui tabescit ab amico suo proâ—ro etiam timorem omnipotentis retinquet Foelices soli videntur sapere miseri desipere you think that all men whose riches and comforts are lost have lost their reason and judgement And doe you think that they who are reproacht by men doe not fear God The world commonly judges none wise but they that are rich And that they fear God most who rejoyce most But my practise and example I doubt not shall consute that opinion and give all the world to know that a man consumed and spent by the reproaches of men and the stroakes of God may yet fear God and keep up his stock to the full in holinesse and in wisdom Contabescens charitatem non tam dicitur erga guem socij charitas contabescit quam quuÌ„ per sociâ— charitatem preposter ram fcilicet sine scientia exercitam contabescit Cocc Fifthly This melting is referred not to the pitty of his friends but to Job melting or consuming by that which they called pity Thus. Shall he be charged to have forsaken the fear of the Almighty who consumes by the charity of his friends that is who is more afflicted by the counsels which his friends in love give him then by all his other afflictions As the mercies of the wicked are alwayes cruel Prov. 12. 10. So sometime the mercies of the godly are especially when they give preposterous and indiscreet counsel and this interpretation suites well with the title which Iob gave his friends Miserable comforters are ye all Chap. 16. 2. That is you have done your good will to comfort me but God hath not shewed you the way nor given you the tongue of the learned that yee might know how to minister a word in season to him that is weary and so notwithstanding all your good intentions ye have added to my miseries A sixth thus * Hunc dissolutum prae doloribus ab amico ejus exhibenda misericordia dereliquit eundem dissolutum timor Saddai dere inquit Horum duorum versiculorum terminos ita digerimus ut in posteriori vâ—x dissolutus sit mascu ini generis accusativi casus â—egaturque à verbo dere inquit cujus duo nominativi sint misericordia timor Saddai ille verò dissolutâ—s sit Job loquente de seipso in tertia persona Apparet ex hoc explâ—atione â—um nominativo ut in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa 31. 1. Ezr. 1. 5 Coc. Dissoluto à socio ejus benignitas est sc impendenda alioqui timorem Omnipotentis deserit Drus Vau apud Hebraeos varie sumitur interdum pro a ioqui That pity which friends should shew this man melted with afflictions hath forsaken him but hath the fear of the Almighty forsaken him also The meaning whereof may be made out to this effect As if Job had said thus You plainly see that there is no help in me for my pains and uncessant troubles have quite bereaved me of all that strength upon which I should naturally subsist And as for you my friends that pitty and compassion which you should afford a man thus melted with sorrows is quite fled and gone from your hearts and lips But what then Is the fear of God departed also from this sorrowful soul It is confessed strength is gone from my body and I see pitty towards me is gone from your soules O how miserable then were I if I should goe from my God and forsake his fear You shall see that though the pitty of men hath forsaken me a melted man yet as you object the fear of God hath not A seventh reading varying from ours only in a word gives the sence very fair and easie * to him that is afflicted or melted pitty should be shewed by his friend otherwise he forsakes the fear of the Almighty Whereas we say but he forsaketh this translation saith Otherwise he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty that is if a man do not shew pitty to his friend in affliction that man sheweth that he hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty Thus as I hinted at the entrance of this passage Interpreters are much divided about the Grammatical construction of these words There is a truth in every sence given and their variety may teach us to adore the fulness of the holy language which leads our thoughts so many wayes as also to be humbled for our own blindness of mind and narrowness of heart to see or comprehend the mind of God fairly written to us But I take the last to be the clearest meaning of Job in this passage and that to which most of the former are reducible and therefore staying upon this sence I shall give two or three observations from it First It is the common duty of friends and the speciall duty of godly friends to pitty and help one another in affliction I say to pitty and to help for that is the compasse of the word we have not done our duty in pittying the distressed unless we come to real assisting them We satisfie not our obligation to the bond and Law of love by giving comfortable words As that faith which is alone without works doth not justifie us so that pitty which is alone without works doth not justifie our faith such empty pitty will goe for little better then cruelty and not
doing evil is not good to us and our doing good is to us no better then evil Verse 25. How forcible are right words but what doth your arguing reprove Job speakes by way of admiration How forcible I cannot In Haebreo Admirativum est elegans patheticum Bold tell how forcible It is an elegant way of expressing the highness of our thoughts As Psal 84. 1. How aimable are thy dwelling places O Lord of hosts He admires in stead of speaking they are so aimable as I cannot tell how aimable they are Put your thoughts to their utmost conceptions of beauty and that beauty is in the dwellings of the Lord So saith Job here How forcible are right words they are so forcible as I cannot tell how forcible they are I must admire and be silent How forcible are right words The Chaldee Paraphrase reads it how sweet are right words interpreting it by that Psal 119. 103. Oh how sweet are thy Commandements unto me they are sweeter than the honey and the honey comb But the Originals differ though that be a good sense We read How forcible The word signifies any thing that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acrimoniae notionem habet strong potent or mighty It notes also acrimony sharpnesse or smartnesse and so it is often applyed to words either good or bad 1 King 2. 8. when David lay upon his death bead giving his last advices to Solomon Thou saith he hast Shimei with thee who cursed me with a grievous curse In the Hebrew it is this word who cursed me with a sharp strong forcible curse he cursed me with all his heart with all his might he laid load upon me Evil words are strong right words are strongest Job had before at the 6th verse of this Chapter called the discourses of Eliphaz unsavoury in this he taxes them for flat or weak right words have a pleasing acrimony upon the palate of the soul and a power upon the judgement to sway and carry it but yours are dull and feeble Some render it after the letter of the Hebrew words of right or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eloquia rectitudinis Mont. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aquil. truth Others in the Concret how forcible are the words of a right or upright man But take it as we translate How forcible are right words Words are right three wayes 1. In the matter when they are true 2. In the manner when they are plain direct and perspicuous 3. In their use when they are duely and properly applied when the arrow is carried home to the white then they are right words or words of righteousnesse When this three-fold rightnesse meets in words how forcible how strong are such words But what doth your arguing reprove I confess there is great strength in right words and in the words of the upright but you have been long disputing the matter with me and what have you got where are your gains The word signifies to rebuke with conviction and argument to shew what is right and to refute that which is contrary Job 13. 3. the word is so used Surely I would speak to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arguit redarguit praeparavit verba contra aliquem disputando ostendendo jus the Almighty and I desire to reason with God to reason it out as it were by force of Argument with God The word is answerable in sence to that in the Greek used by the Apostle Heb. 11. 1. Faith is a conviction or the evidence of things not seen that is an evident conviction faith gives a stronger evidence then any reason yea then sence therefore though faith be of things that fall not under sence and are above reason yet faith is an evidence or a conviction fuller then any Logical conviction or demonstration The Argument from such authority as faith grounds upon is stronger and more convincing then any or then all the reason in the world What doth your arguing reprove Word for ward what doth Quid disceptando conficiet disceptatio vestra q. d. quod vos reâ—â—â—guitis redarguendi verbo non est donandum your disputation dispute Or what doe your arguments argue as if he had said your arguing is no arguing your reasons are no reasons that which you have been arguing all this while with me doth not so much as deserve the name of an argument in my case it hath no power or strength in it Job laies a charge upon his friends by this opposition Right words are forcible but your arguments are not right or you are not right who argue therefore what force what power is there in what you have spoken I can blow it all off as easily as a man can blow off a feather Mr. Broughtton varies somewhat from this sence And what can your blame soundly blame that is you shall finde nothing blame worthy or reprovable in me Observe hence first Words rightly spoken are very forcible Take it in the general What mighty things have words words duly spoken done Abigail a weak woman by a few right words overcame the strength and wrath of mighty David and turned his whole army back David with all his men were in the heat of resolution and upon a hot march to destroy Nabal yet she stops them And that woman speaking to Johab when Sheba fled to the City with a few right words prevailed to save the City and stay the fury of war Take the point more strictly The words of truth are full of power full of strength Naked truth is too hard for armed errour Truth hath the strength of God in it therefore that must needs prevail The Apostle professes 2 Cor. 1. 3. We can doe nothing against the truth He means it in regard of the bent of his spirit his heart could not move against truth but we may use it in another sence We can doe nothing against the truth that is let us put out the uttermost of our power we can never prevail against the truth Look upon truth in the promises that will conquer all Look upon truth in the threatnings that 's forcible to overcome all Jer. 1. 10. God gives the Prophet a commission I have set thee over the Nations and over the Kingdoms to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down to build and to plant Here is a strange commission for a Prophet How could Jeremiah plant or root up build or pull down Nations He never drew sword yet he performed this commission fully by his word he pulled them down and rooted them up by the word of threatning and he planted them and built them with the word of promise Zech. 1. 10. Your fathers are dead they are gone but my words saith the Lord which I spake by my servants the Prophets did not they take hold of your fathers Your fathers are dead and the Prophets are dead but my words live still and did not they hold
built as well and might have stood as long as the other upon the rock but when the raine fell and the floods came when the windes blew and beate upon the house then it fell the foundation failed and all the faire superstructions came downe into the dust Where is the hypocrite with all his faith and feare in a wet windy day is he not like a house founded on the sand Or is not he and his goodly outside of holy feare and hope like the Apples of Sodome reported in Historie which are faire to the eye but touch them and they crumble to ashes in your hand so is the faith and the feare the hope and confidence of hypocrites Where are these they are no where for they never were Take the words in a second construction and so they are thus rendred Is not thy feare thy confidence and the uprightnesse of thy wayes thy hope So Mr Broughton Is not thy Religion thy hope and thy right wayes thy confidence and then the sense is as if Eliphaz had thus spoken unto Job Doth it not now plainely appeare that Satan charged thee rightly that thou servest God for ends of profit and outward comforts seeing thou art thus impatient and unquiet when the hand of God takes away thy profit and outward comforts Is it not a cleare argument that thou heretofore didst obey God only to gaine by him or because thou wast confident he would protect and save thee harmlesse he would blesse and prosper thee with encrease Was not the uprightnesse of thy wayes this hope that is diddest thou not looke to thrive by upright dealing with men and faire carriage in all thy actions thou hadst no love to Religion none to Justice thy love was to thy purse thy profit and thou didst beleeve at least hope that profit would come in at the doore of the Sanctuary or else thou hadst never gone so often thither This is the second sense praedicating the first terme of the second Is not thy feare thy confidence and is not thy uprightnesse thy hope surely ' t is This is a faire exposition of the words and from it we may observe That A hypocrites profession of Religion is grounded on his confidence to gaine by it Is not thy feare thy confidence thy Religion was nothing else but a hope to be rich It was Satans objection and now Eliphaz resuming and managing Satans argument makes it his conviction And it is a truth in the generall thesis that the Religion or the feare of hypocrites is nothing but their confidence they consider the word of promise which God hath given to those that serve him they in their thoughts surveigh the land of promise and tast the milke and honey of it they reade that God will give both grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walke uprightly therefore that they may be under the influence of these promises or upon a confidence that they shall receive golden showers out of these pretious promises and digge aboundant treasure out of these heavenly mines they feare and worship God they are upright in their wayes and honest in their dealings among men Christ found it was love to the loaves not to his doctrine which brought so many after him Joh. 6. They liked a miracle to feed them more than a Sermon to instruct them And were affected with the meate which endures to everlasting life onely in subordination to the meate which perisheth How many say at least in their hearts at this day if I cast my selfe into such and such courses of holinesse shall I not have credit and custome good acquaintance and profitable correspondence In many men their wickednesse is their confidence that is the very reason why they are so wicked is because they are confident they shall get by their wickednesse So those entisers said to the young man Prov. 1. 11. Come let us lay waite for blood Ego furtum facere volui nulla compuisus ege state sed fastidio justitiae nec ea re srui volebam quam furto appetebam sed ipso furto peccato Aug. l. 3. Confess c. 1. paulo post Eram gratis malus amavi defectum meum non illud ad quod deficiebam there was their wickednesse now at the twefth verse you shall finde that the rise of their wickednesse was this confidence we shall finde all precious treasure we shall fill our houses with spoile Some I confesse have such a spirit of wickednesse that they are wicked for wickednesse sake and they love the very sinne it selfe more than the ends of profit or pleasure which may possibly follow the sinne but others act the sinne out of confidence they shalll advance themselves by it And so there are many so refined in their aymes and hightned in the wayes of holinesse that they are holy for holinesse sake and religious for religions sake yet there is a generation whose Religion is nothing but this confidence I will cast in my lot with the godly I will take their way shall I not fill my house with treasure and raise an estate by it The Apostle speakes of such 1 Tim. 6. 5. Men supposing that gaine is godlinesse and they are godly only that they may gaine by it Whereas they whose hearts are perfect with God love godlinesse for Gods sake and they are holy not out of confidence of gaining by it but out of a delight in acting of it there is a beauty an excellency in holinesse which takes their hearts And they are above not only this poore confidence to be enriched by it but also above that rich that heavenly confidence to be saved by it to get Heaven by it The feare of some who are above the former is yet but equall to this confidence they see there is no other way to be saved to goe to Heaven but this Now I say holinesse in the height and purity of it keepes under the respect of Heaven it selfe it is so much above these things below that it is above those things above That is a second sense Thirdly The words are understood by divers of the Hebrew writers for a direct and simple assertion and they give it thus Will not or would not thy feare be thy confidence and the uprightnesse of thy wayes thy hope As if Eliphaz had thus said unto him Job thou hast pretended much holinesse and Religion feare and uprightnesse why art thou so disquieted now that the hand of God is upon thee why art thou so amazed under these sufferings would not that feare be thy confidence and would not that uprightnesse of thy wayes be thy hope surely it would if thou hadst any such feare as thou pretendest this feare would be thy confidence and this uprightnesse thy hope thou wouldest be very bold and by hope cast Anchor upon the goodnesse and faithfulnesse of God in the middest of all this storme thy heart would be poised setled and established
notwithstanding all these shakings Would not thy feare be thy confidence It would Hence observe First That they who feare most in times of peace have most reason Timidum esse ad â—ala patrandâ— genus est fortitudinis fiduciae to be confident in times of trouble They who feare most in one sense feare least they who feare God most feare creatures least and creature-troubles least We have this point in so many words Prov. 14. 26. In the feare of the Lord is strong confidence The feare of the Lord is the cure of all other feares They who are most fearefull of the evill of sinne are most couragious among the evills of suffering To be fearefull thus raiseth the highest acts of confidence Psal 112. 7 8. We reade of one that will not be afraid for any evill tidings his heart is fixed Who is this confident man this fearelesse man It is this divine coward as we may call him you shall finde him so express'd vers 1. Blessed is the man that feareth God he shall not be afraid for any evill tidings Exod. 20. 20. When the people of Israel were much amazed and astonished at the giving of the Law Moses comes to cure them of that feare but what is the medicine Feare not for God is come to prove you and that his feare may be before your faces that ye sinne not As if he had said when God hath put his feare into your hearts such feares as these will be removed and vanish when your hearts are filled with this feare of God you will have confidence to heare and see the thunder and lightning of Mount Sinai you shall not feare no not this terrible tempest in which the Law it selfe is given So when the people were in a feare another time Samuel thus bespeakes them in that shaking fit 1 Sam. 12. 20. Feare not onely feare the Lord. If you will be confident in such a time as this for by prayer he procured thunder and raine in that time of wheate-harvest feare the Lord. The feare of the Lord will be our confidence in the wettest day in the most tempestuous and stormy night that ever fell upon the secure sinfull world A man fearing God is the onely dread-nought Secondly We may observe from the other branch for the sense is the same And would not thy uprightnesse be thy hope The uprightnesse of a mans wayes in good times doth mightily strengthen his hope in evill times When a man can looke back and approve his heart to God that he hath been upright in peace and plenty how full of hope will he be in trouble and in wants It was that which Hezekiah pleaded before God in the day of his trouble and tryall 2 King 20. 3. I beseech thee O Lord remember how I have walked before thee in truth and with an upright and perfect heart This was it when he lay upon his sick-bed and as he thought upon his death-bed that put life into him and bare up his spirit A fourth interpretatian is taken from our reading Is not this thy feare thy confidence the uprightnesse of thy wayes and thy hope So the words containe foure distinct affrming Questions Is not this thy feare Is not this thy confidence Is not this the uprightnesse of thy wayes and is not this thy hope This is thy feare c. As if Eliphaz had said Job without doubt thou hast shewed all thy goodnesse at once or Is not this all that thou art able to make out and shew Is not this all that thou canst say for all the testimony thou canst give of thy religion and holinesse Hast thou not shewed all Surely thy great boast of Religion is nothing but this Eliphaz seemes to call Job to make a further or cleerer proofe of his grace Is not this thy feare or if this be not shew me somewhat else Thou art a man very famous in the world much talked of and highly commended for feare and for confidence for uprightnesse and for hope what hast thou more to answer that report and save thy own credit with the credit of thy friends who have been so large in their commendations of and testimonies concerning thee Note hence First Afflictions discover that unto us which before we knew not Is not this thy feare thou diddest not know of what make or constitution thy feare was untill now That 's Eliphaz his supposition and it is a truth That some hypocrites know not that their graces are false till they are brought to such tryals They carry false counterfeit coine about them and suppose it currant money till they come to the ballance or a touch-stone Some are active hypocrites who go about intentionally to deceive and put a faire mask over a filthy face Others are passive hypocrites who are miserably deceived by the collusions of Satan and the base treachery of their own spirits Many a man is brought to see which before he could not by reason of those mists of hypocrisie what his feare is what his faith by those changes which affliction works in him Secondly thus We ought to make our graces visible in our actions Is not this thy feare Shew me what thy feare is if this be not make proofe of it The Apostle bids Timothy 2 Tim. 4. 5. Make full proofe of his Ministery It may be said to some Ministers is not this your Ministery if it be not make full proofe of it Or as the Apostle James in a case neere this James 2. 14. 18. Shew me thy faith by thy workes so we may say Shew me thy feare by thy workes Is not this it if it be not make it appeare what it is The tree is knowne by the fruits doe men gather grapes of thornes or figgs of thistles or doe men gather crabs from vines or sloes from figg-trees As an evill tree cannot bring forth good fruit so neither doth a good tree bring forth evill fruit If thou sayest thou art a vine make proofe of it by the fruit thou bearest or else I must conclude thou art but a thorne or a thistle We may question many for this grace and for the other grace they pretend unto For their actions have not the least print or impression of such graces upon them If any one should hold forth much faith and confidence in God and this man should run or take unlawfull courses to helpe himselfe might we not say Is this thy confidence Or if one speaking much of confidence in God for the accomplishing of a businesse should yet sit still and doe nothing himselfe might we not say Is this thy confidence this is to tempt God not to trust in him Once more if a man should professe much confidence in God and yet be taken up altogether about the creature swallowed up with creature-thoughts or swallowing in creature-delights seeking to and engaging this creature and that creature with neglect of God may we not say Is this thy confidence Hope is an anchor of
exprest the righteous perish that is they dye as it is explained afterward they are taken away from the evill to come they rest in their beds sc in their graves so Matth. 8. 25. Master save us we perish say the Disciples when they thought they should all be drowned Lord helpe us or else we all dye presently and so we translate Job 34. 15. where Elihu speaking of the power of God thus describes it If he should but shew himselfe all flesh saith he shall perish together that is all flesh shall dye they are not able to stand before Gods power and greatnesse the word which he useth there strictly taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to expire or give up the ghost yet we translate it all flesh shall perish together that is they shall all give up the ghost and dye if God should appear in his power and greatnesse Thirdly by perishing we may understand outward afflictions and troubles falling upon either godly or wicked these are called a perishing Josh 23. 13. Joshua tels the people If you will not obey and walk according to the Commandements of God ye shall quickly perish from off this good Land that is ye shall be removed by outward afflictions from your Land you shall goe into captivity And so if I perish I perish saith Esther Chap. 4. 17. that is if I bring trouble and affliction upon my selfe let it be so I will venture it A Syrian ready to perish was my father Deut. 26. It is meant of Jacob a man much verst in trouble as he himselfe acknowledgeth Few and evill have been the dayes of my pilgrimage Fourthly to perish notes eternall misery as it is put for the miseries of this life so for the life of misery for that life which is an everlasting death John 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave Omnimodam rei perditionem significat oâ—pâ—â—niâ—uâ— enim generationi his onely begotten Sonne that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life perishing is opposed to everlasting life and therefore implyes everlasting death Fifthly to perish notes utter desolation and totall ruine A cutting off or a destroying the very name and remembrance of a person or of a people He that speaks lyes shall perish Pro. 19. 9. that is he shall be utterly destroyed In this sense the word is used for the Devill because he is a destroyer to the utmost as Christ is a Saviour to the utmost He is called Abaddon from Abad the word here used Rev. 9. 12. and Apollyon his businesse is to destroy totally and eternally Thus also Antichrist The first-borne of the Devill 2 Thess 2. 3. is called the sonne of perdition take it actively he is a destroying sonne one that destroyeth bodies and soules as in Scripture a bloody man is called Ish dammim a man of blood and passively he is a sonne of perdition that is a man to be destroyed both body and soule These two latter senses namely eternall destruction in Hell and utter destruction in this life are joyned together Prov. 15. 11. Hell and destruction or Hell and perishing are before the Lord and Chap. 27. 20. we have the same words againe Hell and perdition or Hell and destruction are never full So that to perish in a strict sense notes even in this life an utter extirpation so some render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abscondit ne amplius auditur vel videatur per metonymiam sublatuâ— doletus succisus Sublata enim è medio non apparent amplius sed absconduntu◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it here Who ever saw the righteous plucked up by the roots so as there should be no remembrance no remainder of them The other word which is joyned in the Text cut off carries the same sense though it signifies properly to hide a thing yet it is so to hide it as it appeareth no more or so to hide it that it can neither be heard of nor seen any more Hence by a Metonymie it signifies to take away or to cut off because things that are taken away and cut off are as things hidden and seen no more Here then is the height of the sense either to take it for perishing in Hell or for such a perishing in this life as is joyned with totall desolation and desertion Then for the termes innocent and righteous The word we translate innocent signifieth empty And it is therefore applyed to an innocent person because innocent persons are emptied of malice and wickednesse their hearts are swept and cleansed purged and washed there is in some sense a vacuum a holy vacuum in the hearts of holy persons they are freed from that fulnesse of evill which lyes in their hearts by nature that filth is cast out Every mans heart by nature is brim full top full of wickednesse as the Apostle describes the Gentiles Rom. 1. 29. being filled with all unrighteousnesse and it is a truth of every mans heart it is a Cage full of uncleane Birds a stable full of filthy dung he hath in him a throng of sinfull thoughts a multitude of prophane ghests lodging in him Now a person converted is emptied of these these ghests are turned out of their lodgings the roomes are swept and emptied therefore an holy person is called an empty person Emptied not absolutely emptied of all sinne but comparatively there is abundance cast out so that considering how full of sin he was he may be said to be emptied of sinne and that his malice is cast out In the fourth of Amos the Prophet threatens cleannesse of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 teeth it is a suitable judgement that uncleane hearts and lives should be punished with cleane teeth or innocency of teeth for it is the word of the Text. Famine is elegantly so called Want of bread makes empty or cleane teeth And where were the righteous that 's the other terme cut off One may put the question where were the righteous surely Job had very good eyes if he could finde any righteous man upon the earth he might seem to have clearer eyes then the Lord himselfe if he could finde any righteous God looked downe from heaven and he saw none righteous no not one Psal 53. 3 4. Yet here Eliphaz bids Job enquire about the righteous where they were cut off To clear that By righteous here we are to understand not righteous persons in a strict and legall sense but in a Gospel mollified sense righteous with an allay righteous by way of interpretation and not in the strictnesse of the letter And so men are called righteous first in reference to the work of regeneration There are none righteous in the root or originall in their first setting and plantation in the soyle of the world but there are righteous persons as regenerate and transplanted into the body of Christ as wrought and fashioned by the Spirit of Christ Secondly there are none righteous that is none exactly perfectly compleatly
own But you shall finde in how sad a condition Saul himselfe was before the Devill had done with him for as soon as Saul heard the tydings delivered by that personated Samuel he fell into a shaking fit and was as one astonished and dead hanging upon the rack of these torments the Devill left him there was no word of comfort no sweet still musicall voice to revive and fetch him againe but away packs the wicked Spirit and leaves him overwhelm'd with sorrow And then instead of a better surely he could not have a worse the poor Witch comes to comfort and counsell him They who refuse counsell from the Prophets of God may at last be forced to receive all their comfort from a Witch a Prophet or Prophetesse of the Devill But to the point in hand we see when the Devill and wicked Angels speake terrour they leave terrour Whereas if God by good Angels speaks terrour or affrights his people with the tokens of his presence he with a sweet and still voice refreshes and comforts them before he departs And we may in that generall apply it to our selves That when God astonishes and terrifies us when he makes our bones to shake and rottennesse to enter into them wee may expect comfort and refreshing are at hand and we may build upon it that the more we tremble the more we shall be refreshed Habakkuk in the place before cited is expresse in this faith I trembled that I might have rest in the day of trouble to which he addes when he commeth up to the people he will invade or cut them to pieces with his troopes As intimating that they who will not tremble shall be made to tremble but when we actively labour to make our hearts tremble or when God makes us tremble in such a way as this we may build upon it that we shall rest in the day of trouble at least we shall rest in the end of that day God never leaves his people under a Cloud he takes off trouble and brings in a succession of comfort or conquers the trouble by mingling a prevailing portion of comfort with it If we take the Text in the latter sense we may note That silence becomes man when God speaks Speak Lord saith Samuel for thy servant heareth Heare O servant for thy Lord speaketh Silence prepares the heart to learne Pythagoras commanded his Scholers to keep silence five yeares And the Papists impose silence as a part of discipline upon their Novices Let superstition be avoided and then Silence is fittest for learners unlesse their voyce be an enquiry after learning That which the Apostle speaks respecting women in the Church is true of all in the sense I now speak of 1 Tim. 2. 12. Let the woman learn in silence so let the man learn in silence There were many among us not long since who made many teachers silent Silence is good as it is a preparative to learning but woe to that which is a hinderance to instructing They enjoyned silence on Teachers by which knowledge was suppressed we advice silence upon learners that knowledge may be encreased JOB Chap. 4. Vers 17. Shall mortall man be more just than God shall a man be more pure than his Maker IN this verse we have the argument it selfe or the matter revealed in the former vision There was silence and I heard a voyce saying What that voice said we have in these words Shall mortall man be more just than God This is the theame or subject upon which Eliphas argues and it is the maine proposition of the whole context The proofe of this proposition was given from Divine authority in the fore-going words and we have a proofe Numquid homo Dei comparatione justificabitur Vulg. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Clamabat dicebat fierme potest ut homo quam Deus â—urior sit Chald. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Miser aerumnis peccatis obnoxius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in quo sensus despe randi Eusebius à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deducit quod â—blivisci significat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interpretaâ—ur quasi animal obliviosum dicas Drus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Min est comparandi particula comparatio exprimitur per praepositienem ultimi casus justificatus ab illo ie prae illo Luk. 18. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vir quasi validus ut latine à viribus dictus from reason in the following part of this Chapter Shall mortall man be more just than God or Shall man be justified in comparison of God or Shall man be just before God The Chaldee Paraphrase is yet more quick The Spirit cryed out and said Can it possibly be that man should be more pure than God The words are propounded by way of question we may resolve them into this negative proposition Mortall man is not more just than God man is not more pure than his Maker We translate Mortall man the Hebrew is but one word yet in the propriety of that language it contains both noting man with an addition such as it is of weaknesse and frailty the meanest and lowest estate of man Enosh a poor sick weak dying creature a creature of so little hope that some derive this name in the Hebrew from desperation a creature so unworthy to be remembred by God or so ready to forget God that others derive it from a word which signifies forgetfulnesse or to forget Shall man this mortall man this weake creature be more just or be justified rather than God Such a sense the words carry When man and God are compared together shall God be esteemed lesse just or lesse pure than man Luk. 18. 14. it is said of the Publican that he went downe justified rather than the other put the Pharisee and the Publican in the ballance together and the Publican was the weightier in righteousnesse or the more just of the two That in Luke is an Hebraisme and it is the same with this Put weak man and the mighty God the word Eloha which is here used for God noteth the strong God or the mighty God put him in the ballance of consideration with weake man will he not be infinitely more weighty in justice more shining in purity more glorious in holinesse Yea not only if you take man in his obscurest notion or in this terme of extenuation Enosh for a weake man a poore creepled creeping creature but take him in his best estate as he is Geber a strong man a powerfull man a holy man yet as it followes in the text shall man be more pure than his Maker that is shall such a mighty man a wise man a learned man a gracious man a man accomplished in all naturall in all acquired endowments the chiefest and choisest the creame and flower of all the men upon the face of the earth A Worthy of the first three the First of all the Worthies A man of the first magnitude of
the highest elevation both in parts gifts and graces shall he be more pure than his Maker Christ as incarnate or made man is called the Mighty God Isa 9. 6. God made a Mighty man or man becomming the Mighty God The Chaldee calls all Giants Gibbaraja and Nimrod the first of the Giants was called by this name a Mighty hunter before the Lord Gen. 10. 8. So then Let man be never so excellent his excellency is basenesse let him be never so strong so wise so holy he is but weake foolish filthy compared with him who made him Leave your Enosh your weakeling your poore sick creatures bring forth your Gibers your best they are as nothing yea lesse than nothing before the Lord. Shall mortall man be more just than God shall man the best of men be more pure than his Maker We are to marke the double opposition of the Text. Here is first mortall weake sick man set in opposition to the strong the mighty the all-powerfull God And then in the second place the opposition is between the strongest the best the holiest the wisest of men and the maker of all men Shall mortall man or shall the best of men be more just more pure than God their Maker There is a three-fold sense which we may give of the words joyntly First They are a deniall of all comparison between God and man No man may compare himselfe with God Shall mortall man that is mortall man ought not to be so bold and daring as to venture upon such a thing as this to stand upon termes of equality with the mighty the great the glorious God the Maker of all as the Apostle resolves in his own case 1 Cor. 4. 4. Though I know nothing by my selfe yet am I not hereby justified at all much lesse though a man know nothing by himselfe will this justifie him in this comparison that he is just as God is just But secondly Shall mortall man be more just than God It is as if he had said God who is infinite in justice would never doe that which a just man will not doe God who is infinite in power would never doe that which a weake man would not doe shall weake man be more just than God And so we may forme the argument thus No man no Judge is more just or incorrupt than God who is the supreame and Lord chiefe Justice of all men But there is no just Judge amongst men who will punish an innocent man therefore God doth not punish any one that is innocent The consequence or inference is plaine and cleare for God himselfe should either be unjust or he should be lesse just than man is if he should doe that which a just man upon true grounds would refuse to doe Therefore in Gen. 18. Abraham pleades with God under that title of a just Judge shall not the Judge of all the world doe right As if he should say faithfull Judges upon the earth will doe right therefore surely he that is the Judge of all the earth will doe right so Eliphaz here to Job Never complaine as if God had done thee wrong for certainly the just God will not doe that which a just man would not doe The word whereby God is exprest Eloha Eloha denotot judicem â—quissimum rerum arbitâ—um doth well comply with and answer this sense it being properly attributed to God as a Judge the great arbitrator and determiner of all the causes and cases of all men in the world Shall mortall man be more just than God Thirdly The sense may be taken thus If any man should come to impleade God or to pleade with God if any should dare to tax the Justice of God or be so hardy to put in a bill of complaint against him shall this man this weake man be found more just in his complaining than God hath been in sentencing shall his bill of complaint be better grounded than the Lords award of Judgement It is an allusion to those who supposing they have wrong complaine against the Judge and say that he hath erred in or perverted Judgement That word Justified here used shall man be justified before God is a Judiciarie word a Court or Law terme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Veâ—bum forense spectans ad innocentis absolutionem The same word which the Holy Ghost uses in that great work of Free Grace the justification of a sinner before God And that imports the declaring and setting forth of a man to be righteous and his cause good in Jesus Christ whereupon he is cleered and acquitted When Satan accuses or pleads against us laying such and such sinnes to our charge thus and thus this man hath offended then God is said to justifie a man that is to declare him to be just his sinnes being covered and himselfe accepted in Jesus Christ Hence that divine challenge to all accusers Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that justifieth Rom. 8. 33. So now if man should accuse and complaine against God he hath done thus and thus in the world afflicted a Job troubled a righteous person shall mortall man be more just than God Shall this man in his complaint be justified shall not God rather be justified against whom he complains Certainly he shall God shall be declared just yea he shall be declared just by man A man un-ingaged and rightly principled Such a man shall say verily there is a God that judgeth the earth In the judgement of man that judgment shall speak a God and all shall be forced to Daniels mourning acknowledgement O Lord righteousnesse belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of face Dan. 97. 9 We may enlighten it further by that of David Ps 51. 4. where he professes thus I will confesse my sins c. that thou maiest be justified when thou speakest and be cleare when thou judgest as if he should say if hereafter thou shalt afflict me and lay thy rod upon me I know many will be ready to complaine and say why doth God thus why doth he afflict David David a holy man a man after his own heart a man of whom he hath given such large testimony of whom he hath said I have found a man after my own heart Now to the intent all these may be cast in their suits and answered in their complainings I here acknowledge before all the world that I have sinned greatly therefore though thou hast pardoned my sinne and so wilt never charge it upon me to condemnation nor punish me for it in a way of satisfaction yet hereafter thou maiest in thy fatherly wisdome see it needfull to chastise me to prevent and purge out sin or to help me against the weaknesse of my nature and the strength of temptation for the time to come So here in the Text Shall man be justified before God If Job or any of his friends for him should complaine against God why he being
against God by these grievous complainings of his present state in the fore-going Chapter There is a truth in the proposition though not in the application as hath often been hinted Jobs complaints were bitter from the sense of his paines not from any prejudice in his understanding Quisqâ—is de persecâ—tione murmurat quid aliud quam judicium feâ—ientis aâ—â—usat puriorâ—m ergo se vir factore suo existimat si contra flagellum qurelam parat camque sibi proculdubio post ponit câ—jus judicium de sua afflictione râ—dâ—â—guiâ— Gâ—eg He ever preserved high and holy thoughts of God The least suspition of whose righteous dealings is to make our selves by so much more righteous then he The reason is cleere for he that complaines thus thinks some wrong is done him Now he that complaines of wrong would be thought more just than he of whose wronging him he complaines Whosoever murmurs or repines at what God doth secretly saith this voice is in it that he could doe better or that God ought He that speaks against the rod speaks against him that smites with the rod He that sweares by Heaven sweares by the Throne of God and by him that sitteth thereon saith Christ And so he that accuses the rod of God accuses the work of God and God that wrought it He thinks himselfe more pure then his Maker who is displeased with God as a correcter To disapprove any thing which God doth is to approve our selves before God It is seasonable for us to look to our hearts in such a time as this it is a time of temptation let us not by our murmurings make it a time of provocation Possibly we may often see cause to complaine of men but we can never have cause to complaine of God There is but little good got by complaining of creatures but how much guilt and misery gets he who complaines of his Creator For a man to complaine to man is in some cases necessary but it is best in all cases to complaine to God and the worst of any case to complaine though silently of God So then complaine of man to God rather then of man to men complaine often to God but never of God Complaine before God and tell him that such have dealt negligently such falsely such unjustly such cruelly But alwayes say Lord thou hast done justly even by those who are unjust Lord thou hast done gratiously even by those who are wicked Lord thou hast done holily even by the hand of those who are unholy and thou hast dealt faithfully though these have been treacherous Thus let us complaine to God but not of God Every complaint of God will be interpreted a secret justification of our selves and a condemnation of the righteous God Man is then worse then a Devill when he would make himselfe better then God Nothing pollutes man so much as this thought that there is unrighteousnesse in God Nothing debases the creature so much as that thought desire or act wherein he prefers and exalts himselfe above the Creator Thus we have opened the generall proposition The probation of it from the vast difference between men and Angels is prosecuted at large in the latter part of the Chapter JOB Chap. 4. Vers 18. Behold he put no trust in his servants and his Angels he charged with folly ELiphaz having laid the dignity of man comparing with God in the dust by those humbling questions in the former verse what is man that he should be just and shall man be more pure than his Maker He now strengthens it further that there is no comparison between God and mortall man by a direct assertion that there is no comparison between God and immortall Angells Behold he put no trust in his servants and his Angels he charged with folly As if he had said If Angels are not able to stand before God and justifie themselves upon his enquirie then certainly man the best of men who dwell but in houses of clay cannot But Angels cannot justifie themselves before God therefore much lesse can the best of men That Angels are not able to justifie themselves before God he proves in these words Behold he put no trust in his servants and his Angels he charged with folly They that cannot be trusted by God cannot be justified by God And they that are chargeable with folly are not able to stand in judgement before the most wise the only wise and holy God Angels are excellent creatures yet because creatures they are in and of themselves fraile and weake they have no strength to stand longer then upheld no stedfastnesse to obey longer than confirmed no faithfullnesse to be loyall longer than overruled no wisedome to discerne further than they are enlightned what then will become of man if he stand alone or stand in competition with God his Maker This is the summe and generall sense of the words as they are an argument We will now consider them as they lye here in order Behold he put no trust in his servants The particle Behold in the Originall as it often notes wonder in other texts so it may much more in this Behold a wonder Angels are foolish Angels are not to be trusted yet in this place Behold is put by way of affirmation rather then of admiration Behold he put no trust in his servants is as much as verily and indeed certainly and without controversie he put no trust in his servants So Deut. 13 14. Thou shalt inquire and search and aske diligently and behold if it be true in the Hebrew thus and behold true or behold truth that is if upon enquirie it appeare that sucb and such things are certainly so then they must proceed according to the Law provided in that case Againe Deut. 19. 18. The Judges shall make diligent inquisition and behold if the witnesse be a false witnesse so we translate but the letter is Behold the witnesse a false witnesse that is if it be affirmed and doe appeare that it is a false witnesse or testimonie which is brought then the Judges shall proceed so and so c. Thus here Behold he put no trust in his servants is a vehement affirmation that God searching into those his servants finds them such as are not to be trusted But who are these untrusty servants First The Chaldee paraphrast understands by servants the holy Prophets Prophets I grant sometimes have and oftner would have proved unfaithfull some of them discovered much and others would have discovered more unfaithfulnesse if God had not mightily supported them Secondly One of the Rabbins understands it in generall of any or of all the faithfull Behold he put no trust in his servants that is not in any of the holiest and faithfullest of the children of men But the connexion of the text carries it clearely that by servants we are to understand the Angels who are called ministring spirits Heb. 1. 14. Are they not all ministring spirits or servants sent out
Hoast of Senacherib an Angel smote bloody persecuting Herod Angels by name if not by nature powre out the seven vials of Gods wrath in the Revelation And at the last day Angels shall hurry the wicked to Christs Tribunall they are heavenly Pursivants and they shall bundle the Tares up together as fuell to be throwne into everlasting burnings Matth. 13. 41 42. And it may be a great comfort to us that God hath such servants When visible dangers are round about us we should remember God hath invisible servants round about us There are more with us then against us as Elisha told his fearfull servant 2 Kings 6. And in that low estate of the Church Zech. 1. 8. the Prophet is shewed Christ in a vision standing among the Mirtle trees in the bottome the Mirtle trees in the bortome noted the Church in a low estate and behinde him there were red Horses speckled and white that is horsemen speckled and white These diverse coloured Horses were Angels appointed for severall offices as the learned Junius with others interprets it The red horses being appointed for judgement the white for mercy and the speckled as he conjectures for mixt actions being sent out at once to protect and help the people of God and to execute wrath and judgement upon the adversary Thus we see the services of the Angels they are servants yet such as the most wise God put no trust in therefore we have an Angel better then Angels even the Angel of the Covenant the Lord Jesus into whose hands our safety is committed to whose care the Church is left in whom God puts the whole trust knowing that this great Angel is and for ever will be faithfull in and over his house to his highest delight and the Churches compleatest welfare And his Angels he charged with folly Nec in Angelis suis ponet lumen Tagn Nec in Angelis suis posuit lucem exactissimam Vatab. Angelis suis posuit vesaniam Tygur In Angelis suis ponet glorationem Bibl. Reg. In Angelis suis reperit vanitatem Sym. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Splenduit luxit claruit Metaphoricè in piel spiendidum illustrem claâ—uÌ„ reddidit laudavit praedicavit Per Antiph rasin inglorius insanus furore actus fuit insanivit There are very different readings of this part of the Verse Some as M. Beza read it thus He trusted not in his servants though he had put light into those his messengers Others reade it with a negation in both parts He put no trust in his servants neither hath he put light in his Angels Another thus neither hath he put perfect light in his Angels Mr. Broughton differs from all these Behold he holdeth not perfection to be in his own servants and in his Angels he judged no clear light to be Another sort read it to these senses He charged or put madnesse in or upon his Angels he put or charged vaine boasting in or upon his Angels he found vanity in or amongst his Angels he observed some evill amongst his Angels Now that which hath given occasion to this variety of translatings is the different senses which the Originall yields us The Hebrew word is very fruitfull of significations and hath as the Oracle told Rebecca concerning two contrary Nations two contrary meanings in the wombe of it and that makes the strugling amongst Interpreters The word in its proper sense signifies to shine forth with a resplendent brightnesse so Chap. 29. 3. Job wisheth O that I were as in moneths past when the candle of God shined upon my head it is a Verbe of which the word folly in this text of Job is a derivative And Isay 14. 12. Hielel signifies the Morning star whose shining brightnesse hath obtained the name Lucifer Light-bringer or Light-bearer How art thou fallen from Heaven O Lucifer sonne of the Morning How art thou fallen from Heaven Hielel thou shining day-star Thus the word properly signifies shining or brightnesse or to shine and be bright and hence by a Metaphor to be Famous or renowned or to make one renowned or famous or to paint out a man with praises because a man is as it were decked with light and hath rayes of brightnesse cast upon him when he is honoured and adorned with praises Due commendations are to a man as a robe or vesture of light which makes him shine to all about him And hence the word Halelujah is derived praise ye Jah or the Lord used frequently both in the beginning and end of the Psalmes in the beginning of the Psalmes by way of exhortation and in the end by way of acclamation crying up the honour and glory of God And to note that in passage it is well observed that this word Hallelujah is first used in the old Testament Psal 104. 35. where the utter consumption of sinners is mentioned and in the New Testament it is first used Rev. 19. 3 6. where the utter consumption of Antichrist is prophesied Judgement on the wicked is matter of high praise to God Thirdly the word signifies by the figure Antiphrasis or contrary speaking to boast and brag vainly foolishly or vaine foolish boasting To commend or extoll our selves is pride running mad and arrogance distracted It is the highest dotage to be in love with our owne wisdome and folly to publish our own works There may be wisdom though oftentimes there is a great deale of folly in commending others but in commending our selves there can be nothing but folly therefore the very same word which signifies to boast and commend our selves signifies both the concrete to be mad vaine or foolish and the abstract madnesse and folly thus in Eccles 2. 2 12. the word is used I said of laughter thou art mad I turned my selfe to behold wisdome and folly and madnesse and Psal 75. 4. I said unto the fooles deale not foolishly or to the mad-men do not play the mad-men that is do not exalt your selves for so he clears his meaning in the fifth Verse Lift not up your hornes on high speak not with a stiffe neck that is a neck stifned with pride and a horne lifted up with vaine-glory or self-confidence From this variety of significations the variety of translations before toucht ariseth First they who read it He put light into those his messengers take the word in a proper strict sense making out the meaning thus that God having put the light of excellent knowledge into the Angels could not yet trust them all their speculative knowledge and high raised illuminations were not enough to make them steadily and steadfastly holy that is the intent of Mr. Beza's interpretation He trusted not to his servants though he had put light into those his messengers For those who retaining the word light translate negatively neither hath he put light in his Angels or neither hath he put perfect light into his Angels or as Mr. Broughton In his Angels
men we need not the helpe of fooles to counsell us or of unfaithfull ones to act for us Besides Creatures are no helpe to God For the truth is God and the creature are no more than God alone I say God and the utmost perfection of all creatures put together are no more than God alone The reason of it is because if there be any perfection in creatures it is but what God himselfe hath put into them What a man gives to another is no addition to himselfe much lesse is that which God gives man or Angel any addition to God God is infinite and no addition can be made to infinite When the creature doth most for us the creature of it selfe doth nothing for us God doth all in all by all The creature doth you no more good at one time than at another all the good which is done at any time God doth it So then every way God hath no need of creatures And it is our comfort I am sure it ought to be that he hath not He saith to wisemen I have no need of your counsels to rich men I have no need of your purses and to great men I have no deed of your power hee sees all is vanity Lastly If God trust not Angels let not us trust in man if he charges his Angels with folly let not us adore the wisedome of man This discovery of imperfection in Angels should lay all creatures low before us and take us off from confidence or boasting in any arme of flesh To this sense Eliphaz prosecutes the argument in the following words to the end of the Chapter If Angels the chiefest and choicest of creatures be thus weake what then is man who dwels in a house of clay whose foundation is in the dust and who are crushed before the moth JOB Chap. 4. Vers 19 20 21. How much lesse on them that dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust which are crushed before the moth They are destroyed from morning to evening they perish for ever without any regarding it Doth not their excellency which is in them goe away they die even without wisedome THese three verses containe a description of man in opposition to the Angels The forme of the argument was given before to this effect That if Angels those excellent creatures cannot stand before God or be justified in his sight then much lesse man a weake creature man who dwels in a house of clay and whose foundation is in the dust Two things this Context holds forth to us concerning the weaknesse of man in opposition to Angels First It shewes that man is a materiall substance so are not Angels Angels are spirits spirituall substances Secondly It shewes us that man is a mortall substance so are not Angels spirits die not That man is a materiall substance is proved in the beginning of the 19. verse from those words He dwels in a house of clay whose foundation is in the dust That man is a mortall substance is implied in the former That which is made of clay and dust must needes be brittle ware But besides that his mortality is implied in those words it is proved expresly and in termes in the words following to the end of the Chapter And this mortality of man is set forth by divers adjuncts or circumstances 1. By a similitude shadowing the quicknesse or the suddennesse of mans death They are crushed before the moth 2. By the shortnesse of life They are destroyed from morning to evening 3. By the everlasting power which death hath upon us respecting this world They perish for ever 4. By the common and generall insensiblenesse and inconsideration of this fraile life of this long lasting death Man saith he is destroyed from morning to evening he dieth quickly perisheth for ever he lies as long as the world lasts in his grave yet such is the stupidity of man that none regard all this he dies without any regarding 5. And least any should say surely man is not such a pitifull creature as this sad description represents him man was the most excellent part of the inferior creation God planted many noble endowments upon man and is there no more to be said of him but this he is crush'd like a moth and dies no man regarding That objection is taken away in the last verse as if the Holy Ghost had said I grant that man besides dust and clay which are his materials hath many heavenly yea divine endowments he hath the impressions of Gods Image in reason and understanding stamped upon him but though he be thus qualified yet all his excellency all that which may be accounted the choisest and the best in him will not keepe him sweet or protect him from death and rottennesse Doth not saith he their excellency which is in them goe away as if he had said If you alledge that man is more than dust and clay then weaknesse and corruption t is granted but what then Doth not their excellency that is in them goe away doth it not vanish and where is it and where is he All naturall perfections whatsoever man hath under the notion of a reasonable creature be they never so high and raised quickly passe wither and decay They have no abiding excellency in them Doth not their excelleny that is in them goe away They have wisdome but they die without wisedome even as bruit beasts either their wisdome decayes while they live or it is not able to keepe them alive wisedome parts and learning stand them in no stead to prevent death Now if their excellency goe away they must goe too if wisedome cannot keepe them alive die they must as we shall see further in opening the severall parts having thus given the sense in generall These things considered we may see the strength of the Argument in the 19. verse How much lesse on them who dwell in houses of clay c. as if he should say Forasmuch as Angels cannot stand in competition with God or approve themselves in his sight certainly much lesse can man how great thoughts soever he hath of himselfe much lesse can man be justified in his sight who comes so many degrees short of Angelicall perfections For his soule which is within him though it be a noble and a spirituall substance and that wherein he is most like to Angels yet this soule of his sojournes dwels and acts in a body composed of corruptible clay and hath no better a foundation in a naturall capacitie than the very dust And so subject is this man to mortality thus composed of dust and clay as what through the inward distempers of his body what through outward accidents and casualties he is as transitory and as subject to death as the meanest worme as the poorest creature in the world he is crushed before the moth How much lesse on them that dwell in houses of clay The Hebrew beares a double rendring either how much lesse as we or
superesse non solum excessum quantitatis significat sed etiam qualitatis dignitatis ficut verbum latinuÌ„ supero non solum superesse sed etiam vinceâ—e excellere Pined 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the word signifies a quantitive remainder or overplus both of persons and things so also a qualitative excesse or remainder or that which exceeds in quality any excesse in the goodnesse of a quality is called excellency Thus Jacob cals Reuben in regard of his primogeniture the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power yet blots him in the next Verse because of his sinne thou shalt not excell Gen. 49. 3 4. This sense of the word suits well with the scope of the text in hand His excellency that is whatsoever doth excell or is best in him But what is that Some by his Excellency understand the soule as if he had said that best part of man the soule which may be opposed to clay and dust before spoken of that noble guest that royall inhabitant of this house of clay goeth out when death enters Death dissolves the union between soule and body Or rather we may take excellency for any speciall endowment first of the body as beauty or strength Secondly of the minde as wit and knowledge learning or skill Thirdly we may take it for those worldly excellencies of riches honour or authority when a man goeth out all these excellencies which are in him or which are about him go out too This excellency is the same which is called the goodlinesse of man by the Prophet Esay 40. 6. The voice said cry what shall I cry All flesh is grasse and all the goodlinesse thereof is as the flower of the field Not only is the flesh but the goodliness thereof fading also So here not only the house of clay and the foundation of dust but the excellency of it all the adorning and polishing the guilding and painting the rich hanging and precious furniture of this house go away Taking excellency here for the soule then we see wherein our excellency consists As man was the principall part of the creation so the soule is the principall part of man The constitution of the soule is mans naturall excellency and the conversion of the soule is mans spirituall excellency Secondly observe Death is the going away or the departure of the soule from the body Death is called sometime a departure of body and soule out of the world Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace saith old Simeon Luke 2. Man goes to his long home Eccles 12. 5. I go the way of all flesh saith Moses and I goe away saith our Lord Christ of his death Death is also called a departure of the soule from the body The death of Rachel is thus described Genesis 35. 18. And it came to passe that as her soule was in departing for she dyed From the other interpretation which I rather insists upon Observe that in death all a mans naturall and outward excellency whatsoever leaves him and departs from him Psal 49. 16. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich when the glory of his house is increased why for when he dyeth he shall carry nothing away with him his glory shall not descend after him though a man have an excellent out-side a great stock of riches beauty and honour though he have excellent linings of wisdome and knowledge yet all ends as to him when he ends and therefore David concludes Psal 39. Man at his best state or in his best estate is altogether vanity The excellencies that are in him goe away in that day all his thoughts perish his counsels and his projects perish with him One of the ancients standing by Caesars Tomb who was one of the most accomplisht men in the world for naturall civill and morall excellencies learned valiant noble rich and powerfull he I say standing by Caesars Tomb wept and cried out where is now the flourishing beauty of Caesar what 's Vbi nunc pulchâ—itudo Caesaris quo abiit magnificentia tua become of his magnificence where are the armies now where the honours of Caesar where are now the victories the triumphs and trophies of Caesar All 's gone all 's departed the goodlinesse of them is as the flower of the field his excellency which was in him is gone away And thus it will be said of all those who without grace are most excellent in any thing below Though your clay be curiously wrought and stampt with such beauty as renders you almost Angelicall to the eye of others Though your bodies are strongly joynted and blessed with such health as renders your lives most active and comfortable to your selves though your mindes are stored with variety of learning and you know as much as is knowable in the whole circle of Nature or of times yet when Death comes all these excellencies go away Nothing will stay by us then and go not from us but with us but the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord for whom Paul did and we ought to suffer the losse of all things and count them but dung that we may winne Christ Phil. 3. 8. For notwithstanding all other knowledge and wisdome we shall dye and conclude as this Chapter concludes of man without wisdome They dye even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without wisdome or word for word They dye not and in wisdome We may understand it two wayes First as if he had said though men are excellent in wisdom yet they dye their wisdom is to them in death as if they had no wisdome they have no more priviledge or defence against the stroak of death by all their wisdome learning Nalla est sapi entia qua mortem effugiant Merc. and knowledge then fooles or bruit beasts who have no knowledge no wisdome at all they dye even without wisdome or even as if they had no wisdome Died Abner as a foole dyeth said mourning David 1 Sam. 3. 33. yes Abner dyed as a foole dyeth And so in one sense doe the wisest of men He was the wisest of all the children of men and he spake it by the wisdome of God who asking this question How dyeth the wise man answers as the foole Eccles 2. 16. Let not any man pride himself in the excellency of his wisdome for that dwels in a house of clay whose foundation is in the dust his frailty is not curable by his excellency nor his mortality conquerable by his wisdome he shall dye as if he had no wisdome And some who have most worldly wisdome dye Non in sapientâ—a extenuatio est i. e. in magna stultitia Pined with least yea they with the greatest folly Not in wisdome may be an extenuation or a more gentle easie expression for in abundance of folly I remember it is observed concerning Paracelsus a great Physitian a man exceedingly verst in Chymicall experiments that he brag'd and boasted he had attained to such wisdom in
thou shalt find but few in the troubles which thou hast borne even those thou wilt find altogether unlike thee in bearing those troubles Scarce any of the godly ever suffered such things as thou hast done but none of the godly ever did such things in their sufferings As he argues him in the first verse of hypocrisie by his unlikenesse to the Saints so in the next words he argues him of hypocrisie by his likenesse to the wicked His first argument for this lyes in the second verse and in the three following verses there lyes a second argument to confirme the same point He attempts to prove Job like a foole or a wicked man two wayes 1. In his manner of suffering 2. In the matter of his suffering First saith he thou art like a foole or like a foolish man like the worst of men in the manner of thy carriage under sufferings The argument may be framed thus He that behaveth himselfe like a foole or like a wicked man while he is in trouble is a man either openly wicked or grossely hypocriticall But Job thou behavest thy selfe like a foolish or a wicked man in thy troubles Therefore thou art wicked c. The Assumption or Minor Proposition is in the second verse Wrath killeth the foolish and envy slayeth the silly one As if he should say Thou pinest ragest and vexest thy selfe under they sufferings after the rate of foolish and silly ones that is sinfull and wicked ones Secondly He would prove Job to be a hypocrite because his sufferings for the matter of them were like the judgements which God uses to powre forth upon wicked und ungodly men and that argument may be thus framed Wicked men flourish a while and then sudden destruction commeth upon them they and their children and their whole estates are swallowed up in a moment But Job thou having flourished a little while wast suddenly surprised and swallowed up by judgements thou thy estate thy children all devoured and consumed Therefore thou art a wicked man a very hypocrite God hath dealt with thee as he uses to deale with his enemies and therefore thou art not his friend This is the Logicke of the context or the reasons couched in them whereby Eliphaz would convince Job of sinne By this a generall light is let into the whole Context Now we will consider the words and open their sense distinctly Call now if there be any that will answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turne Interpreters vary much about the meaning of these words First Some of the Jewish Writers looke upon these words as proceeding from hight and pride of spirit in Eliphaz as if he disdained to talke with Job any longer about the businesse as if he looking upon Job as no match for him in point of argument bids him looke out an Angel or a Saint to grapple with him in these disputes and see if he could find any one of those who would undertake for him as an Advocate or be his Second forasmuch as himselfe was so unable to defend his cause or justifie what he had done Call now if there be any that will answer thee that is answer for thee or to which of the Saints wilt thou turne for help to patronize or plead thy cause But I shall passe that Secondly Others of the Jewish writers make the sense out thus as if Eliphaz had said with Paul in the point of the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11. 24. That which I have delivered unto you I have received of the Lord so that which I delivered unto thee in my former argument I received from the Lord in a vision it was revealed unto me from Heaven now doe thou try whether thou canst learne any thing from Heaven or from the Saints upon the earth who are instructed to and for the Kingdome of Heaven which may answer my arguments or confute the reasons which I have broughc against thee I had a vision from Heaven now call thou to Heaven and see if thou canst have any answer from thence Turne also to the Saints to any Saint upon the earth and see what they will answer thee I believe thou wilt not find one amongst them all differing in judgement from me or from that Oracle with Nemo tibi pravè corrupteq de his rebus iudicanti patronus aderit nemo qui tibi respondeat tibi acâ—inat tuam sententiam â—ueatur which I have now acquainted thee They will all agree with me in these great principles about the providence power and justice of God about the sufferings sinfullnesse and weaknesse of man That 's a second sense Thirdly Others take the words as an Ironie as a derision or scorne put upon Job by Eliphaz As if Eliphaz had mocked him thus Thou hast handled the matter well thou hast carried thy selfe so in the dayes of thy peace and prosperity that now when thou art in trouble thou mayest call long enough and cry till thy throat akes and thy spirits be spent and yet have none to answer thee none to speake a word to thee or to doe thee any good though thou cry to all the Saints and send to all thy friends round about thee yet in this day none will heare or regard thee Thou wilt find thy selfe forsaken of all no man will give thee any assistance or take any care of thy condition Just as Elijah brake forth in holy scorne against the Prophets of Baal 1 King 18. 27. when they were crying out to their Idol for helpe and a signe by fire Cry aloud saith he cry aloud he bad them cry aloud yet he knew the Idol was deafe and dumbe and could neither heare their cry nor give them answer So Eliphaz seemes to speake to Job Cry aloud now to this to that Saint with whom thou art acquainted here on earth or cry to Heaven cry to God himselfe call this way call that if any will answer thee either God above or Saint below thou shalt not find here or there any to assist any to releeve thee And so he seems to allude to that just retaliation of God who usually turnes his eare from their cry in a day of trouble who have turned their eares from his counsels in the dayes of comfort As Prov 1. Wisedome threatens They shall call but I will Vox in tribulatione eum non invenit quem mens in â—ranquilitate contempsit Greg. in loc not answer they shall cry but I will not heare Why because they have refused instruction and have not chosen the feare of the Lord. In the fourth place Most of the Popish writers busie themselves much to ground invocation of Saints the intercession of Saints for us upon this text As if Eliphaz had directed Job to cry to the Saints departed Call now if there be any that will answer and to which of the Saints wilt thou turne what Saint wilt thou choose for thy patron or helper in this sad condition So they
teach and practise having appointed a particular Saint in the Kalender of the yeare to the help of every particular affliction in their lives and to these they turne themselves in every distresse They have a Saint for the sea and a Saint for the land a Saint for the fire and a Saint for the water a Saint for each disease of the body and for each disaster in the family To some of these they suppose Job was advised to have recourse for succour and comfort in his troubles And yet they are divided in opinion give a double sense about it First As if Eliphaz had thus bespoken him If thou doest not give credit unto me nor believe what I have spoken was revealed Aquinus in loc from God then call thou thy selfe upon God and try whether he will not give thee some answer and resolve thy doubt Or if by reason of thine own unworthynesse thou canst not obtaine an immediate answer at the hand of God then turne thee to some of the Sainrs that by their mediation thou maist receive light from God to assure thee about my vision whether it were sent from Heaven or no. Secondly Others interpret it more largely as if Eliphas perceiving Job to be brought to some light and acknowledgement of his sins and now to thirst after the pardon of them he in these words exhorts him to call upon and cry unto God for pardon if perhaps he himselfe would vouchsafe to answer But in case shame did so cover his face and guilt so stop his mouth that he could not speake unto God immediately then he adviseth him to pray in aide from some of the Saints departed who might manage this sute and intercede for him at the throne of grace The grossenesse of this interpretation is such as carries a selfe-refutation with it and therefore I shall not need to stay long about the refuting of it Neither will I stay to argue against that groundlesse uselesse Doctrine in generall The invocation of Saints departed Which finds no letter of command or direction no letter of promise or acceptation no letter of example or practice for our imitation in the whole Booke of God But is a reproach to the Saints a dishonour to God whose Name and incommunicable Title is The God hearing prayers and therefore to him shall the desires of all flesh come and if all to him then who to Saints or Angels Only He can be the object of our prayer who is the object of our faith Rom. 10. How shall they call on him on whom they have not believed To whom we pray upon him we must believe Saints departed are not to be believed upon how then shall they be called on But to leave the question I shall only touch two things to shew how wide they are in this exposition First The confessed Doctrine of Popery tells us that before Christs comming in the flesh and his resurrection from the grave all the Saints departed were in Limbus a place which they have framed and built up in their own fancies as the common receptacle of all those who died in the faith of Christ before Christ died Therefore they tell us to eke out the story That as Christ went downe into Hell the place of the damned to strike terrour into the Devils so he went into this Limbus thence to deliver the fathers from that prison and carry them up with himselfe into glory Now this being their Tenet how senselesse is it for them to ground their opinion of invocation of Saints upon any Scripture of the old Testament and therefore it is so to ground it upon this Secondly if we consider these words we may as well seek for fire in the bottome of the Sea as for the invocation of Saints in this Text for here is no such thing spoken of and if any thing sounds that way it is rather to condemne praying to Saints then any confirmation of it for call now if there be any that will answer thee carries this sense rather call now for there is none to answer thee and to which of the Saints wilt thou turne that is none among Voca si quis est qui tibi respondeâ—â— q. d. nemo tibi respondebiâ— Merc. Quod quidam nostoâ—um hunc locum adsanctorum morâ—oâ—uÌ„ invocationem quam veteres ne agnâ—veâ—unt qâ—idem referunâ— merum deâ—erâ—um est Idem Paulo post Nihil hic de sanctorum mâ—rtuorum invocatione Thomas Aquinas Lyâ—anâ—â— eò quidem referunâ—â—ed aequae inepâ—è ne dâ—cam imprè Idem in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nec licet insultantis aliquando sit ut pluâ—iâ—â—uâ— tamen suadenâ—is exhâ—rtantis est Vâ— Sodes Amâ—â—o laâ—inis all the Saints if thou turnest to them can give thee any help As Mercer a moderate Papist gives the meaning of this Scripture against the current of their interpreters And this will appeare more fully in opening the Gramaticall sense of a word or two which also will give the cleare meaning of the whole passage Eliphaz as was hinted in drawing out his arguments calls upon Job to call to remembrance former times to search the records of antiquity and see whether he could find an example of any one among all the Saints who either had such troubles as his or in his troubles spake and behaved himselfe as he had done he bids him name one if he could Call now or Call I pray thee What we translate now is sometime a particle of insulting but most usually of perswading or intreating We render it as an Adverbe of time but it rather imports a request So Gen. 12. 13. Abraham entreates Sarah Say I pray thee thou art my sister The word Kara which we translate call signifies first to cry aloud by way of preaching or proclamation Isa 58. 1. Cry aloud lift up thy voice like a trumpet Secondly by way of prayer or invocation as Psal 50. 15. Call upon me in the day of trouble but it rather signifies and that more properly to call by way of appellation or by way of nomination As Ruth 1. 20. Call mee not Naomi but call mee Marah So here Call now that is looke over the names or call over the names of all the Saints as we use to say when many should meete together and we would know whether they are all met or as Stewards when they pay many hired servants their wages take the Bill and call over their Names and so pay them one by one Mat. 20. 8. In the evening the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his Steward call the labourers that is call them by their severall names and give them their hire Thus we may understand the phrase in this place reade the catalogue of the Saints call every one by his name and put the question to them aske them whether ever they had such afflictions as thou hast or aske them whether they behaved themseves under their afflictions as thou hast done I believe thou
wilt find none to answer thee To this sense Mr. Broughton translates Call now if there be any that will defend thee that is be thy patron or advocate in word or in the example of their lives If there be any that will answer thee For ehe word which we render answer signifies not only answering unto a question but an answering to a condition or a correspondency in practise Verbum respondeâ—e in hoc loco significat poâ—â—us similitudinem vel comparationem quam responsionem Bold There is an answering by likenesse of works as well as by fitnesse of words A reall answer and a verball answer Take it so and then Call now to the Saints call them all by their names intends only thus much see if there be any that are like thee or sute either thy spirit or thy condition if there be any to whom thou mayest paralell thy selfe either in the matter or manner of thy sufferings Thou art more like a Heathen who knows not God then any of the Saints in these complainings And seeing out of the aboundance of the heart the mouth speaks these words speake thy heart abounding in sin but empty of grace Face answers face in the water But neither thy face nor heart will answer either heart or face of any of the Saints in these waters of affliction We find this word signifying similitude or comparison or the equivalence of one thing to another in that instance Eccles 10 19. Money answers all things the meaning of it is that money in a proportion or value suites paralels and fits all things There is nothing in the world but you may suite it with a proportion of money money will answer it money answers or is like all things by an equivalency though not in a formality And to which of the Saints wilt thou turne The Septuagint reade it To which of the Angels wilt thou looke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the learned Mercer adheres to that translation as thinking that by Saints are meant Angels though he be so farre from laying any bottome in the words for the Popish opinion of the mediation of Angels that he expressely condemnes it but he gives the sense thus as if Eliphaz had reproved Job of pride for contesting with God when as if he did turne himselfe to Angels he should find himselfe farre below and much overmatcht by them What thou dust and ashes more righteous and just than God Though he charged his Angels with folly yet even they are too wise and holy for thee to deale with If thou wert put into the ballance with Angels how light wouldst thou be then how much lighter then vanity art thou being weighed with God But the Hebrew is better translated Saints The word signifies a thing or person separated or set apart from common and dedicated to a speciall especially a holy use Holinesse in the generall nature of it is nothing else but a separation from common and dedication to a divine service such are the Saints persons seperated from the world and set apart unto God The Church in generall which is a company of Saints is taken out of and severed from the world The Church is a fountaine sealed and a Garden inclosed so also every particular Saint is a person severed and enclosed from the common throng and multitude of the world Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch no uncleane thing and I will receive you 2 Cor. 6. 17. Turne thee it is both a witty and judicious conceit that Eliphaz in these words alludes to painters or Picture-drawers who when Alluâ—ere vide tur ad pictâ—res qui frequenter ad prototypum exemplar quod incitari conanâ—ur oculos dirigam ad illud convertuntur they are drawing the Picture of a Man or of any other thing frequently turne their eyes upon the proto-type upon that which they are to draw by when a man sits as they speake to have his picture taken the Artist turnes his eye often upon him so here to which of the Saints wilt thou turne thee to see thy picture or to see any one like thee where wilt thou looke now and by looking observe a Saint of thy complexion a holy man like thy selfe If the pictures of all the Saints were lost none of them could be found in or coppied out from thee The word which we translate turne Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non simpliciter respicere signâ—ficat aut aliquid intueri sed cum qu daÌ„ animi intentione ad aliquem fluem doth not signifie simply to looke about or turne the eye but to turne the eye about with much intention or curiosity of observation to make a discovery and find out somewhat Sometime it signifies to looke in compassion Psal 25. 16 Turne thee unto me saith David and have mercy upon me for I am very low To looke in compassion notes a strictnesse of observation to find out what charity or mercy should supply such a look or view of his estate David desired that God would turne his eye upon him to what end that he might consider and find out all his necessities and in mercy succour him So then To which of the Saints wilt thou turne sounds thus much upon what Saint wilt thou fix thine eye to find thy own likenesse a representation of the sufferings thou bearest or of thy bearing these sufferings Take the summe and sense of the whole verse thus Call over the roll or catalogue of all the Saints which either ever were or at this day are upon the face of the earth See if there be any whose condition or actions will answer in proportion unto thine turne thine eye upon all the holy ones see if thou canst observe any like thy selfe in the matter or manner of thy afflictions in the dealings of God with thee or in thy complainings against God Job thou standest alone for all the Saints goe to the fooles of the earth and to the prophaner Infidels among them thou mayest haply meet thy patterne and among their records reade the story of thy own impatience and miscarriage For as it followes wrath billeth the foolish and envy slayeth the silly one How like a foole and silly one art thou who hast thus almost vext thy selfe to death at thy own troubles and pinest with envy at the prosperity of others Such seemes to be the connexion and dependance of the second verse with and upon the first which I shall presently descend to open when I have added an observation or two from the former already opened It was good advice which Eliphaz gave Job in that condition namely to take view of the Saints and to compare himselfe with them Thence observe It is profitable for us to look to the example of the Saints either those departed or those alive and by them to examine both what we doe and how we suffer God hath given us not only his
notes a man hasty bold inconsiderate rushing on hand over head without feare or wit A man who either is master but of little knowledge or that which he hath be it little or much masters him It agrees fully in sense and is the same to a letter in found with our English word Evill Such the Prophet Zech. 11. 15. describes Take saith he the instruments of a foolish sheapheard he doth not meane the instruments of a rude and meerely ignorant sheapheard a man that hath no knowledge or learning but of a rash and imprudent shepheard or of a lazie and idle shepheard who though hath knowledge yet knowes not how or hath no heart to improve his knowledge for the good of his flock The Prophet Ezekiel gives us the character of such Chap. 34. 4. The diseased have ye not strengthened nor have ye healed that which was sicke nor bound up that which was broken c. but will ye know what work they made with furie and with crueltie have ye ruled them ye have been moved with fury not with pity and acted by passion not by reason much lesse by grace So in this place the foolish man whom envy slayes is not a meere ignorant one that hath no brains but one hare-brayn'd and uncompos'd Eliphaz hints at Job secretly in this word whom he knew reported for a man of great knowledge and learning according to the learning of those times yet he numbers him with Nâ—n his solum sed calamo iâ—os â—imur in scribendo eumque 〈◊〉 fraâ—gâ—mus pectoâ—â—s penecallo alcato res tesseris cuicunque instrumento quilâ—bet ex quo dâ—fficultatem se paâ—â— arbitratur August â—ra stultitiae comeâ— sooles because he conceived him wrathfull rash intemperate not having any true government of himselfe Anger resteth in the bosome of fooles Eccles 7. 9. A foole is not able to judge of the nature of things or times or occasions and therefore he is angry with every thing that hits not his nature or his humour He will be angry with the Sunne if it shine hotter then he would have it and with the winds if they blow harder then he would have them and with the clouds if they raine longer then serves his turne They that are emptiest of understanding are fullest of will and usually so full of will that we call them will-full Hence unlesse every thing be ready to serve their wills they are ready to dye by the hand or judgement of their passions Wrath kills this foolish man Wrath may be taken here two woyes either for the wrath of God or for the wrath of man In the former sense the meaning is That the wrath of God kills foolish men Which is an undoubted truth but I rather adhere to the latter which gives the meaning thus That the wrath of a foolish man kills himselfe his own wrath is as a knife at his throate and as a sword in his own bowels The word which we translate wrath signifies indignation anger teastinesse or touchinesse Properly wrath is anger inveterate anger is a short fury and wrath is a long anger when a man is set upon 't when his spirit is steeped and soak't in anger then 't is wrath Esau raked up the burning coales of his anger in the ashes till his Fathers Funerall The time of mourning for my father will shortly come then will I slay my brother But our word rather notes a servent heate and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 distemper of spirit presently breaking forth or an extreame vexation fretting and disquieting us within As Psal 112. 10. The wicked shall see it and be grieved that is he shall have secret indignation in himselfe to see matters goe so He shall gnash with his teeth and melt away Gnashing of the teeth is caused by vexing of the heart And therefore it followes he melts away which notes melting is from heate an extreame heate within The sense is very suitable to this of Eliphaz wrath slayeth the foolish or wrath makes him melt away it melts his grease with chafing as we say of a man furiously vext Hence that deplorable condition of the damned who are cast out of the presence of God for ever is described by weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth which imports not onely paine but extreame vexing at or in themselves Those fooles shall be slaine for ever with their own wrath as well as with the wrath of God Wrath killeth c. But how doth wrath kill a foolish man his wrath sometimes drawes his sword and kils others but is his wrath as a sword to kill himselfe Many like Simeon and Levi in their anger have slaine a man but that the anger of a man should slay himselfe may seeme strange The passion of vvrath is such an engine as recoyles upon him that uses or discharges it As the desire of the slothfull killeth him Prov. 21. 25. so the wrath of a foolish man kils him that place enlightens this how comes desire to stay the slothfull thus A man slothfull in action is full of desires and quick in his affections after many good things he would faine have them he longs for them but the man is so extreame lazie that he will not stirre hand or foot to get the things which he desires and so he pines away with wishing and woulding and dies with griefe because desire is not satisfied So in like manner wrath is said to slay a man first because it thrusts him headlong upon such things as are his death he runnes wilfully upon his own death sometimes by the dangerousnesse of the action whence casuall suddaine death surprises him sometime by the unlawfulnesse of the action which brings him to a legall or judiciary death Secondly his wrath is said to kill him because his wrath is so vexations to him that it makes his life a continuall death to him and at last so wearieth him out and wasts his spirits that he dyes for very griefe and so at once commits a three-fold murder First he murders him intentionally against whom he is wroth Secondly he really murders his own body and thirdly he meritoriously murders his soule for ever except the Lord be more mercifull then he hath been wrathfull and the death of Christ heal those wounds by which he would have procured the death of others and hath as much as in him lies procured his own And envie slayeth the silly one These two expressions meet neere upon a sense Envy is the trouble which a man conceives in himselfe at the good which another receives This disease gets in at the eyes and eares or is occasioned by seeing or hearing of our neighbours blessings In the 1 Joh. 2. All the lusts in the world are reduced to three heads The lust of the eyes the lust of the flesh and the pride of life Envy is the chiefest lust of the eyes and it is properly called the lust of the eye because a man seldom envieth another untill
upon his estate upon the branches and the fruit of that goodly tree much like that in the vision Dan. 4. 13 14. I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed and behold a watcher and a holy One came downe from Heaven He cryed aloud and said thus Hew downe the tree and cut off his branches shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit c. This Allegory may be rendred in the plaine words of Eliphaz I cursed his habitation his children are far from safety The Master of the Family is the tree His children are either fruit or branches His leaves are riches and honour the beauty and pleasantnesse of his habitation Some things in the letter of the text are to be opened but I shall first observe one thing in the generall from the connection of this fourth verse with the third I suddenly cursed his habitation verse 3. Then follows his children are far from safety Observe from it That Creatures cannot stand before the curse of God How strongly soever they are rooted the blast of the breath of Gods displeasure will either blow them downe or wither them standing The curse comes powerfully suddenly and secretly it is often an invisible stroake When we see neither axe nor spade at the roote nor strome at rhe top yet downe it comes or stands without leafe or fruit When Christ in the Gospell curst the fruitlesse figg-tree his Disciples passing by that way wondred saying how quickly is this figg-tree whithered it was but onely a word from Christ Never beare fruit more and the fig-tree which had no fruit lost its life Some are such tall Cedars such mighty Oakes that men conclude there is no stirring of them no Axe can fell them or blast loosen them yet a word from the Lord will turne them up side downe or if he doe but say to them never fruit grow upon your actions or out of your counsels presently they wither The curse causlesse shall not come but when there is a cause and God speaks the word the curse will come Neither power nor policies neither threatnings or entreaties can hinder or block it up It is said of the water of jealousie in the booke of Numbers that when the woman dranke that water if there were cause of her husbands suspition presently her belly swel'd and her thighes did rot the effect was inevitable So if God bid judgement take hold of a man family or Nation it will obey A word made the world and a word is able to destroy it There is no armour of proofe against the shot or stroake of a curse Suddenly I cursed his habitation and the next news is His children are far from safety If God speake the word it is done as soone as spoken as that mysterious Letter said of the Gun-pouder plot As soone as the paper is burnt the thing is done Surely God can cause his judgements to passe upon his implacable enemies such horrid conspiratours against Churches and Common-wealths truth and peace with as much speed as a paper burns with a blaze and a blast they are consumed That in the generall from the connexion of these two verses Assoone as he was cursed his children and his estate all that he had went to wrack and ruine I shall now open the words distinctly His children are far from safety Some reade Were far from safety and so the whole passage in the time past because he speaks of a particular example which he himself had observeâ— in those daies as is cleare v. 2. Having shewed the curse upon the eoot he now shews the withering of the brauches Some of the Rabbins understand by Children the Followers or Imitators of wicked men such as assisted them or such as were like them These are morall children but take it rather in the letter for naturall children such as were borne to them or adopted by them these come under their fathers unhappinesse They are far from safety The Hebrew word is commonly rendred salvation His children are farre from salvation But then we must understand it for temporall salvation which our translation expresses clearely by safety His children are farre from safety It is possible that the children of a wicked man may be neare unto eternall salvation Though godly parents have a promise for their seed yet grace doth not runne in a bloud neither is the love of God tied or entayl'd upon any linage of men Election sometimes crosses the line and steps into the family of a reprobate father Therefore it is not said His children are farre from salvation in a strict but in a large sence We find the word salvation frequently used for safetie 2 Kings 13. 17. when Elisha bad Joash the King of Israel shot the arrow he called it the arrow of the Lords salvation which we render the arrow of the Lords deliverance So Moses bespeakes the trembling Israelites aâ— the red Sea Stand still and behold the salvation of the Lord that is behold what safety the Lord will give you from all these dangers what deliverance from the hand of Pharaoh The Prophet represents the Jewes thus bemoaning their outward judgements We roare all like Beares and mourne sore like Doves we looke for judgement but there is none for salvation but it is farre off Isa 59. 11. They are far from safety To be far from safety is a phrase importing extreame danger As when a man is said to be far from light he is in extreame darknesse and when a man is said to be far from health he is in extreame sicknesse and when a man is said to be far from riches he is in extreame poverty So here His children are far from safety that is they are in extreame danger and perill they walk as it were in the regions of trouble in the valley of the shadow of death continually That phrase is used also respecting the spirituall estate of unbeleevers They are far off from God far off from the Covenant Isa 57. 19. Ephes 12. 13. that is they have no benefit by the Covenant no interest in no favour at all or mercy from the Lord. To be far off from mercy is to be neare wrath and to be far from safety is to dwell upon the borders of danger And they are crushed in the gate In the forth Chapter Eliphaz describes man as crushed before the moth to shew how suddenly how easily man is destroyed This mans children are crushed in the gate as a man would crush a flie or a moth between his fingers They are crushed in the gate That notes two things First the publikenesse of their destruction they shall be destroyed in the sight of all men for the gate was a publike place Pro 31. 31. her workes praise her in the gates that is she is publikely knowne by her good works To doe a thing in the gate is opposed to the doing of a thing secretly To suffer in the gate is to suffer publikely Secondly to be crushed in the gate
is to be crushed or cast in judgement for The gate was the place of old where justice was Inportis judicia exercebantur Merc. administred and judgement given and for a man to be crushed in the gate is as much as for a man to be overthrowne in his sure when he hath any controversie or tryall before a Judge whether for his estate or for his life So this phrase They are crushed in the gate implies that all businesses shall goe against them if they have any controversie in law or if they be charged with any crime they shall certainly be condemned I need not stay to prove that judgement was given in the gate onely take a few texts First in this booke Chap. 29. 7. Job describes his owne prosperity thus When I went out to the gate that is to sit in judgement And Chap. 31. v. 21. the word is used in the like sense So Gen. 23. 17. Chap. 34. 20. Ruth 4. 1. Isa 29. 11. Those words of the curse Psal 109. 7. when he is judged let him be condemned are the full Exposition of this They are crushed in the gate Ne agricola litis causa veniens civitatis frequentia novo terreretur conspectu nec uâ—bi habitator longè ab urbi properaret subvectionem quaereret jumen torum Jerom in Amos c. 5. v. 10. And the reason given by one of the Ancients why justice was usually administred in the gate is the accommodation and convenience both of strangers and Citizens For strangers who lived far off in the country that they might have justice before they entred into the city whose pompe and throngs of people might possibly occasion either some terrour or diversion in the minds of poore country-men And then likewise that the Inhabitants of the City might not be either charged or tired with long journies into the country To which we may adde that judgement was therefore administred in the gate because gates are places through which all passe in and out and therefore the declaring of judgement there was the making of it more publike that all might take notice of what passed in such and such cases as the sentence and resolution of the Judges Neither is there any to deliver them This is the third degree of evill falling upon the foolish mans children Though a man be brought to and cast in judgement yet An summis malis reminem habebunt asseâ—toâ—è Ve injusti conâ—unâ—ibuntur contundebuntur in judi iopubâ—iâ—e coâ—am tribunaâ—ibus he may have a friend to help and deliver him but these shall have no help none to speak a good word for them none to mediate either for reprieve or pardon Some give the sense thus His children shall neither finde a Judge to give a favourable sentence nor an Advocate to pleade for them and make the best of their cause This also answers another part of the curse Psa 109. 12. Let there be none to extend mercy to him neither let there be any to favour his fatherlesse children None shall be found either able or willing to rescue or pluck them out of the hand of danger Hence observe first That a wicked man and his children are often wrapt up in the same destruction I cursed his habitation and his children are far from safety they are crushed in the gate A godly man is a defence for his children Liberi parenâ—uÌ„ poenis saepe implicantur It is a great blessing to be born of holy parents and it is a curse to be borne of oppressing wicked parents As the blessing of God descends from the father upon the children so the curse of God many times descends from the father upon the children and they inherit their judgements as well as their lands Though the justice and goodnesse of God will make that Proverbe cease in all the families of the world for ever which was once taken up by the Jews Ezek. 18. 2. The Fathers have eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge The Naturalists observe and experience teacheth that when a man eats very sowre grapes and so makes a sowre face another standing by is affected with a sympathy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicatur a philosophis Aristot Sect â— prob quest 5. and his teeth are set an edge or pained with the very sight or grating of anothers teeth though himselfe taste not the grape The present Jewes thought themselves but bare lookers on upon their fathers sin and yet they suffered But the Lord found the sowre grapes in their mouths also or them risen up in their fathers stead an increase of sinfull men to fill up the fierce wrath of the Lord against them Now I say though the Lord will make that proverbe cease in their sence For no child is punished meerely in contemplation of his fathers sin Yet when a sonne is wicked the wickednesse of a father whether immediate or further off may come in remembrance against him and at once aggravate his sin and encrease his sorrow Secondly note this from it Whom God will destroy no creature shall be found able to deliver out of his hands God can take away the help and stop up the pity of all creatures None shall deliver them And though themselves should endeavour to escape they shall not escape Amos 9. 1. They that flie shall not flie away and they that escape shall not be delivered that is by endeavouring to escape they shall not be delivered they shall attempt it in vaine If God will not deliver none can If a Lot be taken prisoner He bids Abraham arme and rescue him If a Paul be in the mouth of a Lyon the Lord will deliver him It needs not trouble us who is our enemy if God will be our deliverer nor can it availe what friends so ever we have if God saith ye shall not be delivered A wicked man when the Lord appeares against him either hath none to deliver him or none shall Salvation is farre from the wicked for they keep not thy statutes Ps 119. 155. From the children judgement proceeds to the estate of this wicked man Verse 5. Whose harvest the hungry eateth up and fetcheth it even out of the thornes and the robber spoyleth all his substance Whose harvest the hungry eateth up By his Harvest we are to understand not only the return of that which he hath sown as corn and other fruits of the earth but all the goods or provisions which he hath gathered or laid up for his Messis nomine parata bona omnia toâ—elligitur condenda reponenda in annos plurimot support and accommodation A mans harvest is the improvement of his whole estate And this mans harvest is all he hath gotten by right or wrong by industry or by injury by sweat or by deceit by secret practises or open violences To eat up a harvest is as much as to devoure a house with which Christ charges the hungry Scribes and Pharisees
stile and falls to counsell and exhortation directing and advising Job what becomes him what he ought to doe in his condition His exhortation consists of two distinct branches The former whereof begins at this sixth and is continued to the seventeenth verse of the Chapter The summe of this exhortation is That for as much as he had found him so distempered in his speech and carriage he now earnestly beseeches and intreats him that he would seek unto God beg favour and believingly commit himselfe and his cause unto God The second branch of exhortation begins at the 17 verse and is continued to the end of the Chapter The Scope whereof is That Job would humbly and patiently submit himselfe unto and under the correcting hand of God quietly waiting the time of his deliverance The matter of the former exhortation lies in the words of the 8 verse I would seek unto God and unto God would I commit my cause He strengthneth this exhortation by two arguments whereof The first is taken from the cause of his afflictions and that either the efficient or the meritorious cause of his afflictions both which we find in the 6 and 7 verses The second argument by which he strengthneth his first exhortation is contained in the 9 10 11 and 12 verses following and it is grounded upon the power wisdome and goodness of God As if he should say Who would not seek unto God who is of infinite power able to deliver Who would not seek unto a God and commit his cause unto him who is gracious and pittifull mercifull and ready to deliver Who would not seeke unto a God and commit his cause unto him who is of infinite wisdome to find out wayes and means for the contriving of deliverance though mans condition to the eye of sence or humane reason seem altogether desperate and remedilesse These three verses containe the first exhortation together with the first argument And we may forme it thus both respecting the efficient and the meritorious cause of his afflictions First respecting the efficient cause the argument seemes to lie thus He is to be sought unto in our afflictions who is the principall efficient cause or sender of our afflictions But God is the principall efficient cause and sender of our afflictions Therefore he is to be sought unto and to him our cause is to be committed The Major or first Proposition is not expresly in this text but it is plainly supposed and logically to be understood The Minor or the Assumption lies in the 6 and 7 verses where he proves that God is the efficient cause or sender of afflictions And his proof is grounded upon a deniall or a removall of all other efficient causes As if he should say there must be some efficient cause of affliction but no efficient cause can be assigned or named except God therefore God is the efficient cause the sender and orderer of afflictions That no other efficient cause can be assigned he proveth plainly in the sixth verse thus Affliction cometh not forth of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground yet man is borne to trouble c. As if he should say our eyes teach us we see plainly man is full of trouble man is no sooner borne but he is afflicted these afflictions must have some efficient cause some hand or other doth frame forme and fashion them they come not alone and if they come not alone then we must find out this cause either in earth or in heaven we must find it either in the Creatour or among the creatures but from the earth or from creatures they come not Affliction cometh not forth of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground that is it rises not by or from the creatures in themselves and alone considered and if so it must needs come from heaven from the hand of God who dwelleth above and disposeth all things according to the pleasure of his own will It is such a kind of speech as often falls from us when a thing is lost we say some body must have it Sure it is not gone into the gound You or You must have it for there were none else in the place So Eliphaz seems here to argue about the afflictions which he saw upon Job here are heavy afflictions upon thee these afflictions must come some way upon thee They come not out forth of the dust neither doe they spring out of the ground they come not up alone Either then they must come from God or man and from man they come not they spring not out of the earth therefore he leaves it as a clear inference that God is the efficient cause or sender of affliction Againe if we consider this argument as it strengthneth the exhortation from the meritorious cause of his afflictions It may be formed thus If the sin of man be from himselfe and the sufferings of man be for his sin then in his sufferings for sin he ought to seek unto God and to commit his cause unto him But the sin of man is from himselfe and the sufferings of man are for his sin Therefore he ought in such a condition to seeke unto God and commit his cause unto him For remedy is no where else to be had This second argument is grounded rather upon the exposition then the letter of the text as shall be further cleared in pursuance of the words Thus you see how the Minor or second Proposition is confirmed both as it respects the efficient cause and the meritorious cause of mans affliction The conclusion lies in the 8 verse which Eliphaz Conclusi enunciata in persona Eliphazi quod modestum cohortationis genus magnam vim habet est usitatissimum Merl. pronounces in his own person I would seeke unto God therefore seek thou unto God he speakes it in his own person thereby more freely to insinuate his counsell and make way for his exhortation As if he had said Were I in thy case I would doe so therefore doe thou so likewise Seeke unto God and commit thy cause unto him So much of this context and the Logick of it as it contains an exhortation with an argument to strengthen and back that exhortation Now for the clearing of the words Although afflictions come not forth of the dust The Hebrew particle which we translate Although may be taken three wayes and so I find it rendred upon this place First which is its most proper sence it is taken causally and then the text is read For affliction commeth not forth of the dust So Mr. Broughton for sorrow issueth not from the dust Secondly It may be taken Adversatively as we reade it Although affliction or sorrow comes not forth of the dust Thirdly it may be taken Affirmatively according to which acception the text is thus carried Certainly Affliction cometh not out of the dust or Surely affliction commeth not out of the dust Either of these wayes the sense is
good yet to me our translation by the Adversative Although doth a little obscure the sense And to say Surely or certainly affliction comes not forth of the dust seemes to carry it more clearly Surely affliction cometh not out of the dust It is considerable that the word by which affliction is here exprest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iniquitas vanitas molestia bibor quia iniquitas laborem afflictionemq parturit Sept. vertunt per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sclund beares a double signification in Scripture and I conceive it may also in this text properly it signifies sinne iniquity iniquity of all sorts but especially That sinne of Idolatry As Hos 4. 15. when the house of God Bethel was polluted with idolatry the name is changed and it is called Bethaven the house of an Idoll or the house of iniquity or of that speciall iniquity namely of idolatry Sinne alters the nature of man no marvell then if it alter the names of things Hos 10. 15. and often in the old testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ascendit Eliphaz ad comunem naturalem sortem hominis quod omnes â—n peccato et ad miseriam nascimur damnati in Adamo Coc we find this word added to set out the worst of men the workers of iniquity Psal 5. 5. c. Iniquity comes not out of the dust the soyle where it grows or the shop where it is wrought and formed is mans heart Eliphaz would carry us to the wel-head our sinfull natures or our birth-sin Secondly the word signifies affliction or sorrow calamity or misery because sinne is the cause of affliction the mother of sorrow And therefore by a Metonimie of the effect for the cause which is frequent in Scripture The same word notes both sinne and sorrow The mother and the daughter are called by the same name We translate by the effect Surely affliction commeth not out of the dust Many by the cause Surely iniquity comes not out of the dust And for the full understanding of the text we must take in both where the effect only is mentioned the cause is supposed Affliction springs not out of the dust because sin springs not out of the dust Now this forme of speaking Iniquity or affliction springs or commeth not forth of the dust is proverbiall and no doubt was Pâ—oveâ—bialis quaedam sententia est qua tollat casum asseratque divinam eâ—ga res humanas imâ—â—â—ruâ— supplicâ—um providentiam Pâ—nâ—d Sanct. well knowne and often used in those times When they would remove chance or fortune as we say or deny any event to be without a certaine directive power They spake in this language This came not from the ground thereupon the vulgar translates it so in termes * Nihil in terra sine causa sit Vulg. Quasi dicerit non casu ma â— nabis accidunt neque ex terra germinant ut solent herbae nullo jacto semine There is nothing in the world without cause alluding it is probable to the Proverbe Hence a man obscurely borne whose parents and originall are unknowne is called †Terrae filius A sonnne of the earth Which imports that no man can tell whence he is or how descended They whose originall cannot be assigned are usually assigned to the common originall ‖ Mogna parens terra est or parent of us all the earth and as in regard of persons so of things when no man can tell how or which way they come they are said to come out of the ground We speak also in the other extreame affirmatively Such a thing comes out of the clouds that is we know not but God knows how it comes So then here is a deniall of chance or fortune As if Eliphaz should say reason may be found and assigned for these things they come not out of the dust Further for the clearing of this The dust and the ground stand in a two-fold opposition First unto God and secondly unto our selves First in opposition to God thus Affliction springeth not from the ground that is it comes from the wisdome power and disposition of God as the efficient cause Secondly in opposition to our selves and then the sense may be thus conceived that the materiall and meritorious cause of our affliction is not without us Nâ—n exi◠è pulvere iniquitas q. d. ab hominibus est non eter na vol pulvere nam terra non profert iniquitatem sed homines ea est natura eoâ—um coâ—rupta proin proclives aâ— eaÌ„ jucuntur D. us it is not in the ground or in other creatures but it is in our selves Every man in himselfe hath the ground which beares the source or fountain which bubbles out his sorrowes and his sufferings Man hath no reason to accuse or charge heaven or earth as the authors of his sorrow he carries the reason about with him The sinfullnes or sinke of his owne polluted nature And therefore to allude to that of the Apostle in the point of Justification Rom. 10. 6 7. Say not in thy heart who shall ascend into heaven that is to bring thy troubles downe from above or who shall decend into the deepe that is to bring up thy troubles from below for the cause is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is The corruption of nature which we preach The latter branch of this verse Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground is of the very same importance with the former therefore I shall not need to stay upon it The word which we translate Trouble signifies properly toylesome labour or any laborious toyl 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accidentall to man in this life as a fruit of sinne This doth not spring out of the ground It is an allusion to plants or herbs which grow in the open field without the worke or care of man and so are opposed to plants or herbes in a garden As if he should say Terrâ nata dicuntur illa quibus nulla ab agricolis impensa est opera ut suÌ„â— herbae quas â—â—tro terra fund â— in pratis locis incuâ—â—is Saâ—ct thy troubles are not like those herbes that grow wild in the fields without the labour and paines the care or art of man There is some hand or other that both plants and waters them We may ground some observations as the text is read Iniquity comes not forth of the dust And then as it is read Affliction comes not forth of the dust And it is necessary to give it this latitude the word equally bearing both senses As it is read Iniquity comes not c. We learn First The materiall cause of sin is in our selves We bring forth the fruit at our tongues or fingers ends and the root is in our hearts Our sinnes spring not out of the dust but out of the dirt and filth of our owne corruptions Gen. 6. 5. Every thought
seeke exactly and enquire laboriously unto God It signifies to seek by asking questions or by interrogating And it imports seeking with much wisedome and skill a curious or a criticall enquirie So Eccles 1. 13. I gave my heart saith Solomon to seeke and search out by wisedome And this seeking implies foure things First A supposition and a sense of our wants no man seekes that which he hath already or but thinks he hath it He that is full loathes a hony-combe Secondly A strong desire to find that which we want it notes not a bare desire only or woulding but a kind of unquietnesse or restlessenesse till we find such a desire tooke hold of David Psal 132. 4. I will not give rest to mine eyes nor slumber to mine eye-lids untill I find out a place for the Lord or untill I find the Lord. Thirdly A care to be directed about the meanes which may facilitate the finding or recovery of what we want and thus earnestly desire A seeking spirit is a carefull spirit after light and counsell Fourthly A diligent and faithfull endeavour in or about the use those meanes to which counsell directs us Through desire a man having separated himselfe seeketh and intermedleth with all wisdome Prov. 18. 1. That is he is very industrious in pursuing those advices which wisdome shews him or which are shewed him as the wayes of wisdome A lazy spirit is unfit to seeke I would seek unto God and unto God would I commit my cause In the former clause the word for God is El and in the latrer Elohim both names note the power of God El notes power or strength to act and execute Elohim power or authority to judge and determine I would seek unto El The strong God I would commit my cause to Elohim the Mighty God As if he had said Thou art in a weake and low condition now therefore seeke unto God the strong God the mighty God who is able to deliver thee Thou wantest the help of such a friend as he The Hebrew word for word is thus rendred Vnto God would I put my words or turne my speech We reach the meaning fully rendring Vnto God I would commit my cause or put my case The terme which we translate cause signifies any businesse or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat verâ—um vel negotium res meas ei committeâ—eÌ„ cause but most properly a word Explicite prayer is the turning of our thoughts into words or the putting of our case to God It is a speaking to or a pleading with the Lord. The Septuagint is clear in this sense I would deprecate the Lord I would call upon the Lord the governor of all things Both these significations of the word are profitable for us and congruous with the scope of the text I would turne my speech and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. prayer or I would commit my cause unto God The committing of our cause to God notes a resignation of our selves and of our condition into the hands of God It is as much as to say Let God doe what he will or determine what he pleaseth concerning me I will not strive or contend about question or dispute his decision or judgement of my cause I will lay my selfe down at his feet and tell him how she case stands with me then let him doe with me what seems good in his eyes This is the committing of our cause and condition unto God And the Originall word here used for God doth very well suite and correspond with this sense I will commit my cause unto God unto Elohim the great and impartiall Judge of Heaven and earth the God who loves Judgement and the habitation of whose Throne is righteousnes The God who knowes how to discern exactly between cause and cause person and person and will undoubtedly give a righteous sentence concerning every cause and person that comes before him Unto this Elohim would I commit my cause and refer my self to his arbitration Observe first in the general Eliphaz having reproved Job turnes himself to counsell and exhortation From which we may learne That As it is our duty to reprove a fault in our brother so it is our duty to advise and counsell him how to amend or come out of that fault for which we reprove him It is not enough to espy an error but we must labour to rectifie it or to tell another that he is out of the way but we must endeavour to reduce him Many can espy faults and failings in others who either know not how or care not to reforme and helpe them out Secondly observe That It is a duty to exhort and excite our bretheren to those duties wherein we find them flack or negligent Eliphaz conceived that Job was much behind in the duty of prayer and self-resignation unto God and therefore he quickens him up to it The Apostle calls us to this Christian inspection Heb. 3. 13. Exhort one another daily lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulnesse of sinne sin growing and getting strength hardens the heart it is best to oppose it betimes and therefore he bids them doe it at all times exhort one another daily Though the Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 1. 12. was perswaded of the Saints establishment in the present truth yet saith he I will not cease to put you alwayes in remembrance of these things It is a dangerous error which some hold that the Saints in this life may out grow counsell and exhortation as if there were no need to bid a godly man pray seek unto God no need to bid a godly man repent or humble himself or believe he cannot but do these things say they these are connaturall to him They are indeed to the new man within him But let them withall remember that the neglect of all these duties is as connaturall to the old man within him While there are two men within us we had need every man to look not only to one but to one another It may goe ill with the better part the new man if while he hath an enemy within to oppose him he hath not a friend without to help him On this ground besides the command of Christ the holiest man on earth may be exhorted to look to his holinesse none are in more danger then they who think they are past danger And as it is a certaine argument that a man was never good if he desires not to be better so it is a great argument that a man was never good who feares not that he may be worse They who are truly assured they cannot fall from grace are assured also that they may fall in grace and fall into sin The foundation of God stands sure but the footing of man doth not and therefore Let him that stands take heed least he fall And let them who see their brethren heedlesly falling lend them the right hand of exhortation to raise them up againe and when
not have all their actions scann'd at least not by all They keep state in their works If all a mans actions be levell to the lowest his person will be so too The reason why the works of Antichrist were to be so mysterious and miraculous is because he was to be adored and Godded to be exalted above all in man that is called God or that is worshipped 2 Thes 2. 4. They who aspire to divine honour have or at least pretend to have many secrets Because secret things belong unto God things revealed unto man Deut. 29. 29. And as the Angell at once answers and reproves Manoah Judg. 13. 18. Why askest thou after my name seeing it is secret or wonderfull As if he had said thou must not enquire after my name for it is a secret Such prying into the works of God is as dangerous as prying into the Arke of God 1 Sam. 6. 19. It were more profitable for us and more honourable to God if we did search our own secret wayes more and Gods lesse There are other works of God which cannot be searched yet we may and ought to search them It is our duty to study them though we cannot finde them We may search and finde many of the workes of God with our sences there are others which we cannot finde though we search for them with our reason and understanding As some parts of the word of God 2 Pet. 3. 16. So some part of his works are so hard to be understood that unstable men wrest them to their own destruction The minde of God is legible in very many of his works and we may read them without a Comment or Interpreter Other of his works are mysterious and aenigmaticall very riddles insomuch that if an ordinary man looking on them should be questioned Vnderstandest thou what thou seest he must answer as the Eunuch did Phillip How can I except some man teach me And these works are unsearchable two ways First in regard of the manner of doing we cannot finde out the wayes and contrivances of Gods work His wayes are in the deep and his foot-steps are not known saith the Psalmist that is the way which God goes to the accomplishing of his ends are oftentimes like steps upon the water which leave no impression or track behind them Secondly his works are unsearchable in their causes or ends what it is which God aimes at or intends what moves or provokes him to such a course is usually a secret He doth such things as no man can give an account of or render a reason why Peter knew not how to construe or expound that work of Christ John 13. when he took a Towell with a bason of water to wash his feet Therefore Christ tells him What I doe thou knowest not that is thou knowest not what moves me to doe this for his eye taught him what Christ did but thou shalt know hereafter In due time this shall be interpreted to thee and thou shalt know the reason why I did this But it is said and that may be an objection against both text and Exposition Psal 111. 2. The workes of the Lord are great sought out of all those that have plesure therein To seek out notes a full discovery And in Psal 106. 7. Failing in this is charged upon the fathers and confessed by the children as a fault Our fathers understood not thy wonders that is the great things which God did for them in Aegypt How then is it said here The works of the Lord are great and unsearchable To clear this First I say there are some great works of God which are easie and plaine And it is our duty to be acquainted with and learned in these works of God as well as in the word of God Secondly those works whose text is hard we must search and labour to expound them so as to further duty but not to feed our curiosity We may search them with submission to the mind of God not for satisfaction onely to our own minds We may search with desire to honour God but not to humour our selves We may search them to make us more holy though not barely to make us more knowing Take two Corolaries from this First if the works of God are unsearchable then how unsearchable are the counsells of God the deep and secret counsels of God! The works of God are the cousells of God made visible Every work of God is the bringing of some counsell of God to light Now if we are not able to find out his counsells when they are made visible in his works how shall we find out his counsells when they lye hidden in his breast Secondly If the works of God are unsearchable then we are to submit unto the dispensations of God whatsoever they are though we are not able according to reason to give an account of them though we cannot search out either the manner how or the cause for which they were done yet we must reverence them And what we cannot believe by knowing we must know by believing It is our duty not onely to winke and believe shut our eyes and believe or believe when we cannot see but we must often believe where knowledge is shut out believe when we cannot understand Abraham by faith followed the call of God not knowing whether he went Heb. 11. 8. It is dangerous to follow men blind-fold how seeing soever those men are but it is safe and our duty to follow God blindfold how seeing soever we think our selves to be We must not be displeased as Joseph was at Jacob his Father Gen. 48. 17. when we see God laying his right hand upon Ephraim and his left upon Manasses doing things crosse to our thoughts much lesse may we take upon us to direct the hand of God as Joseph would Jacobs where we please The Lord knows as Jacob answered Joseph what he doth and it becomes us to acquiesce in what he doth though we know it not Some Romish Parasites have said of the Pope That if he should carry thousands to hell along with him there is no man must say to him Sir why doe you so They adore him so in the unsearchablenesse of his wayes and doings that it is enough for them if he doth them This abominable flattery of that Man of Sin is a sober truth concerning the holy God Though God east thousands of soules into hell no man may say to him what dost thou And though God turne Kingdomes upside down though he send great afflictions upon his own people and make them a reproach unto the Heathen though he give them up unto the power of the adversary and make all their enemies to rejoyce yet no man may say unto God why doe you thus His works are unsearchable It is beyond the line of a creature to put any question A why or A wherefore about the work of the Greatour Shall the thing formed say unto him that formes it why hast thou made me
grace yet he did give them light and restraint too in nature Neverthelesse he left not himselfe without witnesse in that he did good and gave us raine from heaven Acts 14. 17. As if he had said though yee have not had the raine of the word yet the raine of the cloud if such a Preacher of Gods power and goodnesse as will leave you for ever without excuse The Lord himselfe seemes to glory in this as one of the chiefest of his works Job 38. 37. Who can number the clouds in wisdome Or who can stay the bottles of heaven I challenge all creatures to a competition with me in this And again in this book Ch. 36. 26. Elihu lifts up the greatnesse of God in this act of his providence Behold God is great and we know him not wherein doth he instance his greatnesse it follows ver 27. For he maketh small the drops of water they powre downe raine according to the vapour thereof Reade paralell texts Jer. 10. 13. Psal 65. 10 11. Psal 147. 8. So much of this first worke of God the raine and of his power wisdome goodnes bounty visible and apparent in it The second instance of Gods power and wisdome c. is in civill things both in setting up and pulling downe First in raising and setting up To set up on high those that be low that those which mourne may be exalted to safetie As if he should say will you see another way wherein God shews himself in his power wisdome and goodnesse It is in looking thorough the world for such as are low that he may lift them up in espying out mourners and weeping eyes that he may wipe them and more exalt them to safety Some of the Jewish Writers connect this verse with the former making this as an effect of Gods bounty wonderfull worke in sending raine He sendeth raine and showers upon the earth with such plenty of blessings that by this means many who were poore low meane and sad-hearted may be set in high estate and exalted unto safety And there is a truth in it Gods blessing upon the earth hath exalted many that were low to an high estate to riches and prosperity But rather we shall take it in a more generall sence And so Eliphaz in these words seemes to comfort Job by giving him a hint that though his estate was now very low yet if he would apply himselfe unto God as he had advised ver 8. By seeking unto and committing his cause to him as low as he was he might be set high againe and though he was now a mourner sitting in dust and ashes He might be exalted to joy and safetie for in this the power wisdome and goodnesse of God are usually put forth and exalted The words carry an allusion to that custome of Princes and Magistrates who sit in high places upon erected thrones As 1K 16. 19. it is said of Solomon that he built him a magnificent throne or chaire of state which had an assent of six steps to it he sate on high And the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 6. ver 1. describes the Lord in the same manner sitting in state I saw the Lord saith he sitting upon a throne high and lifted up The pride and arrogancy of the Assyrian is thus exprest Isa 14. 13. He hath said in his heart I will exalt my throne above the stars I will sit also upon the Mount of the Congregation So that to sit on high is as much as to be preferred or advanced whether we respect honour or riches dignity or authority To set on high those that be low The word may note either those that are low in their own eyes or those that are made low by others active or passive lownesse Grace in our own hearts causes the former lownesse and sinfull oppression from the hand of others causes the latter The former are humble the latter are humbled The Lord sets both these on high And Those which mourne The Hebrew word signifies to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obscurus obscuritus luce privatus fuit nigruit per Metaphoram câ—nâ—ristatus fuit in tristitia enim fugit spleÌ„dor faciei Sic latinè Atriti dicuntùr lugentes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 maesti vultus blacke darke or obscured And the reason why that word is borrowed to note mourning or sorrow is because sorrow causeth blacknesse or darknesse of habit or countenance Mourning and blacknesse usually goe together Jer. 4. 28. For this cause shall the earth mourne and the heavens above shall be blacke And usually Mourners goe in blacke it is the die and dresse of Mourners As white is the colour of joy Let thy garments be alwayes white saith the Preacher to him that is to eat his bread with joy Eccles 8. 8. Yea the very beauty of the face is obscured the light of the countenance shadowed or clouded with teares and sorrow Hence the Seventy render it They whose faces are sad or sowre It is the word used Mat. 6. 16. When yee fast be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance It implies an affected studied sadnesse severity austerity grimnesse gastlinesse unpleasantnesse of countenance proceeding from art rather then from nature much lesse from grace as the words following imply for they disfigure vitiate or discolour their faces corrupt or abolish their native complexion so as it appeares not what it is that they may appeare what they are not Hypocrisie can paint the face with blacke as well or rather worse then pride with red and white and so doth reall sorrow sometimes whether for sin or outward affliction True passion in the heart will dim the brightnesse and staine the beauty of the face These Mourners shall be exalted to safety The word which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in loâ—â—â—ubâ—â—mi sterit exalâ—aâ—us adeò ut ab hostibus pertingi nequeat Per Metaphorem taâ—us in expugnabilis Hinc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—uâ—â—is Olim munitiones extruebâ—ntur in locis editioribus in montibus prae uptis inaccessis ut latinê arx ab hoste arcendo dicto est we translate Exalted signifies to set in a high place and in a place so high that a man so placed is beyond the reach of danger or the power of an adversary it is to be set upon a place impregnable Hence the word is used for a Fort Tower or Castle because forts and Towers being places of defence were for the most part built upon some high place upon some rocke or praecipice Prov. 18. 10. The name of the Lord is a strong Tower That is we are as safe under his protection as in a strong Tower founded on the steepest rocke And the Prophet describing the safety of him who walks uprightly gives it in this word The place of defence shall be the munition of Rocks Isa 33. 16. So Jer. 48. 1. Misgab is confounded and dismayed That is the high place or Castle of
Israel in their wicked counsels and bring to light their stoln wedges of gold and their Babylonish garments There is one thing further considerable from the sense of that Greeke word which the Apostle uses 1 Cor. 3. 19. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Manu capio firmiter teneo fugientem in cursu deprehendere â—anuque injecta capere quicquam ut nâ—n elebatur unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 manipulus pugillus Erasm He taketh the wise c The Apostles word signifies properly to take or a taking with the hand a laying hold upon one that is flying As in a battell when the enemy flies and runnes the pursuer takes hold of him and will not let him escape And so the sense is that though these crafty ones think to make an escape when they have done mischiefe to out run the justice of men yea to get out of the reach of God yet he taketh them as flying enemies or malefactors that would make an escape he catcheth them by the back takes them by the shoulder layes fast hold on them so that they shall not be able to get away He takes the wise in their owne craftinesse Lastly It is observeable that the Preposition in he takes them in their craftinesse may be understood instrumentally Plerosque astus illorum facit Deus instrumentum ad arcendum ab ijs quod cogitant Rab. Levi. and so it as much as the Preposition by He takes them in that is he takes them by their devices That preposition is often put instrumentally Gen. 32. 10. Jacob saith In my staffe I passed over this Jordan we translate with my staffe or by my staffe I passed over this Jordan And so Heb. 1. 1. God who at sundry times spake in time past to the fathers in the Prophets so the Greek we translate by the Prophets because they were the meanes or the instruments which God employed to speak by Thus here He takes the wicked in their craftinesse or by their craftinesse their craftiness is the very meanes and instrument by which God apprehends and takes them So much for the opening of the first clause We may note hence first That No wisdome or craftinesse of man can stand before the wisdome and power of God He not only takes them in their foolishnesse but in their craftinesse He stayes not till they begin to dote and doe weakely before he takes them but when they are in their height of wit and in the depths of worldly wisdome and policie when they put forth the quintessence of craft and give counsell like the Oracle of God 2 Sam. 16. 23. then God takes them He takes them in their craftinesse Pro. 21. 30. There is no wisdome nor understanding nor counsell against the Lord. No counsel against the Lord. How is it then said in the second Psalme The Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsell together against the Lord and against his anointed There are many counsells opposed against the Lord but there are none prevailing against the Lord. The meaning of that holy Proverbe is That no wisdome not the most sublime and refined wisdome no counsell not the most machivilian or Achitophelian counsell can prevaile against the Lord. Men usually catch others when they are at a fault or take them upon some advantage and error in their counsels Most successes of men are made out of the slips and defects of their adversaries They take upon mistakes either in advising or acting but after the most deliberate and grave debates the choicest and best grounded resolves the Lord takes them For 1 Cor. 1. 25 The foolishnesse of God is wiser than man And if the wisdom of man cannot match the foolishnesse of God how shall it contend with the wisdome of God As the Prophet Jeremiah speakes in another case If I have runne with footmen and they have wearied me how can I contend with horses so if these men are not able to deale with the foolishnesse of God how shall the deale with his wisdom Not that there is any the least imaginable foolishnesse in God for as God is light and in him there is no darknesse at all so God is wisdome and in him there is no foolishnesse at all but the holy Ghost speakes thus to put God as low as the foolishest thoughts of man can put him which is to think there is foolishnesse in God yet in that or then he is wiser than they Secondly observe That God turneth the counsels of wicked men against themselves He taketh the wise not only in but by their craftinesse He beates their own weapon against their heads He wrests their weapons out of their hands and with them wounds their hearts Those counsels and contrivements by which they thought to secure themselves are their destruction He destroyes them in their counsels and by their counsels This wonderfully magnifies and commends the wisdome of Qui scipserunt de arte militari di unt summum genus demicandi quoties calcato uâ—bâ—me adversarij se in hostilem clyâ—eum eâ—igâ—t mâ—les â—a contra stanâ—is vulnerat teâ—ga Sâ—â—v in Vâ—rg Aen. 1 â— God He doth not trouble himselfe to devise some new way or stratagem to take these men but he makes use only of that which they have devised It is the noblest way of conquering to conquer our enemy with his own weapon such was that victory of David over Goliah and that was a type of Christs victory over the Devill and all spirituall wickednesses And such will his victory be over all the wickednesses of this world The Lord is and shall â—ver be known by the judgement which he executeth the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Higgaion Selah * Rem meditâ—â—dam sumâ—è Jun. in loc Marke and meditate Psal 9 16. It was the plot of Satan to tempt man who was made in the image of God for the doing of good and avoiding evill to desire to be as God knowing good and evill he tempts man to affect a Ditty or a God ship and his plot was to ruine man below the beasts by aspiring to an equality with God or to make man less then he was made by seeking to be as much as his maker Now the Lord takes as it were this weapon out of Satans hands and destroyes him by it Satan would have man aspire to be a God that he might be ruined and God becomes man to ruine Satan This was the greatest counterplot that ever was God took the Devill in and by his own craftinesse As if God had said Satan thou shalt see what a fine device thou hast devised I will meete thee in thy owne way and turne it upon thee Thou wouldst have man become God so to ruine him now God shall become man and by that I will at once ruine thy counsels and repaire the broken condition of man Josephs brethren had a device to hinder his prophecies make his dreames but
your selves despise it It is most just with God that they who loath his will should at last loath their own desires And that the creatures should not long please them who take no heed to please the Creator The least mixture of Gods displeasure sowres our sweetest contents and makes our very pleasures loathsome Where also by the way we may observe the great difference between earthly and spirituall things The best of earthly things used too much or too often grow loathsome Angels food Manna or Quailes will not goe down long with us But Christ the spirituall Manna and all heavenly things the more we have of them and the longer we are dieted with them the more we shall delight in them These will not loath us after two or five or ten or twenty dayes or after a whole months feeding on them No we shall feed on them dayes without number or the whole day of eternity without any loathings use and delight shall never cease or abate appetite shall renew every moment though our enjoyment be but one and the same Yea the Saints shall be so farr from loathing the pleasant cup of glory that they ought not to loath and Christ strengthning them they shall not loath the bitter cup of sorrow Their stomachs shall not turne though dieted more then two or five or ten or twenty dayes with the bread of adversity and the water of affliction That is the first sense of the word in allusion to nauseating at the sight or long use of meate Loath not the chastning of the Lord. Or the word may seeme to carry a reference to physick or medicines as well as meate which you know is many times given in a better pill or in a distastfull potion The sick man is apt to loath the potion brought him and turne his head away from it what he take it no not he He had rather die then drink such a draught he is ready to through it against the wall and spil it one the ground rather then drinke it But then his friends or the Pbysitian perswade with him Be not angry though it â—e loathsome to your stomach yet it is wholesome for your body It is an enemy only to your disease therefore loath it not So here Eliphaz as it were brings in God standing like a Physitian or a father or a tender mother at the beds-side where a sick child oâ— friend lies using many entreaties and perswasive reasons to take a bitter potion my child or my friend doe not loath doe not dispise no nor distast this medicine doe not cast it away though it â—e bitter in your mouth yet take it downe and the effects of it will be sweet to your whole body We find in Scripture afflictions compared to a cup Our Lord Jesus calls all his sufferings for our salvation a cup and it was a cup tempered with the venome and poison with the gall and wormewood of all our sinnes it was a loathsome potion indeed and such as would have turned the stomachs of all men and Angels to have drunke it So much of the first sense of the word as it signifies loathing whether in respect of meates or medicines Now forasmuch as here is a charge given under this notion not to loath chastnings We may observe There is or possibly may be an aversnesse in the best of Gods children for a time from the due entertainement of chastnings He speakes as if most were loth to take them downe and therefore he exhorts not to loath them Even the Lord Jesus Christ so farre as he was partaker of our nature seemed to loath the bitter cup of sufferings Hence he prayed hard once and againe ye a third time Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me Mat. 26. 39. Yet at another time he speakes as if he had been a thirst for that cup and angry with Peter who would have hindred his draught The cup which my Father giveth me shall I not drinke it Joh. 18. 11. and shortly after he indeed drunke it up to the bottome Affliction is also a bitter cup to the Saints and they as Christ pray again and again yea thrice against it because to sense no chastning seemeth joyous but grievous Heb. 12. 11. through grace perswades them to drinke it and faith gives them a tast of much sweetnesse when they have drunke it As a sick man is backward to take a distastfull medicine till his reason hath overcome his sense so a godly man is unwilling to beare afflictions till his faith hath overcome his reason Nor can he quietly endure the troublesome smart of the rod till he is assured of the peaceable fruits of righteousnesse which grow from it to those who are exercised by it When the Apostle is carryed up on those Eagles wings of assurance to see a house not made with hands eternall in the Heavens then he groanes earnestly under the burden of his earthly Tabernacle and desires to die yet looking upon death he saw no forme or comelinesse in that why he should desire it and therefore he seemes to correct himselfe at least to draw his mind plainer with the next drop of his pen Not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that mortality may be swallowed up of life He speakes somewhat like a man who in a time of heate hastily strips himselfe to goe into the water but putting a foot in and finding it cold calls for his cloathes againe The Apostle in a true holy heate of spirit had in his desires almost stript himselfe of his body but putting a foot into the grave he found that so cold that he had no great mind to it and therefore had rather keepe on the cloathing of his body and have a suite of glory over it then lay it downe The Saints desire to live with Christ but in it selfe they desire not to die They had rather their mortality should be swallowed up of eternall life then their temporall life should be swallowed up of mortality They that have grace like not the disunions of nature Now as it is in the case of death which iâ— to the Saints the last and greatest affliction so likewise in the case of all afflictions which are as renewed and lesser deaths Though they embrace and kisse them both in a holy submission to the will of God and in an assured expectation of their own good yet they have nothing pleasing in them much which creates so much loathing that the best doe but need counsell and encouragement to take and digest them And then if there be some aversnesse even in the best from these potions of affliction tempered with the mercy and goodnesse of God no wonder if there be an abhorrence in wicked men from those deadly potions mixt only with his wrath and justice The Psalmist presents the Lord to us with a cup in his hand Psal 75. 8. In the hand of the Lord there is a cup the wine thereof
necessary practise in Chyrurgery and to that the holy Ghost may allude in this place When they perceive a wound or a sore to which medicines Illa est vox Domini percutiam ego sanabo hoc faciunt medici Ferrum gestant câ—rare veniunt Clamat secandus secaâ—ur saevitur in vulnus ut homo sanetur Aug in Ps 50. Chyrurgus saepe vulnus infligit ferro sibi spatium ad commodam curationem aperit cannot well be appied and so unfit for healing either to make a new wound in the whole flesh or to make the first bigger The murderer wounds to kill and the Physitian wounds to cure He comes as it were arm'd with instruments of cruelty The patient whose flesh is to be launced cryes out but yet he launces him The patient whose flesh is to be seared cryes out but yet he sears him He is cruell to the wound while he is most kind to the wounded An ignorant man would wonder to see a Chyrurgion when he comes for healing make the wound wider yet so he must do and he doth it upon urgent reasons As when the orifice is not wide enough to let in the medicine or to let out the corruption or cannot admit his searching instruments to the bottome In such cases he saith Vnlesse I increase your wound I cannot cure it Thus often times the Lord is compelled to wound that he may heale or fit our wounds for healing Our wound is not wide enough to let out the sinfull corruptions of our hearts to let in the searching instruments and corrasives of the Law or the blame and comfortable applications of the Gospel We may observe from the sence of the words That The woundings and smitings of God are preparatories for our cure and healing It is said Isa 53. 5. of Christ that with his stripes we are healed and it is in this sence a truth that we are healed with our own stripes We are healed with the stripes of Christ meritoriously and we are healed by our own stripes preparatorily the stripes of Christ heale us naturally our own stripes heale us occasionally or his in the act ours in the event Prov. 27. 6. Faithfull are the wounds of a friend his wounds are faithfull because he wounds in faithfulnesse The healings of many are unfaithfull They heale the hurt of the daughter of my people deceitfully is the Lords complaint by the Prophet they skin over the wound but they doe not cure it Let the righteous smite me it shall be a kindnesse and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oyle which shall not break my head Psal 141. 5. Much more may we say Let the righteous Lord smite me and it shall be a kindnes to me let the righteous Lord reprove and correct me it shall be as an excellent oyle which shall not breake mine head it shall heale my heart How healing then are his salves whose very sores are a salve Secondly Take the words in the plaine rendring of them noting onely thus much that God makes sore and bindeth up So we have two distinct acts often ascribed to God in a figure to set forth judgement and mercy the afflictions and deliverances of his people Hos 6. 2. Let us return unto the Lord for he hath torne and he will heale us he hath smitten and he will bind us up 1 Sam. 2. 6. The Lord killeth and maketh alive Deut. 32. 39. See now that I even I am he and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heale Hence observe It is the property of God to take care of all the sicknesses sores or evils of his peopls As God is the great correcter and instructer of his people so he is the great Physitian of his people If he make a wound he will take care for the healing of it He doth not make sores and leave others to bind up Mighty men wound but they take no care for healing they can impoverish and spoyle but they care not to repaire they can pull down and root up let who so will build and plant Shaddai the Almighty God doth both If he break thy head come to him humble thy selfe before him and he will surely give thee a plaister which shall cost thee nothing but the asking And whereas he doth not willingly afflict or grieve he doth most willingly comfort and heale the children of men Lam. 3. 33. He speaks of it as a paine to himselfe to make us sore but to make us sound is his delight and pleasure Satan is the Abaddon the destroyer and he only destroys he makes wounds but he heals none he kills but he makes none alive The second branch of the verse He woundeth and his hands make whole is but a repetition of the same thing yet with some addition to or heightning of the sence To make sore and bind up are not so deep either in judgement or in mercy as to wound and make whole The word used for wounding imports a dangerous and a deadly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Transfodit transfixit vel cruentavit wound or to make a man all gore blood It signifies to strike quite thorough and it is divers times applied to note that stroke which God gives his worst enemies Psal 68. 21. But God shall wound the head of his enemies or he shall strike them quite through the head Verse 23. He shall dip his foot or make it red in the blood of the ungodly And Psal 110. 5. The Lord shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath Hence observe That God sometimes makes very deep and great wounds in his own servants Such wounds as by the sight of the eye you cannot distinguish them from the wounds of his mortall enemies He strikes thorough both heads and hearts of his own people Or as Simeon said to the blessed Virgin Mary Luke 2. 35. A sword pierceth through their soule also But then lastly note God never makes a wound too great for his own cure The power of God to save is as great as his power to destroy his healing power and his wounding power are of the same extent His justice cannot out-act his mercy both are infinite And not onely doth he heale the wounds which himselfe makes but he can heale the wounds which men make even all the wounds which the utmost power and malice of man can make He is able to doe more good to shew more mercy than all creatures are able to doe hurt or mischiefe We finde the state and condition of a people sometimes so wounded and sick that men have despaired of recovery Being consulted they may answer your sore cannot be bound up and your wound cannot be healed your estate is gangren'd and past cure So he said as was toucht before Isa 3 8. In that day shall a man sweare saying I will not be an healer for in my house is neither bread nor cloathing Alas I heale you
keepe a feast to me in the yeare Exod. 23. 14. Three times in a yeare all thy males shall appeare before the Lord ver 17. The candlestick had three branches Exod. 25. 32. and three cubits was the height of the Altar Exod. 27. 1. Three Cities of refuge were appontinted for the manslayer Deut. 19. 7. and the addition made is of another three ver 9. Three witnesses gave the compleatest evidence requireable as Two the least admittable in the law Deut. 17. 6. That besides a rule there was a mystery in most of these I think no man doubts though what the mystery was may be presumption in any man to determine Of this we are sure that the highest mystery and perfection of all numbers and things is found in One Three That Three in One The sacred Trinity And in the common speech of most if not of all languages Thrice happy Thrice great Thrice honourable note a man advanced to the very pinnacle of Happinesse Greatnesse and Honour The number Three or the Numeral Thrice imply a compleatnesse in all numbers That the number six notes perfection may be seene in the work of Creation The Lord could as easily have made the world in six or in one moment as in six dayes but the Lord saw it good to take a compleate number of dayes for so compleate a worke God threatens Gog his perfect and compleate enemy with a compleate punishment or with judgement in perfection The justice of God can be as compleate in punishing as the malice of man can be in sinning Ezek. 39. 2. I am against thee O God the chiefe Prince of Meshech and Tubal I will turne thee backe and leave but the sixth part of thee so we translate yet in the margin of our books we find the Hebrew thus I will strike thee with six plagues or I will draw thee back with a hooke of six teeth Seven is a famous number implying First multitude Secondly perfection The barren hath borne seven saith Hannah in her song 1 Sam. 2. 5. that is many she is a compleate mother she hath a flourishing family many children And in opposition to this Jer. 15. 9. She that hath born seven languisheth that is she that had many children now hath none Seven devils were cast out of the woman Luk. 8. 2. that is a multitude of devils So the seven Spirits the seven Churches the seven Trumpets the seven Seales the seven Vials c. in the Revelation speake the compleatnesse and perfection of each in their kind whether good or evill and that is appliable to the particular sense of the text Prov. 24. 16. The just falleth seven times a day that is he falleth often almost continually into trouble and yet he rises againe God delivers him The Hebrew word Shebange is neere in sound to our English seven and to note that seven is a compleate full number the same Hebrew word signifies seven and full seven and satisfied or compleate And the word to swear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saturatus impletus abundavit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Juravit inde juramentem a Septenario numero ut quidam patant quod juramenta fieri debeant multis adhibitis idoneis multumque confirmatis testibus et causis is of the same extraction in that language with the word seven the reason is added because in or about an oath many and important causes and grounds are required But to passe from single numbers I shall consider them in construction or conjunction as here six and seven He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evill touch thee Some understand this strictly and precisely of those two numbers six and seven And expound the text by the enumeration of those six or seven particular evils made by Eliphaz in the following verses For having said in generall that God will deliver his in six troubles and in seven he reckoneth up severall troubles and gives us as it were a catologue or a particular of those evils by name amounting to six or seven As 1. Famine 2. Warre 3. Scourge of the tongue 4. Destruction 5. Evill beasts 6. Hurtfull stones here are six and if a seventh evill come upon thee in seven no evill shall touch thee But I rather take this expression six yea seven to be a fixed number put for an unfixed a certaine number for an uncertaine and that uncertaine number to be a great number the greatest number any number imaginable We find this kind of speaking frequently in Scripture In the thirty third of this booke of Job v. 29. Loe these things God workes twice and thrice which we translate these things God workes often-times when numbers are doubled with an increase in the latter it notes a mighty growth of the whole number Twice and twice we know is but foure times but twice and thrice may be more then five times twice and thrice is oftentimes no man knowes how often We find the number next above this in the same signification Three and foure are put for many very many Amos 1. 3. For three transgressions of Damascus and for foure Some understand it of three or foure speciall sins of which Damascus was chiefely guilty namely 1. Idolatry 2. Incest 3. Luxurie 4. Oppression Or Three may be taken for a Cardinal number and Foure for an Ordinal for the Fourth as if some fourth sin were so sinfull and had such a malignity in it as the Lord would not pardon Thus Foure is put for the fourth Prov. 30. 15 18 21 29. Three things are never satisfied yea foure things say not it is enough That is a fourth thing sc fire being the most insatiable of all the rest saith not it is enough The copulative particle and is often in Scripture taken comparatively for much more Psal 125. The mountaines are round about Jerusalem and the Lord is about his people So the Hebrew we translate by a comparative of similitude As So. But more emphatically to the scope of the place by a comparative of excesse Thus As the mountaines are about Jerusalem sc to fortifie and defend it so much more is the Lord about his people fortifie and defend them In this sense we may take the copulative And in Amos. For three transgressions the Lord would not turne c. but much more for a fourth would he not turne away the punishment thereof The former three were enough to provoke the Lord to destroy you but for this fourth he is resolved to be irreconcileable and will destroy you Others adde Three to Foure which make seven as if the Holy Ghost had said for seven that is manifold transgressions of Damascus I will not turne away c. But rather take the numbers distinct for Three and Foure that is for the many for the multitude of transgressions committed in Damascus I will not turne away the punishment thereof Not that the mercies of God are exceeded by any number
thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh This verse contains a second paire of evills First The scourge of the tongue Secondly Destruction Two things are here to be enquired into about the former 1. What is meant by the scourge of the tongue 2. What it is to be hid from it The scourge of the tongue Mr Broughton reades it thus Quo tempore lingua flâ—gallabit homines Drus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In piel est detrahare vel nocere lingua Thou shalt be delivered or thou shalt be hid when the tongue whippeth And another to the same serce At what time the tongue shall be scourging of men thou shalt be secured from it And that word Leshon the tongue in Piel signifies to detract to traduce or slander the same word is used both for the instrument of the tongue and one of the worst acts of the tongue calumination or we may render it according to the exact lettter of the Hebrew elegancy to Betongue a man We use such a kind of speaking in our language as to strike a man with a cudgell or a Cane-staffe is to cudgel or cane a man and if a man be shot with a pistol we say he was pistol'd so a man smitten with anothers tongue is said in the Hebrew to be Betongu'd or such an one hath betongu'd him We leave the Verbe and translate by the Nowne From the scourge of the tongue In construction Beth In is often rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saepe redditur per Min 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Min From as Grammarians know Thou shalt love the Lord thy God in all thy heart or from thy whole heart or from the heart-root So here Thou shalt be hid in the scourge that is thou shalt be hid from the scourge when the tongue is lashing and whipping thou shalt be hid from the lash and scourge of tongues But what may we understand by this scourge of the tongue First Some take it for publique accusations before a Judge or Magistrate Many scourge their brethren at the Tribunal of Princes Rev. 12. That accuser of the brethren that traducer the Devill is conceived to make those accusations by his agents in those times before the heathen Emperours against the Christians The Christians in that age were extreamly scourged by malignant and malevolent tongues tongues set on fire of hell as the Apostle James speaks Chap. 3. 6. And so the scourge of the tongue may be that punishment which they by false accusations obtained against the innocent their tongues got judgement against them sometimes to be scourged or whipt therefore also that very work of the tongue is well called scourging Our Lord Jesus was crucified upon the tongues of the Jewes before he was crucified upon the crosse by the Romans The Jewes cryed out first crucifie him crucifie him here was the crosse of the tongue The conspirators against Jeremiah advise thus Chap. 18. 18. Let us smite him with the tongue that is let us accuse him to the King that he may Accusemus eum apud regem omni industria ratione efficiamus ut publica sententia vapuleâ— Flagellum linguae est poena in judcio constituâ—a postulata fieri à calumniatoribus be smitten by a publick sentence In this sence a man is imprisoned by the tongue banished by the tongue hang'd and burn'd by the tongue that is the tongue doth all these virtually or vitiously rather by false accusations causing these things to be done actually and formally Secondly Others interpret the scourge of the tongue to be those terrible and dreadfull reports which amaze lash and afflict the spirit about the approach of dangers As when a report is rung in the eare that an invading enemy spoylers and plunderers arm'd with power and malice are at hand to take away estates liberties and lives How many have bin beaten about the ears and scourg'd with such Alarums Jer. 50. 43. it is said The King of Babylon hath heard the report of them what report was it and of whom A spie rides in and kills the King with his tongue strikes him thorough with his tongue before he was toucht with the sword of the Medes and Persians How He brought him a sad report that the enemy was upon his march then it follows The King of Babylon hath heard the report of them and his hands waxed feeble anguish took hold of him and pangs as of a woman in travell We find the like expression Isa 28. 18 19. They who had slighted the judgements of God and said when the overflowing scourge shall passe thorough it should not come neare them even these saith God shall be vext when they doe but heare of a scourge coming neare I will send a report and it shall passe over morning by morning and it shall travell by day and by night and what shall be the effect of it It shall be a vexation saith the Lord onely to understand the report You shall not onely be vexed when the enemy is come and thrusts a sword into your bowells and fire into your houses but you shall be vext at the noise of his coming it shall be a vexation to you to heare the report It is a great mercy to be delivered and hid from this scourge of the tongue and this is promised him who feares God Psal 112. 7. No evill tydings shall make him afraid A heart which hath trembled at the voice of God instructing him shall not tremble at the voice of men reporting evill to him Many a man is more afraid than hurt and more perplexed with the hearing of evill tydings then others are with seeing or feeling the evill The Lord threatens Ely to doe such a thing in Israel and against his house that both the eares of him that hears shall tingle 1 Sam. 3. 11. But Thirdly Some translate thus He shall be hidde when the Quidam cum vâ—gâ—bitur Imguae ut sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Drus Merc. tongue wandreth or walketh about for the same word which signifies a scourge by the alteration of a point in the Hebrew signifies to run to and fro It is the word used in the first Chapter where Satan reports himselfe A Goer to and fro about the earth There is an expression Psalm 73. 9. sutable to this sense though the Originall word be not the same They set their mouth a-against the Heavens and their tongue walketh thorow the earth The tongues of many take long journeyes while themselves sit still Kings are said to have long hands but many of their subjects have long tongues and strike their brethren with them many hundreds of miles off the tongue travels from towne to towne from City to City and scourgeth one here and there another And while these men send their tongues about a wandring to wound here and there this and that mans credit He is a happy man that can be hid from them
Fourthly Some of the Hebrew Doctors retaining the fore-going sense of the Verbe say that by tongue is meant Nations and people Sunt qui per linguam hic intelligunt nationes q d. quum grassabuntur longè lateque gentes populi omniaque depopulabuntur c. Drus When the tongue that is when a Nation shall goe about or march from place to place to destroy and over-runne a Land then at such a time thou shalt be hid It is frequent in Scripture to put tongues for Nations or tongues and nations for the same Rev. 7. 9. Chap. 17. 15. And there is a comfortable truth in the matter of this interpretation That when all tongues or nations shall be gathered to destroy us yet we shall be hid As if it should be said like that Psal 83. 6. Though the Tabernacle of Edom and the Ishmaelites of Moab and the Hagarens Gebal and Ammon and Amalek the Philistines with the inhabitantes of Tyre be confederate against thee or to take moderne names and Nations though Irish and Spanish French and Danes c. should at any time wander from their own lands to invade thee yet thou shall be hid when these tongues rove and wander spoile and pillaâ—e The matter I say of this interpretation is a truth and a very comfortable one but I would not charge it upon this Text. Fiftly and most generally and I conceive most truly by the scourge of the tongue is meant all and all manner of calumnies and slanders cursings or evill speakings false witnesses and accusations and from these the promise is thou shalt be hid It is said Prov. 14. 3 That In the mouth of the foolish is the rod of pride not that a foolish man will scourge pride he loves it too well but because the pride of a foole sets his tongue a scourging the wisest and the best a Maledicentia est famae hominis quod flagellum corpori nam laedit eam interdam accidâ—t hinc Graeâ—è 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dius Evill words are the same to the credit of a man that a scourge is to his back when slanderers speake openly then their tongue is compared to a sword or an arrow by day when secretly then to a trap or an arrow by night to a serpent which comes behind Gen. 49. and as here to b Flagellum dicitur quod in scapulas impingitur à tergo laedit ut non videas Metuentes patruae verbera linguae Hor. 3. Cor. Od 11. Nam Patrui multo quam patres incoâ—rupâ—iores esse so lent in judicandis objurgandis fratris filiâ—â—uÌ„ peccatis a scourge which is prepared for the back and is called in our language back-biting or we may call it back-beating The scourge of the tongue is all that ill which the tongue can speak And the c Verbera à verbis aut verba á verberibus dicta sunâ— quod auâ—es vox verbeâ—â—t Nonius Latin word for a word agrees well to this sense being derived as Criticks observe from a word which signifies a stripe or the word which signifies a stripe from that which signifies a word And we find that they who defame or over-severely reprove others are called barely d Qui dèâ—â—actoriis verbis famam alterius verberant percussore appellantur etiam suppresso nomine linguae Pined Nec sermone inutili conscientiam peâ—â—utit infiâ—morum nec centumelio suo garrulus perdat eum quem potuit medestia lenitate corrigere Hier. in Titus 1. 7. strikers And this as some of the ancients note according to Scripture language in those two Apostolicall directions 1 Tim. 3. 3. and Tit. 1. 7. where the Apostle gives the rule concerning a Bishop that he must be no striker This may be understood of striking not with the hand the Apostle could hardly think that quarrelsome spirits and sons of violence should be so much as admitted to a probation about that office but striking with the tongue by an undue an overhasty or an angry reproofe and censure The great instrument of a Bishop or a Minister is his tongue but he must use his tongue rather to heale than to wound or if at any time he useth it to wound it should be in tendency unto or in preparation for healing Therefore Let not a Bishop be a striker a striker with his tongue in passion much lesse in spleene or for selfe ends Thus we see what we are to understand by the stroke or scourge of the tongue But what is it to be hid from that scourge A word of that Thou shalt be hid Not as a Laâ—ebunt detractorem tua facta de quibus possiâ— detrahendi materiam sumere Aquin. One Thy actions shall be hid which might be as matter for slander to work upon nor as b Deficient detractoreÌ„ firmae Another though such actions appeare yet slanderers shall want proofe or sufficient witnesse shall not appeare against thee But First We may take it thus Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue that is the tenour of thy actions shall be so faire and probationes sufficientia indicia Cajet thy life so blamelesse that malice it selfe shall not find where to fasten an accusation Or secondly When other men are slandered and reproached thou shalt be free Or thirdly Thou shalt be hid that is though occasion should be given to malice and that our noblest and holiest actions use most to give yet malicious men shall not be able to come at thee thy person shall be secured in a chamber of secrecy and covered with a mantle of providentiall darknesse while the light of thy good works dazles and troubles the eye of the world But rather fourthly Thou shalt be hid that is Thou shalt be patroniz'd and defended thou shalt be set right and vindicated from all calumnies and false aspersions The Lord will so take care of thy credit and reputation that though many goe about to blemish it with lies and slanders yet thy honour shall be saved or the wounds of it healed by causing thy righteousnesse to breake forth as the light and thy just dealing as the noone day Some charitable medicinable tongue shall lick thee whole after all the stripes of those scourges or envenom'd scorpion-tongues Thus thou shalt be healed if smitten or else thou shalt not be smitten Psal 31. 20. Thou shalt keepe them secretly in thy pavilion from the strife of tongues The words of the Psalmist are an allusion to Kings who being resolved to protect their Favourites against all the clamours and accusations of men take them as it were into their own Pavillion into their Bed-chamber and bosome where none may touch Ad similitudineÌ„ regiae defensionis loquitur qua sâ— illi qui regibus chari sunt coram in ipsis aulae penetralibus in ipso regum conspectu versantes defenduntur securi vivunt Muscul in Psal them God also hath a
pavillion a secret hiding place for his Favourites where he preserves their credit and reputation untoucht against all the blots and causelesse blemishes of malignant spirits Thus they are hid from the strife of tongues Hence his Saints and people are called His stored or his hidden ones Psal 83. 3. Observe first The tongue is a scourge The tongue is a terrible engine The Scripture gives us variety of comparisons to set forth the evill of an ill tongue It is here called a scourge and it is a scourge of many lashes or knotted cords or rather stinging scorpions scoffing is one slander a second false accusations a third The former strictly taken is a lye told any neighbour and the latter is a lye told the Magistrate The tongue Psal 52 2. is called a sharpe rasor Psal 57. 4. it is compared to speares and arrowes and a sharpe Sword and if at any time with much using this Sword be blunted in the edge or point the Scripture speakes of whetting the tongue Psal 64. 3. It is as the sharpe arrowes of the mighty man and coales of juniper Psal 120. 4. They bend their tongues like a bow Jer. 9. 3. Their tongue is as an arrow shot out ver 8. In a word It is a fire and a world of mischiefe Jam. 3. 6. Jer. 18. 18. we reade of smiting with the tongue and of devouring words Psal 52. 4. As there are devouring opinions opinions which not only hurt the judgements of men but devoure their consciences and eat up truth as it were at a bit so there are devouring words words that eat up a mans reputation and devour his good name as bread Slanderous mouthes lâ—ve the whitest bread the finest of the wheate A mans credit which hath not a branne in it how sweet a morsell is it to such mouthes Though the truth is every name by how much the more pure and spotlesse it is by so much the more deadly will it be in the stomacks of these devourers A good name swallowed by an ill man will as Jonas did the Whale make him one time or other Stomach-sick if not conscience-sick and he shall be forced to vomit it out safe againe It is a sad thing when thus the people of God are wounded and scourged by the tongues of wicked men but I will tell you of a sadder scourging that is when the people and servants of God scourge one another with their tongues I beseech you leave this work to wicked men take not the scourge of the tongue out of their hands let us not only not slander but not speake hardly one of another The ancient Christians in the Primitive times were deepely wounded by the scourge of the tongue what strange things did ungodly men feigne and then fasten on them They reported them as black as hell as if their holy meetings were not to worship God but to defile themselves with incest and uncleannesse but among Christians themselves we reade not of this scourge at that time No Christians loved one another to the amazement of Heathens They were so farre from this scourging or wounding of one another that they were ready to be scourged to be wounded to be burned to die one for another This caused their Pagan persecuters to cry out Behold how the Christians love one another We are scourged by wicked ones as They O that we could love one another as They. Sons of Belial have revived the ancient reproaches and accusations against the brethren O that we could revive the ancient imbraces and most endeared affections of the Brethren Observe secondly It is a great mercy to be delivered from the Scourge of the tongue The Apostle speaks of it as a wonderfull mercy that he was delivered out of the Mouth of the Lion 2 Tim. 4. 17. Surely it is no ordinary mercy though lying be very ordinary to be delivered out of the Mouth of a lyar This is joyned in one promise with deliverance from the most deadly instrumenrs of warre Isa 54. 17. No weapon formed against thee shall prosper that is no weapon of warre neither Sword nor Speare shall hurt thee Then followes And every tongue that shall rise up against thee in judgement thou shalt condemne This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. The tongue of a Ziba or of a Tertullus will devour and destroy as bad as the Sword of a Caesar or a Pompey The holy story tels us what woefull work the tongue had made upon Joseph and Mephibosheth if the good providenee of God had not spoken a good word for them Lastly Let me add one seasonable word of admonition to these tongue scourgers As the word is They that smite with the sword shall perish with the sword so they that smite with the tongue shall perish with the tongue The tongues of the Saints are in some sence sharper and sorer scourges then the tongues of wicked men The word of God in their mouths is a Two-edged Sword yea sharper then any Two-edged Sword A Prophet or a Minister of Christ can strike as hard with his tongue as and infinitely harder then any Prophane wretch or railing Rabshakeb in the world Truth well set home will wound deeper than slander can I saith the Lord Hos 6. 5. have hewed them by my Prophets and slaine them by the words of my mouth In the 11th of the Revelation it is prophecied That fire shall goe out of the mouths of the two Witnesses and devour their enemies vers 5. That is the word of their mouths shall be as a fire to scorch and consume the gain saying world and with this instrument their tongue for that only is sutable for the work of Witnesses they are said to have tormented those that dwell upon the earth ver 10. Some indeed are Sermon-proofe and Word-proofe They at present doe even laugh at all our spirituall Artillery Let whole volleyes of threats be discharg'd upon them let them be hackt and hewed all day long with the Sword of the Word they feele it not it may be they jeer at it at least they regard it not As they Jer. 18. 18. conspiring against the Prophet Come let us devise devices c. let us smite him with the tongue And least any should say if we smite him with the tongue he will smite us againe For these Prophets are notable at that weapon To secure themselves they resolve thus Let us not give heed to any of his words As if they had said we know he will speake bigge words and threaten us terribly with Sword and pestilence and famine and hell c. But let 's arme our selves against him and make no more of all then of a Squibb or a pot-gun then of a stabbe with a wooden dagger or a charge with a Bull rush Let us not give heed to any of his words But let these know though now they are hardned against the spirituall scourge and sword in the mouth of Christs Ministers yet at the last
assault This the Greeke seemes to favour rendring it thus Though we have laine between the inheritances or the lots sc our own and the enemies either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Ainsworth way the sense reaches this point fully Though Beleevers lye among the pots or ncarest dangers yet they are assured that they shall have wings as the wings of a Dove which are covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold There is gold and silver in the eye of faith while there is nothing but blacknesse and death in the eye of sense yea faith assures them that they shall be white as snow in Salmon as it follows in that Psalme that is they shall have whitenesse after blacknesse or light in the midst of darknesse Salmon signifies darke duskish or obscure for it was a hill full of pits holes and glins very darke and dangerous for passengers but when the snow was upon it it was white and glistering now saith he they shal be like Salmon in the snow though black in themselves yet white lightsome and glorions either through pardon of sin or victory over their enemies to both which whitenesse hath reference in Scripture Againe In that it is said At destruction and famine thou shalt Non solum singulas arumnas superabit sed omnium illarum in unum coeuntiam agmen Integrum ex omnibus exâ—rcitum fâ—gabiâ— laugh as from that word laughing we see what spirits the Saints have in troublesome times So inasmuch as he gathers together and rally's all the scattered troopes of afflictions to charge at once upon a beleever and yet concludes At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh Observe That A godly man laughs at or is above all evils though brought against him at once It hath been said That Hercules could not match two here are two Destruction and famine overmatcht by one bring whole legions and armies of troubles to encounter a Saint he overcomes them all He famishes famine and destroyes destruction it selfe The Apostle Rom. 8. 35. musters up as it were all evils together into a body and dares any or all to battell with a beleever Who shall separate us from the love of God shall tribulation or distresse or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perrill or sword which of these shall undertake the challenge or will you bring any more then come life or death Angels or principalities or powers things present or things to come height or depth or any other creature none of these single nor all of these joyned shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Every heightned Saint is a spirituall Goliah who in the name of the living God bids defiance to this huge host and they all run and tremble before him Rejoyce saith the Apostle James 1. 2. when you fall into divers tempatations A beleever hath joy not only when he grapleth with a single temptation but let there come many divers temptations variety of temptations variety for kind and multitude for number yet he rejoyceth in the middest of all Neither shalt thou be affraid of the beasts of the earth Having thus lifted a godly man above the afflicting reach of those two great evils famine and destruction want of good things and spoiling of their goods he proceeds to instance another great evill wherein a godly man is exempt from and set above fear Neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth Beasts of the earoh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vita vivents bestia fera The root of that word signifies life and so any living creature especially a wild beast because they are so active and full of life therefore they are named from life And these are called the beasts of the earth First Because beasts are produced from the earth and the earth received a charge to produce them Gen. 1. 24 25. And God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind and God made the Beast of the earth after his kind Or secondly Because Beasts have nothing but earth to live upon as men whose portion is only in creatures are called men of the world or men of the earth The word for * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Complectitur totum terrarum orbeÌ„ tum habitabilem tum qui non est habitabliis deductum volunt a verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 curraâ—e vel quia coelum perpetuo rotatu circa terram currit vel quâ—d omnia animalia currant super faciem terrae earth signifies the whole earth habitable or inhabitable And though the earth stand still yet this word is derived say some from running either because the heavens runne round aboui the earth with a continuall rotation or motion or because all creatures men and beasts move or run upon the face of the earth Though others deduce it from a word which signifies to desire Alii à verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. voluiâ— conâ—upiviâ— deductum voluat eo quod terra jugiter appetat afferre wish or will a thing because the earth is perpetually desirous of bringing forth fruit for the use and helpe of man But it is not agreed on what we are to understand by the beasts of the earth First Some take the words improperly and so the beasts of the earth are interpreted men A company or society of men and these in a double sense For the word notes sometimes a company of men in a good sense and sometimes a company of men in an ill sense I shall give you an instance of both for the clearing of this text It signifies men or a company of men in a good sense Psal 68. 10. where speaking of that raine of liberalities that is blessings of all sorts which God sent upon his inheritance to confirme and refresh it he saith Thy Congregation hath dwelt therein Thy camp or leagure thy host or troop dwelt there so 2 Sam. 23. 13. which the vulgar translates Thy beasts and the Greeke Thy living Animalia tua habitabunt in ijs Vulg. Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 creatures dwelt therein The same word is used and some apprehend in allusion to this Psalme Rev. 4. 6. Chap. 5. 8 9 in those mysticall descriptions of Christ and his Church In this sense it suites not at all with the promise of the text These beasts are not to be feared but honoured and loved mans greatest spirituall comforts on earth are found in the society of these beasts But commonly this word referred unto men signifies an association of wicked men men of the earth worse many of them then the beasts of the earth These are spoken of in the same Psalme ver 30. Rebuke the company of speare men or Archers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The rout or crue of the Cane that is men that beare reeds or canes whereof speares and arrowes were wont to be made therefore the
had a quartell at us and the Law would have been upon us with an everlasting war if Christ had not setled our peace by satisfying the Law Stoning to death had been the death of us all if Christ had not made a league for us with these stones Thirdly Others interpret these stones by a Metanomy of the continent for the thing contained Thou shalt be at league with the stones of the field with the rocks or rocky places that is thou shalt be at league with those creatures or with those beasts which lie among the stones and have their dens about hollow rocks and so they make the latter branch and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee to be exegeticall giving us the exposition of the former or shewing what is meant by being at league with the stones of the field Thou shalt be at league with the stones of the field that is with the beasts who make their dens and their holes and their hiding places anomg the stones of the field This is a good sence of the words But leaving the former with some other apprehensions about these stones I shall take these stones properly and so they will fall under foure considerations all which give light to the clearing of this text and the manner of our league with stones First As naturally scattered upon the face of the earth so hindring travellers or endangering a man in hast upon his way One part of Arabia was called Arabia Petraea or the stony because it was full of stones and so uneasie either for tillage or travell Stones are so dangerous to the foot that the Latine word is derived from hurting the foot Hence those Scripture-expressions Lapis à laedendo pede nomen habet A stumbling stone and a rock of offence because men are so apt to stumble at stones And both these are applyed to Christ in a figure he is called A stumbling stone and a rock of offence Christ in himselfe is the most precious and elect foundation-stone to build on but he is the most sore and dangerous stone to stumble on To be in league and covenant with that living stone is the highest mercy Secondly These stones as they lie naturally hidden in the bowells of the earth or under the earth are a trouble to the Husbandman in tilling the ground in plowing and sowing and they often endanger the breaking of his plow and hinder the rooting and growth of the seed sowne Thirdly consider these stones as artificially laid together for the making of a wall or mound to fence and part field from field or both from the common fields and high-ways Fourthly Consider these stones as artificially and industriously placed for marks and boundaries to distinguish private mens lands or the precincts of such and such countries which are commonly called a Lapides terminales Mark stones or Boundary-stones as also stones set in roads or high-ways for the direction of Travellers pointing which way to goe to eminent Towns or Cities Of such a stone we read 1 Sam. 20. 19. when Jonathan bad David stay at the stone Eziel that is as we put in the Margin of our Bibles the stone that sheweth the way or the b Lapides viatorii way-stone These boundary-stones or way-stones to direct travellers were famous in antiquity Insomuch that among the c Romoni Deum habebanâ— quem Terminuâ—n vocabant Is Deus finum erat Pig l. 1 de Civ Dei cap. 23. Lact. l. 1. c. 20. Heathen They were worshipped as a God or Numen as divers of the Christan Fathers have observed in their learned reports of Heathenish idolatry Which also their own d Termini sive lapis sive es defossus in agro Stipes ab antiquis â—u quoque numen habes Ov. primo Fast Omnis erit sine â—eliâ—igiosus ager Poets have elegantly described both in their constitution and uses giving those stones a charge faithfully to testifie e Et seuve meribus seu te pul sabere rastris Clamato tuus est hic ager ille tu vs. This is your land and this is yours And they break out into the commendation of the integrity of these witnesses whom no threats could terrifie or bribes corrupt to speak a lie or conceal the truth Now consider the other terme what it is to be in league with stones in any of or in all these acceptations In generall we know that to be in league with stones is an improper or allusive speech Stones are not capable of the formalities of a league when we are in league or covenant with God or man so with stones these two things are made out to us 1. That God or man will do us no hurt A covenant or league takes off the actings of hostility Whatsoever a man is in covenant with he fears no damage from Presumptuous sinners having made a covenant with hell and an agreement with death build their confidence of indemnity upon the strength of it When the over-flowing scourge shall passe through it shall not come neare us Isa 28. 15. A man that is in league with the devill believes the devill will doe him no wrong 2. A league imports that we may expect to receive good protection benefits and blessings either from God or man according to the Articles of covenant agreed to and sealed respectively These two assurances we have by a league And when it is said here that a godly man is in league with the stones of the field both these are to be understood It is as much as to say The stones of the field shall not annoy him yea the stones of the field shall be a benefit or a friend to him Man is said to be in league with stones when he receives the effect of a league from stones Taking it in this generall sence we may apply it unto those four particular sences of senseless stones before mentioned First As stones are naturally scattered upon the face of the earth the promise imports thus much that such stones shall not hurt or annoy him in his walks or travells This promise we have expressely Psal 91. 11. He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy wayes they shall beare thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone This is the league with stones Stones shall not annoy thee in thy way thou shalt not stumble or fall to break thy bones or bruise thy body upon these stones The devill in his combat with Christ misapplyeth this promise of a league with the stones Mat. 4. 6. Tempting him to cast himselfe down from a pinacle of the Temple for it is written He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up least at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone As if he had said a godly man hath this assurance from his league with the stones that he shal receive no harm from
them therefore trust God and in confidence of this promise Cast thy self down So here is the first sence Thou shalt be at league with the stones of the field that is thou shalt not be hurt by those stones as thou travellest or walkest Secondly Take the stones as they lie hidden in the earth then to be at league with them hath this sence First that in tilling the earth stones should not trouble or hinder that work God shall so order it that though thou plowest among stones yet thou shalt till thy ground successefully The stony ground shall be fruitfull ground In that Parable of a vineyard Isa 5. 1 God is pleased to manifest his care of making it fruitfull by this act among others I gathered out the stones thereof ver 2 noting that stones are naturally great impediments to fruitfulnesse We reaâ— Mat. 13. 5. how the seed which fell upon the stony ground sprung up quickly and withered as quickly Stony ground naturally cannot feed or bring forth fruit to maturity It is then a great priviledge thus to be in league with the stones of the field that though we sow among stones yet we shall have a plentifull Harvest When Job described the days of his prosperity Chap. 29. 6 he saith The Rocke powred him out rivers of oyle To have oyle out of rocks is like having corne out of the stones both noting things succeeding Justo mollescuÌ„t saxa imâ—iis vero teâ—rae pulvis mollissimus lapidescet beyond their naturall principles and our common expectation When the Baptist would shew how God can work beyond all the possibilities of nature or reason he saith to the Jewes Even of these stones God can raise up children unto Abraham Mat. 3. There is somewhat of a miracle in it to raise up bread to a man out of stones that is to make rocky land a fertile soile God threatned his people that he would make the earth to be iron under them that is the earth which was ordinarily fruitfull shall yield you no more fruit then iron And on the other side he promises That they shall suck honey out of the rocke and oyle out of the flinty rocke Deut. 32. 13. Honey out of the rock That is honey of Bees hiving themselves in rocks or as others honey fruits as Dates c. which grow on Palme trees as oyle on Olive-trees in rocky places Hereby the Lord assured his people of aboundant Aisnw on Deu. plenty For whereas rocks and stones are usually barren he would make those places fruitfull to Israel They should have oyle out of the rock in Canaan as well as water out of a rock in the wildernesse We are surely in league with those rocks and stones of the fields which send us such Presents as these bread and water honey and oyle Thirdly Take these Stones as artificially laid together and so Nunquam dissolvetur macria non dissiliet lapis ex sepe nemo furabitur ne no Insiliet in agros tuos Thou shalt be in league with them is thus to be understood Those walls and mounds of stone shall be as the keepers and watchmen of the field they shall preserve thy corn and thy cattell from annoyance To this sense some joyne the former words with these Thou shalt not be afraid of the beasts of the earth for the stones of the field which lie in the wals and fences shall be-friend thee and keepe them out When God would shew his intendment to destroy and lay waste his vineyard he expresses it by pulling down the wall as before he had express'd his care to protect it by building of a wall Isa 5. 2. I fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof which we may understand thus I gatherd out the stones and as it is usuall made a fence of them and had the vineyard brought forth fruit it had also been in league with these stones that is the stones of the wall had kept out the wild-beasts or any annoyance from them but being fruitlesse the league with those stones was broken I saith the Lord ver 5. will breake downe the wall thereof and it shall be troden downe So that in this sense to be at league with the stones of the field is as much as to say the stone-wall or the stone-fence which is made about thy field shall stand to protect and maintain thy land thy fruits and cattell from the incursions of wild beasts from spoyling and treading down Facere pactum cum lapidibus agri est pacificè vivere cum proximo item securus esse quod nullos terminos agri sui transiliturus sit ac si cum lapidibus Terminalibus pepigisset ipsique lopides pactum iniâ—um servarent nec aliter ac si ratione valentes incursores aut transgressores etiam verbo fugarent Pined Termini agâ—oruÌ„ tuoâ—um à nemine violentur nemo transgredietur by any Fourthly take these Stones for land-marks or for way-marks for boundary-stones or for directory-stones and then the sense may be thus conceived Thou shalt be at league with the stones of the field that is no man shall come within thy bounds none shall remove thy land-marks or invade thy estate those Stones shall firmly distinguish thine inheritance thou shalt have no controversie arising which is thine or what is thy possession As if an agreement had formally bin made with these stones to keepe off all intruders upon their Masters inheritance and accordingly the stones in pursuance of that agreement like so many hired servants should faithfully witnesse for their Master and chide away all who would doe him wrong 1 Sam. 7. 12. Samuel set up a stone as a boundary of the conquest and victories which the Lord had given the children of Israel against the Philistines He set up a stone and called it Eben-Ezer or the stone of helpe Adding the reason Hitherto hath the Lord helped us As if he had said here is a Stone of remembrance how God hath helped us and that stone seemed to speake thus much to Israel Keepe and hold what ye have gotten let not the Philistines set a foot unrevengd over or beyond this stone So then in this sense to be in league with the stones of the field is a promise of keeping our inheritances free from invasion and confusion that we shall know what is ours and that no enemy shall take it from us It was a great sin to remove the land-marks and boundaries and a great punishment was threatned against any who should alter or remove them Prov. 23. 11. Deut. 19. 14. Deut. 27. 17. And when the Prophet Hosea would shew how extreamly wicked the Princes of Judah were he saith Chap. 5. 10. The Princes of Judah were like them that remove the bounds as if he had said we account those the worst of men who remove land-marks how vile then are these Princes who are as bad as they Just as the wickednesse of the people is aggravated Chap. 4.
with the creatures Thirdly an assurance that this peace shall be continued Lastly observe All outward blessings are in themselves fading and perishing Though a man be assured that he shall enjoy outward blessings yet he can enjoy them but in the nature and condition of outward blessings Though he be sure to use and enjoy them yet he looks upon them as perishing in the using All outward things are here as frequently in other Scriptures implied under the notion of a Tabernacle a Tabernacle is a moveable habitation It is a peece of a miracle if a Tabernacle stand long that promise Isa 33. 20. imports somewhat extraordinary A Tabernacle that should not be taken downe not one of the stakes thereof removed nor any of the cords thereof be broken It is as if the holy Ghost should say Thou shalt be a Tabernacle priviledg'd above all Tabernacles They are moveable unfixed easie to be taken downe but it shall not be so with thee The Apostles conclusion takes in all creature comforts The fashion of this world passeth away 1 Cor. 7 31. The scheme the beauty of the best earthly things passe while we enjoy them and moulder away between our hands while we are using them And thou shalt visit thy habitation and shalt not sin This clause of the verse compleats mercy yet higher It is better not to sin in our habitation then to be assured of a habitation To have quietnesse in our habitation is very good but to have holinesse in it is best of all Thou shalt visit thy habitation and shalt not sin The word which we translate habitation signifies not only a house but a wife or a housewife Hence some render Thou shalt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Habitatio in soeminino genere significat Habiâ—atricem mulierem sc habitantem in domo exornantem eam Moller in Psal 68 13. visit thy beauty or thy faire and beautifull wife and shalt not sin The reason is either because a good wife is the beauty and ornament of the house or because the knowledge wisedome and diligence of the wife is a meanes to furnish and adorne the house or lastly the businesse of a wife is so much in the house that she shares names with the house she is or ought to be like a shaile living with her house upon her back The Apostles rule also being I will that the younger women marry beare children guide the house 1 Tim. 5 14. And exhort them to be discreet chast keepers at home Tit. 2. 5. Hence also probably the same word in Hebrew signifies a beautifull wife and a beautifull house We reade it in that sense Psal 68. 12. Kings of armies did fly apace and she that tarried at home divided the spoile She that tarried at home or the beauty of the house sc the wife divided the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spoile The meaning is such victory shall be obtained over the enemies of the Church that the wives and weake women shall be fill'd with those spoiles which theit triumphant husbands shall bring home to them But here we may rather take the word in the ordinary sense only with this emphasis signifying not bare walls or a numerous family but a beautifull a well furnished a well ordered house And so we have the word at the third verse of this Chapter where Eliphaz saith I saw the wicked taking root and presently I cursed his habitation or his goodly beautifull flourishing house So here thou shalt visit thy habitation that is thy house in all the beauty order riches and furniture of it Thou shalt visit The word signifies more then to see and look upon buildings and furniture To visit notes in Scripture these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Visitavit three or foure things 1. To overlooke or take care of the house To visit the house is to provide for the house Psal 8. 4. Lord what is man that thou visitest him that is that thou takest so much eare of him and hast such waking thoughts about him 2. To visit the house notes an enquirie of what is done in the house how things goe in the family 3. It imports a calling of all to an account and reckoning about what is done in their discharge of family duties 4. To visit is to order and direct to command and give precepts for what shall be done Hence frequently in the old Testament the Commandements of God are expressed by this word his precepts So then thou shalt visit thy house or thy habitation may take in all these thou shalt as a Master view and over-see direct and call to account thy house and family In this sense the word is commonly used amongst us That act of the Bishops calling their Diocesses to an account and over-looking them was called their Visitation And over Colledges Hospitals and such publicke foundations Visitors are appointed to see and take an account how the rules and statutes of those places are observed Thou shalt visit thy habitation and shalt not sin But how is it said he shall doe this and not sin Doth not sin mingle with all we doe The word here used signifies 1. Tropically to erre faile or miscarry in the generall 2. Properly to misse a speciall marke or way to shoot awry or wander instead of walking as Judg. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 20. 16. it is said of those seven thousand Benjamites that they Erravit aÌ„ via vel scopo could shoot at an haires bredth and not sin so the word is or not miscarry not misse the marke And because every transgression is a wandring out of the way of Gods commandements or a shooting beside the marke of his word therefore that word in Non afficieris poena pro peccatoâ— Pâ—gn Non laedeâ—is non accpies damnum aut detrimentum Targ. Curabis res tuas domum tuam at eas procurans non fâ—ustrabeâ—is spetua cedentibus tibi rebus omnibus pro voto ex animi sententia Mer. Non aberrabis sc aÌ„ scopo fine desiderij â—ui Coc Scripture is commonly used for sinning Here the word admits of a two-fold interpretation First For the fruit or effect of sin thus thou shalt order and over looke thy family with such wisdome and discretion that thou shalt not erre or doe things beside the rule of prudence and so bring miscarriages and troubles upon thy affaires by sinne Mr Broughton translates to this sense Thou shalt visit thy habitation and shalt not misprosper And so Eliphaz may hint at Jobs former losses at the overthrow of his estate and family as if he had said heretofore thou didst visit thy habitation and didst not prosper but if thou shalt now humble thy selfe thou shalt visit thy habitation and all shall prosper things shall goe well with thee thou shalt not labour in vaine or loose thy end in the care thou takest about thy family Secondly the sense may be this thou shalt order and visit thy family
with so much justice equity holinesse that thou shalt not sin Not that Eliphaz undertakes his absolute freedome from sin but he should not sin as he supposed he had before thou shalt not run into such errors or split thy selfe upon such rocks as have wrackt thy former greatnesse And thus he secretly reproves Jobs former carriage in his family as irregular and sinfull There is a further exposition joyning both these together Thou shalt visit thy house and shalt not sin namely by conniving or winking at the sins and disorders of thy family and yet thou shalt have peace thy strict and faithfull carriage in over-seeing thy family shall not provoke either servants or children to contention and complainings to anger and passion Thy holy severity shall not fill thy house with quarrels and troubles but God shall so Domestici correpti non succensebuntâ— Vâ—tabl over awe the spirits of those under thee that they shall willingly and cheerefully submit to thy purer discipline Observe hence First It is a great and a speciall point of godly wisdome well to order and visit a family Families are the principles or seeds of a Common-wealth As every man is a little world so every house is a little Kingdome A family is a Common-wealth in a little volume And the rules of it are an epitomie of all Lawes by which whole Nations are govern'd The Apostle makes it a speciall character of his Bishop That he must be one who rules his own house well and subjoynes the reason For if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the Church of God 1 Tim. 3. 4 5. And therein wraps up this truth that he who knowes how to rule his own house well is in a good posture of spirit for publike rule The same wisdome and justice and holinesse for kind only more enlarg'd and extensiue acts in either spheare and will regularly move both Secondly A family well visited and ordered is usually a prosperous family Sinne spoiles the comforts and cankers the blessings of a family Sin brought into a house rots the timber and pulls down the house or it undermines the foundation and blowes up the house The sin of families is the ruine and consumption of families Hence thirdly observe To be kept from sin is a better and a greater blessing than all outward blessings When Eliphaz had reckoned up all the comforts which repenting Job is promised Thou shalt be delivered in six troubles and in seven Sword and famine shall not hurt thee peace and plenty shall dwell within thy walls and lodge in every chamber Yet saith he I will tell thee of a blessing beyond all these thou shalt not sin It is more mercy to be delivered from one sin then from sword and famine grace is better then peace and holinesse then aboundance riches and honour and health are all obscured in this one blessing A holy a gracious an humble heart There is more evill in one sin than in any or all troubles therefore there must needs be a greater blessing in being kept from sin than in protection from any or all troubles Sin is the greatest evill therefore to be kept from sin is one of the greatest goods Christ took upon him all sorts of outward evils he became poor for our sakes he had not so much as an house to lye in he came in the forme of a servant for our sakes and he was a man of sorrowes He was acquainted with grief all his life at last with death and a grave Yet he would not admit of the least sin he was content to bears all our sins but he abhord the thought of acting one Not to sin is the next priviledge to God and the utmost priviledge of man When in a full sense man shall not sin man will be arrived at fulnes of joy and as we daily empty of sin so we proportionably fill with joy Vers 25. Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great and thy off spring as the grasse of the earth From the present bessings upon the family he descends to those which concerne posterity as if he had said thy comforts shall not be confined to thy selfe neither shall they be shut up within the limits of one generation Mercies shall be transmitted to thy children thy heires shall inherit blessings Thy seed shall be great The word Great signifies both multitude and magnitude Thou shalt have a great seed that is a numerous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seed a multitude of children and thou shalt have a great seed that is honourable and wealthy children Job himselfe was called Chap. 1. 3. though by another word yet in the same sense the greatest man in the East This greatnesse is promised his children and thy shall receive additionall further blessings For the word Rab signifies greatnesse in a continuall motion to more eminent greatnesse And therefore it is sometime translated by encreasing So Isa 9. 6. where the Prophet sets out the flourishing glory of the kingdome of Christ Of the increase of his Kingdome and peace there shall be no end or of the greatnesse and greatning of his kingdome there shall be no end So that to say thy seed shall be great notes not only some standing greatnesse but growing greatnesse they shall ever be upon an encrease till they come to their full in glory And thy off-spring as the grasse of the earth Both clauses of the verse meane the same thing The word which we translate off-spring signifies properly that which goeth forth or issues because children spring or goe forth from their parents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Germina sicut ex vite palmites and are therefore called their issue And the word is used for the bud of the Olive or of the Vine hence the Psalmist puts them both into a similitude Thy children shall be like olive plants round about thy table They are as the olive bud in their birth and as the olive branch in their growth Thy off-spring shall be as the grasse of the earth To be as the grasse of the earth is a proverbiall speech and it Proverbiale multitudinis talia sunt sicut arena maris ut stellae coeli Drus arises to the sense of those proverbials spoken to Abraham concerning his seed thy seed shall be as the Starres of Heaven And thy seed shall be as the sand upon the sea-shore The grasse of the field is as innumerable as the Starres or the sands Thy off spring shall be as the grasse of the sield Thou shalt not only have a numerous but thou shalt have as it were an innumerable off spring Man kind in generall is compared unto grasse Isa 40. 6. All flesh is grasse Grasse in regard of its sudden withering he is suddenly cut downe the goodlinesse of man is as the flower of the field Wicked men are compared to grasse not only because they wither but because they wither suddenly
shock of corne that is brought in in his season Even pale death hath beauty in it when it comes in season Eccles 7. 17. Be not wicked over much why shouldst thou dye before thy time No man can dye before Gods time but a man may dye before his time that is before he is prepared by grace and before he is ripened in the course of nature Those two wayes a man dyes before his time First when he dyes without any strength of grace Secondly when he dyes in the strength of nature In this sense the Prophet describes the hand of God upon him Psal 102. 23. He weakned my strength in the way â—â— shortned my dayes and therefore prayes in the 24th verse I said O my God take me not away in the midst of my dayes That is in the strength or best of my times according to the line and measure of nature A godly man prayes that he may not dye out of season but a wicked man never dies in season That threatning is ever fulfilled upon him in one sense if not in both Psal 55. 23 The blood-thirsty and deceitfull man shall not live out halfe his dayes A wicked man never lives out halfe his daies for either he is cut off before he hath lived halfe the course of nature or he is cut off before he hath lived a quarter of the course of his desires either he lives not halfe so long as he might or not a tenth not a hundreth part so long as he would and therefore let him dye when he will his death is full of terror trouble and confusion because he dies out of season He never kept time or season with God and surely God will not keep or regard his time or season Vers 27. Loe this we have searched it so it is heare it and know thou it for thy good As Eliphaz began his dispute with an elegant preface so he ends it with a rhetoricall conclusion as if he had said Job I have spoken many things unto thee heare now the summe and upshot of all Loe this we have searched it so it is heare it and know it for thy good Two things he concludes with First with an assertion of the truth of what he had spoken So it is Secondly with a motion for his assent to what was spoken Heare it Or the words may fall under a three-fold consideration As the 1. Conclusion of his speech 2. Confirmation 3. Application And this application is strengthned by a three-fold Motive By a motive first from experience Loe this we have searched it we have found the thing to be true Secondly By a motive from the truth of the thing in it selfe so it is we have searched it we have experience of it so it is the thing is certaine And then Thirdly From the fruit and benefit of it if he submit unto and obey the truth delivered know it for thy good thou shalt reap the profit of it These are three motives by which he strengthens his exhortation in applying the truth he had beaten out in his former discourse We have searched it As if Eliphaz had said we have not taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scrutatus perscrutatus est remota aut abstrusa these things upon trust or by an implicite faith we have not received them by tradition from our fathers but we have searched and tryed and found out that thus the matter stands in Gods dispensations both to a wicked man and to a godly man in all the particulars run thorough in this Chapter Or we have searched that is we have learned these truths by experience That God punisheth not the innocent that man cannot compare in justice with God that hypocrites shall not prosper long and that mans afflictions are the fruit of his transgressions The word signifies a very diligent and exact scrutiny Deut. 13. 14. Thou shalt enquire and make search and aske diligently it is to search as Judges Diligenti inquisitione verita is scrutatiene nec non reconditorum divinae providentiae judiciorum consideratione rem ita se habere compeâ—imâ—â— search and enquire about any crime or question in Law determinable by their sentence and as we search to find the meaning of a riddle Judg. 14. 14. The word is also applied to the searchings and enquiries of a Spie Judg. 18. 2. sent to bring intelligence A spie is an exact inquisitor into all affaires given him in charge for discovery So here we have searched out we have spied out and tryed this thing to the utmost we have as it were read over all the records of divine Truths we have examined all experiences and examples and this is the result the summe of all Loe thus it is A question arises here how Eliphaz can say we have searcht it when as Chap. 4. he saith A thing was secretly brought to me It seemes these were matters attained and beaten out by study not sent in by divine revelation and so are rather the opinions of men then the oracles of God Men inspired by the Holy Ghost speak another language As Thus saith the Lord or this we have received not this we have searched Scripture is given by inspiration from God not by the disquisitions of men Some have hence concluded this speech of Eliphaz Apocryphal Ex quo intelligimus hanc Eliphae dissertionem non or aculi fuisse sed studij nec ad Dei revelantis responsa sed ad humani ingenij inventa pertinere Janson in loc as being rather matter of humane invention then divine inspiration Or the work of mans wit rather then of Gods Spirit But I answer First The Apostle Paul hath sufficiently attested the Divine Authority of this discoruse by alledging a proof out of it 1 Cor. 3. 19. Secondly That which was secretly brought to Eliphaz was that one speciall Oracle Chap. 4. 17. Shall mortall man be more just then God shall a man be more pure then his maker The other part of his discourse to which these words Loe this we have searched refer were grounded upon the experiences which himselfe and his friends had observed in and about the providence of God in all his dealings both with the godly and the wicked all agreeable to that grand principle received by immediate revelation And therefore as he told Job before that the generall position was brought him in a vision so all ages and the records kept of them in all which he had made a diligent enquirie came up fully to the proofe of it As if he had said The Lord told me so and all he hath done in the word proclaimes that it is so His word is enough to assert his own justice but his works witnesse with it Loe this we have searched so it is We have searched He speaks in the plurall number he begun his speech in the fourth Chapter and he concluds it here in the plurall number Yet we are not to think that this was a discourse penn'd
by them all together or debated first in private conference and agreed on that thus Eliphaz should speake because he saith we have searched it But the meaning is only this I suppose I have spoken the sense of my two friends who stand by and I beleeve they are ready to subscribe to or vote every word I have now uttered therefore behold we have searched and thus it is Heare thou it To advise thee was our part to heare and hearken is thy part therefore heare it But had he not heard them all this while why doth Eliphaz now bid him heare it It is true he had heard but there is more required then the hearing of the eare when such a Sermon as this is preached To heare is more than the worke of the eare It is First To beleeve and give credit to what was heard Joh. 9. 27. I told you before and you would not heare saith the blind man wherefore would you heare it againe that is I have told you already but you would not beleeve nor give credit to what I spake Secondly To heare is to hearken that is to yeeld and consent to what is spoken Gen. 3. 17. Forasmuch as thou hast hearkned to the counsell of thy wife Barely to heare a temptation to sin is no act of sin as barely to heare an exhortation to good is no act of grace Therefore because thou hast hearkned is because thou hast yeelded and consented to that which she hath spoken Thirdly To heare is to obey Isa 55. 3. Heare and your soule shall live It is not every hearing af the eare that bringeth life to the soule obedient hearing is enlivening hearing So here we have searched it so it is heare it that is beleeve what we have spoken submit unto and consent to what we have spoken obey and practise what we havespoken To heare is both an act of sence and an act of reason an act of nature and an act of grace To heare one requesting and praying is to grant and to heare one counselling and commanding is to obey When God heares man he grants and when man heares God or heares men speaking in the name of God he yeelds and obeys It followes And know thou it for thy good The Hebrew is know it for thy selfe Now because that which a man knowes for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 himselfe is for his profit therefore we translate know it for thy good that is know it as that whereby thy selfe mayest receive good The meaning of know it for thy selfe is not this know and keep it to thy selfe let none partake with thee of it It is against the use of knowledge that a man should so know for himselfe though a mans selfe hath or may have good by all he knowes So we must understand that of Salomon Prov. 9. 12. If thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thy selfe that is thou shalt be advantag'd by thy wisdome Wisdome brings in a faire revenew though many know much and seem very wise who know nothing for themselves and are not wise at all for their own good There are three sorts of knowing men First Some know onely to know They know but the propose no end to themselves beyond knowledge They know not for the good of others no nor for their own good As it is with riches and honour so with knowledge covetous men gather riches that they may be rich they propose not any other end of having riches but only to be rich An ambitious man desires honor that he may be honourable he proposeth to himselfe no other end of his desiring honor but to be honourable So many are covetous and ambitious of knowledge they read from book to book and from point to point from science to science and what do they with all this knowledge only this that they may know to know thus is not to know for good To know only to know is no better then not to know Secondly Others know that they may be knowne to know this is their end that other men may know that they are knowing men that they are great Schollars great read-men men of great abilities and boundlesse studies Even as some desire riches that they may be accounted rich and honour that they may be fam'd for honourable To know only that we may be known is worse then not to know But thirdly That which is the right way of knowing is to know that others may know or to know that our selves may practise These are the true ends of knowing to communicate knowledg and to obey knowledge The great end of knowing should be our own profiting in holinesse and obedience And so here Know it for thy good is to know it so as to make an advantage of thy knowledg To know for our good is the only good knowledge Hence observe first Truth deserves our most diligent search We have searched it saith Eliphaz The promise of finding truth is only to such as search for truth Prov. 2. 4. Thou shalt find wisdome c. If thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures There are two places two veines especially where truth is to be found There is the book of Gods word and the book of Gods works The book of Scripture and the book of providence In these two books we are to search in them to study out truth for our own practise and for advise to others Secondly Observe That which we offer to others for truth we ought diligently to make tryall of our selves or we should make truth our own before we distribute it to others We have searched the thing out saith Eliphaz we know the truth to be thus we are masters of what we teach They who hear aright search as the Bereans those things which are taught them and they who instruct aright ought to search the things which they teach If there must be after-searching of those things we hear certainly there must be fore-searchings of the things we teach Truth ordinarily is not worth the having unlesse it be come in by our own searching They who receive that for truth which they never searcht will not hold any truth when themselves are searcht Truths merely borrowed and taken upon trust are no stock no abiding treasure of knowledge And yet most can only say of all the truth they have as he of his axe head 2 Kings 6. 5. Alas master for it was borrowed they snatch up one truth from this hand and another from that they take it upon the credit of this and that learned man very few are able to say as Eliphaz here Loe this we have searched it The more paines we take to find truth the more pleasure we take in it That is sweetest to us which we sweat most for in praying and studying Morsells of Truth dipt in that sawce fatten and strengthen the soul most Observe thirdly What a man knoweth by search and disquisition he is confident of We have
originall beare such a translation when our sins are put into the ballance with our sufferings all our sufferings the heaviest we can feele or goe under in this life are but as a feather to a talent of lead As all the afflictions of this life are light in comparison of that exceeding weight of glory prepared for us in the next life So all the suffering of this life are light in comparison of the exceeding weight of one sin commited by us Therefore Job makes no such comparison here as if he had bin afflicted more than he deserved That of Ezra concerning the Church of the Jewes Chap. 9. 13. Thou our God hast punished us lesse then our iniquities deserve is true of every punishment put any punishment of this world spiritual or temporall in one scale and the least sin in another that lightest sin out-weighs our heaviest punishment Only in hell sins and sufferings shall be of equall poyse God will then powre and measure our punishments which shall come up to the proportion and demension of our sins and what the creature cannot bear at once in weight shall be weighed to him in eternity But to passe that rendring as unsafe O that my griefe were throughly weighed Our English word scale which is the instrument by which we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Libravit ponderavit olim moneta libraebatur ex pondere habebatur summa pecuniae ut mini ex numero nummoruÌ„ Ulpian weigh is well conceived to come from the Hebrew word here used Shakal signifying to weigh any thing but especially to weigh coyne or mony to weigh gold and silver As Gen. 23. 16. Abraham upon the purchace of that field which he bought of the children of Heth for a burying place weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named It was the custom of those times in stead of telling to weigh their mony and that was the most exact and ready way of paiment And from that word Shakal signifying to weigh money comes the Hebrew word for one speciall sort of mony the Shekel because they weighed by the shekel that being as their standard or a special coyne of such a known weight and value that all their coyne was weighed and valued by it So in Siclus moneta certi ponderis omnium ponderum reguâ—a the Latin and likewise in our English we call one speciall summe of mony A pound which is a weight and by which mony is commonly accounted and paid And hence by a Metaphor this word signifies to judge or to consider of a thing exactly and fully because of all matters that men weigh they will weigh gold and silver most exactly if a man weigh gold he weigheth it to a graine if gold want but the turning of the scale more then due weight or allowance it will not passe Isa 33. 18. Where is the Scribe where Vil begis verba ponderant Sanc. Quaestor praefectus aeratio militari Jun. is the Receiver The Hebrew is Where is the weigher that is either the spirituall weigher He that uses to be so exact in weighing every tittle of the law Or the Civill weigher because they used to weigh all the mony they received So then O that my griefe were throughly weighed is as if he had said O that my grief were weighed as gold and silver is weighed weighed exactly to the least to the utmost that you might fully know what it is The word single by it selfe notes an exact examination by weighing but when as here the word is doubled or by an Hebraisme repeated O that my griefe in weighing were weighed it heightens and increases the sense exceedingly Hence we translate O that my griefe were throughly weighed weighed so as that there might be a cleare discovery how much my sorrows weigh The doubling of a word to this sence is very frequent in Scripture I shall not need to instance Take only that Gen. 2. 17. Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evill thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof in dying thou shalt die that is thou shalt surely die So here O that in weighing it were weighed that is O that it were throughly and exactly weighed Lay all together and it imports thus much as if Job had said I would not have my sorrows weighed at a vulgar beame or in ordinary ballances I would not have the sound or letter only of what I have spoken considered but I desire that you would take my complaints together the words and the matter and that you would weigh all impartially that you may come to a full understanding what my condition is and then surely you would give up a better judgement and make a fairer interpretation of my words then as yet you have put forth Thus he speaks also Chapter 31 6. Let me be weighed in an even ballance that God may know my integrity Uneven ballances will not make a perfect discovery That which is false cannot give a true report Things and persons act as they are therefore Job desireth to be weighed in an even ballance such a beame will speake the truth of my estate both to God and man God needs no meanes to make him know he knowes all immediately and he weighes by his eye not one thing by another but all things in themselves Job speakes of God after the manner of men And my calamity laid in the ballances together My griefe and my calamity Griefe caused by my calamity and calamity the cause of that griefe My calamity The word signifies any troublesome evil sad event 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or accident vulgularly called a mis-fortune O that this sad à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 estate and condition wherein I am were put into the ballance The Originall for ballances is very observeable As there is fuit eventus malus infortunium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trutina statera quod duas sc habeat lances velvt aures Pagn much elegancy in the word by which the action so in this by which the instrument of weighing is express'd It is found only in the plurall or duall number as many of that nature are The same word in Hebrew signifies also the eares which are the organ of hearing and the reason of it is thus given because as the tongue of the ballance stands like a judge between the two scales inclining to neither till the weight be laid in so should the eare of a Judge by office or of any man by deputation called to heare and determine of things in difference stand indifferent to both parties till he heare the matter debated and the reasons brought forth on either side The Moralists embleme this by the place of that Signe in the Zodiacke which they call the Virgin standing according to the doctrine of Astronomers between the Lion and the Bellances The Lion bids Virgin Justice be stout and fearelesse The Ballances advise her to weigh the matter
verse but it was the calamity of his spirit the affliction lying there A man can sustaine his infirmity but a wounded spirit that is when a man hath got a blow a wound an affliction upon his spirit who can beare Pro. 18. 14. As if Salomon had said I challenge all the world to find me out a man that can bear a burdened wounded spirit unlesse Christ put under his hand no strength of mans spirit can bear the burthen of a wounded spirit A spirit hath no weight at all only fleshly and materiall substances are ponderous but a wounded spirit is heavier then wounded flesh The spirit is strong enough to beare the burthen'd flesh but nothing in flesh can beare a burthen'd spirit In the close of the verse we have the effect of this heavy weight of affliction both spirituall and corporall Therefore saith he my words are swallowed up That is I want words to expresse my griefe a Verba deficiunt quibus mognitudinem doloruÌ„ exprimam Nulla possum oratione â—â—nsequi quanto infester dolore Merc. Vix satis esse queant tanto jaÌ„ verba dolori All language is too narrow for the vastnesse of my sorrows Some reade it b Propterea verba mea amaâ—a Symmach Therefore my words are bitter or therefore my words are steep'd in bitternesse as if he had said I my self feed upon bitter things I feed upon gall and wormewood therefore no wonder if my words tast of them The Vulgar goes farther from the letter of the Text rendring c Proptereaverba mea sunt dolore plena Vul. Therefore my words are full of sorrow as if he had said the sorrows which are in my mind flow out upon my tongue The Septuagint yet further off d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sep. Therefore it seemes my words are evill or ill taken My griefe renders my words more liable to exception or mis-interpretation M Broughton translates Therefore my words come short there is a weight upon me heavier than the sand of the sea Therefore my words come short or my expressions come not up to my intention We translate near that sence and answerably to the originall My words are swallowed up The Hebrew word signifies to lick up or to swallow downe and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lambit absorbuit per Metaphoram perdidit corrupit by a Metaphor to destroy or to consume in the prophecy of Obadiah vers 16. The word is used to that purpose They shall drink and they shall swallow downe And Prov. 20. 25. It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy or who swalloweth downe that which is holy So here Therefore my words are swallowed up that is when I would speake my words are as it were halfe-eaten before spoken or my words are snatcht downe in the Verba semesa Jun. speaking by the sharpe teeth and devouring stomack of my griefe and sorrowes Others from the letter reade Therefore my words are corrupted Verba mea corrupta sunt aut peâ—dita R. Levi deleta R. Moyses intercisa Theod Lasta Chald. Verbum perâ—inâ—t ad pronunciationem corruptâ—m ad â—albutiâ—m wearied lâ—st blotted blubber'd so cut-off that I cannot speak distinctly alluding unto those that stammer A stammerer is in such haste to speake that he eats his words and as we use to say proverbially in our language he clips the Kings English he swalloweth up halfe his mind when he would bring it out in words such is the meaning of Job My words are swallowed up I cannot speak all my griefe takes me off and cuts me short And so he seemes to excuse himselfe First in case he had spoken abruptly and brokenly my paine hath been so great that I can hardly speake therefore take no advantage Vix loqui possam vox faucibâ—a haeret Vat. of the abrupt language and broken sentences which have fallen from me for the truth is my griefe hath swallowed up my words I have rather sighed then declared my mind reall sorrow as well as poeticall passionate imitation of sorrow makes many an Ap siopesis or sudden stop and breach when the tongue is upon the swiftest speed and quickest motion And secondly he seemes to excuse himselfe for the matter of his speech I have not yet spoken all my mind I have not given you my full sense about my condition for through griefe I was forced to swallow up my words and to suppresse what I had further to say Therefore suppose my speech hath been imperfect yet be not scandalized at it for if you will have patience to stay I shall anone bring up the words againe which my sorrowes have snatcht from me and swallowed downe Stay a while and you shall heare more you shall heare all I will speake more largely and more distinctly than I have done One of the Rabbins takes the Rab. Kimchi words actively and referrs the act of swallowing to Jobs friends as if he had said Yee my friends have swallowed down my words Ye have not leasurely fed upon and digested them but swallowed them in such hast that ye have not tasted them As a man that swallowes down a morsell greedily without chewing never tastes either the sweetnesse or the bitternesse of it It is a usuall Metaphor to expresse hearing by eating and we have it as many interpret at the sixth verse of this Chapter Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt It is a truth that when words are thus swallowed or gobled downe we take not out the strength or intent of them But I stay not upon this exposition because it strains too hard upon the grammaticall construction and other circumstances of the Text. Observe out of the former meaning First Great griefe interrupteth speech and makes broken language Therefore my speech or my words are swallowed up As sometimes our words devoure so sometimes our words are devoured some men speake swallowing words and others swallow their words Psal 57. 4. Thou lovest all devouring words or thou lovest all swallowing words O thou deceitfull tongue There are swallowing words as well as swallowed words Malice makes a man swallow the integrity of another with his words And grief will make a man swallow downe his own words so that he cannot speake to maintaine his own integrity Secondly observe That some afflictions exceed all complaints and are too bigge for expression That note reaches M Broughtons sence my words come short of what my condition is there is no language large enough no Oratory eloquent enough to describe or make known my sorrowes Lastly observe Not to be able to expresse our griefe is an increase of our griefe Therefore my words are swallowed up This is an addition to my sorrowes that I cannot make knowne my sorrowes It is a great part of my trouble that I can tell you but a part of my trouble Let a man be hindred from expressing his
potion and mistooke his case his was good searching physick for the foul stomach and grosse spirit of a hypocrite but it is enough to kill the heart of an upright-heart when God seemes angry with him and appeares against him when he is smitten without and smitten within by sore afflictions of mind and body then for his comforters to smite him with their tongues to lay at him with hard words and wound him with their unreasonable jealousies then for his counsellers and helpers to be angry with and opposite against him too Observe hence That not only words untrue but words misapplied are unsavoury and may be dangerous They are no food and they may be poison Prudence in applying is the salt and seasoning of what is spoken As a word spoken in the right season is precious and upon the wheele so is a word right placed When that faith full Prophet Ezek. 13. reproves the false prophets he saith They dawbed with untempered morter ver 10. it is the word of the text and why was theirs untempered morter even because they applied the word of God wrong They made sad the hearts of those whom God would have refreshed and they cheared the spirits of those whom God would have sadned they slay the souls that should not dye and save the souls alive that should not live This was untempered morter The Apostle advises all Col. 4 6. Let your speech be alwayes with grace seasoned with salt And speech must be seasoned not only with the falt of truth but with the salt of wisdome and discretion and therefore the Apostle adds that ye may know how to answer every one that is that you may give every man an answer fitting his case and the present constitution of his spirit Of some have compassion saith the Apostle Jude ver 22. making a difference and others save with feare This shewes the holy skill of managing the word of God when we make a difference of our patients by our different medicines and not serve all out of the same boxe Hence our Lord calleth those great Teachers of the Gospel and dispensers of his Oracles Light and Salt You are the Light of the world and you are the salt of the earth because they were to speake savoury things to every person to every pallate as well as to enlighten them with knowledge and prevent or cure the corruption of their manners and keep their lives sweet As there is an unsavourinesse in persons when they are mis-employed so there is an unsavourinesse in speeches when they are mis-applied The history of the Church speaks of one Eccebolius who changed religion so often and was so unsetled that at last Conculcate me salem insipidum Niceph. he cast himselfe down at the congregation doore and said Trample upon me for I am unsavoury salt And that word though in it self a truth which is unseasonably delivered or unduly placed may be cast at the doores of the Congregation to be trampled on for in this sence it is unsavoury salt Such corrupt the word and their's is but corrupt communication such as cannot minister grace unto the hearers and often grieves the holy Spirit of God These work-men for their ill division of the word of God have reason enough to be ashamed and the Lord may justly reprove them as he did Jobs friends Chap. 42. 7. Ye have not spoken of me nor of my wayes the thing that is right JOB Chap. 6. Vers 8 9 10 c. O that I might have my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for Even that it would please God to destroy me that he would let loose his hand and cut me off Then should I yet have comfort yea I would harden my selfe in sorrow Let him not spare for I have not concealed the words of the holy One c. IN the former part of this Chapter we have had Job defending his former complaint of life and his desire of death In this context from the 8th verse unto the end of the 12th he reneweth and reinforceth that desire He not only maintaines and justifies what he had done but doth it again begging for death as heartily and importunately as he did in the third Chapter O that I might have my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for The request it selfe is laid downe in the 8 â—h and 9 â—h verses and the reasons strengthning it in the 10 11 and 12 verses So these 5 verses are reduceable to these two heads 1. The renewing of his desire to dye 2. An enlargement of reasons confirming that desire O that I might have my request It is such a vehement desire and so exprest as Davids was 2 Sam. 23. 15. And David longed and said Oh that one would give me drinke of the water of the well of Bethlem which is by the gate David did not long more to tast a cup of that water then Job did to tast the cup of death The summe and scope of Jobs thoughts in this passage may be conceived thus He would assure his friends that his faith was firme and his comforts flowing from it very sweet That it was not impatience under the troubles of this life but assurance of the comforts of the next which caused him so often to call for death That these comforts caused his heart to triumph and glory in the very approaches of the most painfull death and made him despise and lightly to esteeme all the hopes of life That he was gone further then the motives which Eliphaz used from the hopes of a restitution to temporall happinesse he now was pitcht upon and lodg'd in the thoughts of eternall happinesse That he call'd for death not as that with which he had made any Covenant or was come to any agreement with but only as that which would bring him to his desired home The one Thing he desired That his comforts had not a foundation in a grave where all things are forgotten but in the Covenant of God who remembers mercy for ever and therefore it should not trouble him to die before he was restored to health riches and honour which his friends proposed to him as a great argument of comfort and of patience For in death he should have riches and glory and hence it was that he had rather endure the extreamest paines of death then stay to receive any outward comforts in this life His desires to be dissolved were not so much from the sence of his present paine for he would harden himselfe to endure yet more as from the apprehension of future joy This was not a fancie or a dreame but he had good proof and reall evidence of it in the whole course of his life which had been as a continued acting of the word of God and to a fitting him for nearest communion with God This in general The letter of the Hebrew runneth thus Who would give me that my request or that
hardnesse or bear evil As if he had said thou dost not know what hardship thou shalt be put unto in thy ministry I who am a veterane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an old beaten though never conquered souldier in this warfare of Christ have been put to much hardship in my time and from my owne experience I advise thee to inure thy selfe to hardship to lie hard to fare hard to work hard to hear hard words and receive hard usage A tender spirit and a delicate body which must have warme and soft and fine and sweet continually is unfit for the warfare of the Gospel Such a sence is here I know I must endure more than now I doe but I would harden my selfe against that time and resolve to endure it let come what could come I am resolved and have fore-thought the worst Further for the clearing of these words it is considerable that some learned Interpreters put the two middle expressions into a parenthesis and read the whole thus I should have comfort though I should scorch with paine and though God should not spare me for I have not concealed the words of the holy One. One thus This yet is my comfort even while I scorch with pain Iunius and God doth not spare me that I have not concealed the words of the holy One Mr. Broughton as I touched before comes near this sence and translation So I should yet find comfort though I parch in paine when he would not spare For I kept not close the words of the most Holy That is when the long expected houre of my death shall come though God to take away my life should heat the fornace of my affliction seven times hotter then hitherto so that I must parch in paine yet I should have comfort Or take it in Master Broughtons owne glosse in all these pangs if God would make an end of me it should be my comfort and I would take courage in my sicknesse to beare it by my joy that I should die because I professed the Religion of God So that the strength of Job to bear the hand of God was from the conscience of his former integrity in doing the will and maintaining the truth of God Let him not spare Job having taken up his hope that he should have comfort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pepercit clementia usus fuerit and this resolution that he would harden himselfe in sorrow speaks now as if he were at a point let God doe what he pleaseth let him not spare as if he had said what course soever the Lord shall see good to take for the cutting me off I am content he should goe on with it Let him not spare The word signifies to indulge or shew mercy to him whom by all right a man might justly destroy Ezek. 5. 11. Because thou hast done thus and thus saith God therefore will I also diminish thee neither shall mine eye spare neither will I have any pity Job seemes to invite what God threatens others Let him not spare let him not have any pity let him take his full swing in destroying of me In this sence it is said Rom. 8. 32. That God spared not his own sonne That is he abated not any thing which justice could inflict Christ therefore saves to the uttermost because he suffered to the uttermost He was not spared one blow one drop one sigh one sorrow one shame one circumstance of all or any one of these which justice could demand as a satisfaction for mans sinne Yea though in a sence he cryed to his father that he might be spared yet he was not There is a three-fold mercy in God There is a preventing mercy mercy that steps between us and trouble And there is a delivering mercy mercy that takes us out of the hand of trouble There is a third kinde of mercy coming in the middle of these two and that is called sparing mercy and that is two-fold First sparing for the time when God delaies and staies long ere he strike Secondly sparing for the degree when the Lord moderates and mitigates abates and qualifies our sufferings not letting them fall so heavie upon us as they might This sparing mercy stands I say in the middle of the two former it is not so much as preventing mercy stopping trouble that it come not neither is it so much as delivering mercy removing it when it is come Now Job did not only not aske delivering mercy that he asked not sparing mercie Let him not spare me in the time let him not delay or loose time let him come as soone as he will And let him not spare me in the degree and measure let him strike me as hard and lay his hand as heavily upon me as he will David Psal 39. 13. makes this his request O spare me that I may recover strength before I goe hence and be no more That is abate and mitigate my sufferings that I die not but Job desireth not to be spared at all He rather saith take away all my strength that I may goe hence and be seen no more Observe hence That the hope troubles will end comforteth yea hardneth in bearing present troubles Then will I comfort my selfe then will I harden my selfe let him not spare if I may have my request and die The sharpest sting of trouble is that it is endless and it is next to that when we can not looke to the end of it nor see any issue or way out of it That which discourages the damned in bearing their sorrowes and softens both their flesh and spirits to receive home to the head every arrow of wrath and dart of vengeance is they see no end and are assured there will be none They know they cannot be cut off and therefore they cannot harden themselves in sorrow no that very consideration makes their hearts which have been hardned to commit sin tender to receive punishment and exactly sencible of their pains could they see that at last they should be cut off even they would be hardned to bear the torments of Hell in the meane time though that time should be very long yea as long as time can be onely not endlesse The pain it selfe doth not afflict so much as the thought that they shall be afflicted for ever As the assurance that the glory of Heaven shall never end infinitely sweetnes it so the assurance that the paines of hell shall never end infinitely sharpens them And not to see the ending of worldly troubles neer puts us further off from comfort then the bearing of those troubles Therefore saith Job if I might be assured that God would cut me off I would harden my selfe in sorrow and let not God spare I would not desire him to hold his hand to mitigate or abate my paines * Eâ— haec mihi merces esset ejus seu pro eo quod nâ—n occultavi unquam sed diligentisâ— simè observavi quam commendatissima habui
verba Domini Opin Nonnullorum Hebraeorum apud Merc. Yea I would account every blow an embrace and every wound a reward For not concealing the words of the holy One In these words Job gives the reason or an account of his renewed prayer and request to die As the desire of Job was strong and passionate so likewise it was well grounded He had a very high reason an excellent ground upon which he bottom'd this request to die His reason was spirituall and therefore strong He beggs to be delivered from the troubles of his life though by a painfull death because he was clear in himselfe that he had led a blamelesse life That which set him above the paines of bodily death was the tranquillity of his spirit in this testmony of his conscience I have not concealed the words of the holy One As if he had said You may wonder why I should be so forward and ready to die why I seeme so greedy after the grave why I am such an importunate suiter for my dissolution The account I give you is this I have the testimony of a good conscience within me notwithstanding all the troubles which are upon me notwithstanding all your harsh vnfriendly accusations jealousies and suspitions of me yet my own breast is my friend my heart speakes me faire and gives me good words even these It tells me that I have not concealed the words Mirum est ut mihi non parcat quum illius verba non celarim neque dissimulaverim Aben Azr. of the holy One That I have not smothered any light he hath sent me that I have not refused any councell he hath given me that I have not wilfully departed from any rule he hath prescribed me that I have been faithfull to God to his cause and to his truth that I have declared his will and spoken his minde to others that I have not hidden any thing he hath given me in charge to declare or committed to my trust the word of God hath appeared in my life and therefore I am not afraid yea I have boldnesse to die and to appear before God I have not concealed The word signifieth to hide a thing so as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat abscondere ne vidleatur vel audeatur ne amplius appareat it be neither heard of or seen But may not we conceal the words of the most high it is said of Mary that she hid the words of Christ in her heart and of David that he hid the commandements of God in his heart Psal 119. 11. Did not the wise merchant hide the treasure namely Gospel truth Math. 13. 44. as soon as he had found it It should seem all these concealed the word of God how then is it that Job improves this as a speciall point of comfort that he had not concealed the words of the holy One There is a double hiding or concealement of the truth There is first a hiding from danger Secondly a hiding from use There is a hiding to keep a thing safe that others shall not take it from us and there is a hiding to keep a thing close that others may not take the benefit of it with us When it is said that Mary and David and the wise Merchant hid the word of God it was lest they themselves should lose it lest any should deprive them of it they hid it from danger They layed it up as a treasure in their hearts but they did not hide it from the knowledge or use of others and that is it which Job affirmes of himselfe I have not concealed the words of the holy One And there are four wayes by which the word of God is sinfully hid or concealed from all which Job seemes to acquit himselfe The first is when we conceal the word of God by our own silence when we know the word and truth of God and yet we draw a vaile over them by not revealing them The Apostle Paul Acts 20. 27. acquits himself in this to the Church of Ephesus I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsell of God and verse 20. You know how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you Silence to what is spoken is consent and silence when we should speak is concealement There is a second way of concealing the word of God and that is by silencing others Some conceale the words of the holy One themselves and they cannot endure that others should publish them The chiefe Priests and the Rulers Acts 4 18. charged Peter and John that they should not speake at all nor teach any more in the name of Jesus They would stop the Apostles mouthes from speaking the words of the holy One These keep the truth lockt up as Christ charges the Lawyers Luk. 11. 52. by taking away the key of knowledge Thirdly There is a concealing of the word of God under false glosses and misinterpretations or a hiding of it under errours and misconstructions This is a very dangerous way of concealing the words of the holy One The Pharisees made the law of God of none effect by their expositions as well as by their traditions by the sence they made of it as well as by the additions they made unto it Fourthly The word of the holy One may be concealed in our practise and conversations The Apostle exhorts Phil. 2. 16. To hold forth the word of life in a pure conversation The lives of Christians should publish the word of life The best way of preaching the word is by the praictse of the word The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodlinesse and unrighteousnesse of men who hold the truth in unrighteousnesse that is who by their unrighteous practises and ungodly conversations imprison fetter restrain and keep in the word Mans holy life is the loudest Proclamation of the word of God And a sinfull life is the concealment of it Job here acquits himselfe from all these concealements I have not eâ—ncealed the words of the holy One either by my own silence or by imposing silence upon others I have not concealed the word of the holy One by my own corrupt glosses and interpretations nor by a corrupt practise and conversation I have desired and endeavoured that the whole word of God might be visible in my actions and audible in my speeches that I might walke cloathed as it were with the holy counsels and commandements of my God There is a reading of the words different from this Whereas we Malo potentialiter exponi omnia utinam inquit non parceret Nequenim occultarem dicta sancti sed ejus in me sententiam praedicarem laudarem Merc. say I have not concealed the words of the holy One that gives it thus I would not conceale the words of the holy One and so the word of the holy One is taken not for the truths of God in generall but for that special word of decree or sentence which God should
God and prayer all this while God hath put his everlasting armes under me otherwise I had fallen before this day hid I not prayed in ayd from heaven I had not lived thus long upon the earth for what is my strength compared to these burthens which are upon me This is a good sence For as the Apostle speakes Gal 2. 10. The life which I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God So Job seems to say the life which I have lived ever since these afflictions have encompass'd me I have lived by the power of God and the strength of faith in him What iâ— my strength that I should bear We have this treasure saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 4. 7. in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be from God and not from us As he speakes there respecting the burthen of the Ministry So we may in respect of any burthen of trouble or weight of affliction We have these afflictions laid upon our earthen vessels and one would wonder that an earthen vessel should not cracke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moratus praestolatus Vel significat anxia spe potiendi voto rem aliquam expectare aegrè ferre protractionem rei expectatae Chemnit Spes est cum praeparatio ad boni futuri promissi susceptionem tum patientia morae ex intuitu illius boni Coc. and shatter to pieccs under them but it is that the excellency of the power might be from God and not from us when we are weak then we are strong strong in God and in the power of his might God loves to shew the world what his strength can doe in a weak creature as well as what his grace and mercy can do for a sinful creature This I say is a good sence but the word rather signifies to hope and yet these two are not at any great odds for hope is the strength the bearing-strength of the soul What is my strength that I should hope That I should wait and tarry that I should expect or stay for such and such changes as thou hast promised Psalm 130 5. we have these words put together I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait and in his word do I hope The soul which is in a hoping condition is also in a waiting condition waiting and hoping ever attend the same thing No man will wait at all for that of which he hath no hope and he who hath hope will wait always He gives not over waiting till he gives over hoping The object of hope is some future good but the act of hoping is a present good and that is present pay to bear our charges in waiting So then the word implies both a patient writing and a hopefull trusting So Christ expoundes it Mat. 12. 21. rendring that of the prophet Isa 42. 4. The isles shall wait for his Law thus In his name shall the Gentiles trust Noah after the strength of the deluge was spent Gen 8. 10 12. opened the window of the Arke and sent forth the Dove and she returned then saith the text He waited seven daies and again he waited yet other seven daies hoping at last the floud would be dried up and the waters return into their ancient channels Now saith Job what is my strength that I should hope or expect deliverance and therefore why should I wait for it The waters of my afflictions are so deepe and swolne so high that I have no hope to see dry ground againe And in this passage he seemes to answer what Eliphaz speak in the 5th Chapter vers 16. and 25. for doubtlesse Job applies himselfe exactly to what Eliphaz had spoken and the truest interpretation of his answer will be in finding out and suiting the references to what the other Propounded Eliphaz in the 16. verse of the fifth Chapter where he makes a report of the wonderfull workes of God had said So the poore hath hope and iniquity stoppeth her mouth And at the 25 verse he tels Job that a godly man notwithstanding all his afflictions may know that his tabernacle shall be in peace and that his seed shall be very great Job in answer to those words replies What is my strength that I should hope As if he had said Eliphaz you speake of great hopes that the poore may have and you speak of a peaceable Tabernacle of a flourishing off-spring Alas my condition is such I am so worne out with paine with sicknesses with diseases with distempers with griefes that I have no hope left in regard of any strength in me ever to enjoy such promises What is my strength Quae fortitudo mea ut sperem liberos Vatab. Quid in longiorem spem me adducitis quum sperando non fim jam propè◠mortuus videat Hoc à lobo dicitur ut consilâ—j importunitatem expresso sensitivae partis affectu retunderet non quod de divina potentia diffideret that I should hope What is my strength that I should expect to live to see such good daies as you speak of that my Tabernacle should be in peace that I should have plenty that I should have a numerous issue Alas my strength is gone what is my strength that I should looke after these things Not that Job measured all his hope by his owne strength but here he expresses the griefe and paine which was in his sensitive part or upon his outward man thereby to answer the sowre reproofs and sweet promises of Eliphaz For we find Job himself in the thirteenth Chapter vers 13. resolving thus Though he kill me yet will I trust or hope in him he would trust and hope in God though he died therefore he did hope while he lived And it is the property of that grace and where it is in strength it shâ—wes as much to hope against hope Rom. 4. 18. Who against hope beleeved in hope When there was no strength in Abraham no possibility in nature yet against hope he beleeved in hope So at this time there was such a grace in Job he had a hope by which he could hope against hope but when he looked into his own stock of strength What is my strength that I should hope I know the strength of God is a rock sure enough for my hope to anchor in Abraham said in effect what is my strength that I should hope to have a childe for he looked upon himself as a dead man but saith he there is power in God he knew his own weakness but he considered it not waxing strong in faith and giving glory to God So here while Job saith What is my strength that I should hope my strength is dried up and withered and so is my hope in my own strength The strength of God is vigorous and green and in him my hope also is green and vigorous Though all the earth about us be like a dry heath and barren wilderness yet our hope buds and blossoms like a
help in me is wisdome driven quite from me Though I have no strength and so no help in my self wisdom is not therefore driven quite from me As if he had said will you conclude that I am a wicked man an hypocrite and a fool because I am not able to help and deliver my self out of these troubles Fifthly consider the words as we translate them with which most of the Rabbins and Jewish writers concur only they usually expresse the text affirmatively we interrogatively yet both equivalent and meet in the same meaning Our Question Is not my help in me is to be resolved into this affirmation my help is in me and the latter branch Is wisdome departed from me into this negation wisdome is not departed from me my help is in me and my An non auxilium meum in me quo me tueri possum ac defendere innuit innocentiam suam ac vitae integritatem qua nunquam destitutus fuit aut rectam ratienem sapientiam quam postea Tusiah Appellat Drus. An judicio ratione destituor ut dignoscere nequeam recta ab insulsis qualia sunt verba vestra non sum mentis inops wisdome is not departed from me Jobs sence may be taken thus Have I not that in me which is and will be a help unto me notwithstanding all the objections and assaults which you make against me Have not I that in me which may furnish me with wisdome to answer all the exceptions which you have taken at my complaints Master Broughtons translation favours this sence very much have not I my defence and is judgement driven away from me Though I thus complain and desire death yea renew my desire Have not I my defence have I nothing to say why I made that request have I no argument to help my selfe and bear up my spirit under the weight of these calamities Is wisdome quite departed from me Doe you take me for a man deserted of God deserted of his spirit and deserted of my own wisdom and understanding too because I am deserted of the world and destitute of outward comforts And so the help which Job knew he had in store was the Innoceney and integrity of his heart Is not my help in me I have no help no strength no comfort in my flesh what is my flesh my flesh is not of brasse but have I no help in me neither my outward man is destroyed my house of clay is almost battered down tottering failing it is but have I nothing within to help at a dead lift have I no grace no hope no testimony of a good conscience no witness in my self Doe you think me clean disâ—obed and stript and emptied of all wisdome and comfort Hath the Devil think you robbed me of my grace have the Sabeans plundered and spoiled me of my understanding Is not my help within me notwithstanding all the troubles that are upon me Thus the interpretation is fair and clear that when all his outward comforts were gone when the strength of his flesh could hold no longer yet then he had help within him his spirit could bear though his flesh could not Grace can hold out beyond nature and when bodily strength can do no more wisdom comes in with her Auxiliaries Is not my help in me and is wisdome departed from me The word wisdome in the Hebrew is of various significations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat â—egem sapientiam subsistentiam Et lex â—epulsa est á me Pagn Nâ—nquid officium impulsum fuit à me Vatab. Num subsistentia impulsa est a me Regia Quid facult as subsistendi me destituit Tygyr as was touched Chap. 5. 12. Here one renders it The law is not departed from me As if his meaning were I never forsooke the law of God Another thus Was my duty driven from me As if his meaning were I ever kept close to the rule of my place and calling A third Is my subsistence driven from me So a fourth Is my ability of subsisting gone from me As if he had said cannot I live because I have not the world to live upon To which sence those words of Christ are appliable Luke 12. 15. The life of man consists not in the aboundance of the things which he possesseth All which interpretations meet to make up a compleat Apology of Jobs piety constancy patience and flourishing resolutions in his dying withering condition The Sabeans drove away his cattel but they could not drive away his understanding They offered violence to his substance but his reason and his graces were untoucht Hence observe first That when all outward helps depart from a godly man he hath somewhat abiding in him to help and stay up his heart As when the outward glory and strength of the Church is utterly decayed Yet the Prophet tells us Isa 6. 13. in it shall be a Tenth as a Teyle tree and as an Oake whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves so the Holy seed shall be the strength thereof Thus also when the outward glory and strength of any true member of the Church is utterly decayed even then he shall be as an Oak his substance shall be in him the seed of Holinesse shall be his substance Is not my helpe in me I know my estate is gone my beauty is gone my strength is gone the strength I mean of my flesh yet I have invisible supports somewhat unseen to trust unto It is the comfort of beleevers that they have an estate riches and possessions lying as far beyond the reach of mens power as their eye and as far beyond the reach of Satans malice as either When they feel nothing but pain in the flesh when nothing but weakness inhabits the house of clay the outward man then the inward man is renewed with sweet refreshings and strong consolations day by day The spirit of a man of a godly man will bear his infirmities when his body cannot The strength of nature is not as the strength of stones nor is the flesh of brass but the strength of grace is stronger then the strength of stones and the spirit is more dureable then brasse Grace wears not out by using nor doth it spend by employing Afflictions are but the higher services and employments of grace A stock of grace is an inexhaustible treasure and a good heart assures us better then the barrs of a Castle Faith and a good conscience are under Christ our best helpes in trouble they are friends that will never forsake us They are to us as their Authour who hath promised that he will not Grace is our participation with the Divine Nature and grace participates with the divine nature in this it is an unchangeable good an everlasting comfort And yet we must take this warily grace and holiness faith and a good conscience are not to be trusted upon no more then riches or any outward meanes We may make an Idol of our faith
incest incest between brother and sister calls that abomination by this word Chesod A wicked thing That may have a good name the nature whereof is so ill that it is not to be named Further The word as we translate imports more than a bare act of pitty or commiseration as suppose a man see his brother in misery compassionates him but relieves him not this is not pity Such the Apostle James describes in his first Chapter vers 15. If a brother or a sister be naked and destitute of daily food and you say unto them be filled be warmed be cloathed poor creatures ye are hungry yea are naked I pitty you I am sorry to see you thus be filled be cloathed I wish it were otherwise with you and yet in the mean time he gives them nothing wherewith either to cloath or feed them Is this fulfilling the law of love Is this charity Nothing lesse The pity here spoken of is not a verbal piety Our saying to a brother in trouble be comforted or I would course were taken for you I wish you well with all my heart and so we bestow a mouth-ful of good words but not so much as a morsell of bread or a cup of cold water Good words alone are cheap charity to mans expence and they are so cheap in Gods esteem that they will not be found of any value at all in the day of reckening good words not realized if they be found any where will be found in the treasures of wrath This is not the pitty which Job teacheth us should be shewed to him that is afflicted The Apostles quesion shakes such out of all claime to this grace 1 John 3. 17. whosoever saith he hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother in need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how doth the love of God dwell in him Though a mans mouth be open with good words yet if he shut his bowels from good deeds there is no love to God or man hous'd in that mans heart It is no Pitty to speak of onely to speak pitty and therefore the Apostle addes verse 18 My little children let us not love in word and in tongue but in deed and in truth that 's the true meaning of this word to him that is afflicted pitty should be shewed But you my friends have not given me so much as the sound of pitty you have not bemoaned me much less have you relieved me which is the substance of pitty reall pitty You have not loved me in tongue giving me good words much less in deed and in truth Deed-pitty is both the duty and the disposition of a godly man therefore this word Chasid in the concrete is often used in Scripture to signify a godly man He is one that hath obtained much grace and pitty from the Lord and he is kind gracious and pittiful unto men The holy Proverb assures us That a good man is merciful pittiful to his beast much more to a man and most of all to a godly man who is his brother in the nearest bond And it is considerable how this word was used by way of distinction among the Jewes who cast their whole people or nation into three ranks and it is grounded upon Rom. 5 6 7. where the Apostle alludes to those three sorts First There were Reshagnim ungodlymen the prophane rabble Secondly there were the Tsadikmi righteous men And thirdly there were Chasidim good men or pittiful mâ—n scarcely saith the Apostle will one die for a righteous man for a man fair and just in his dealings peradventure for one of the Chasidim for a good man some one may chance to dy He that had been pittiful might haply find pitty and having done so much good in his life all would desire he should live still But herein God commended his love to us that while we were â—et sinners Reshagnim in the worst raâ—ke of men Christ died for us No man had either love or pitty enough to die for them who had so much impiety The farthest that the natural line oâ— mans pitty can reach is to do good to those who do him good or are good Pitty notes out such a sort of men and such a sort of actions as Antiqui vocant Ciconâ—am pietatis cultricem Ciconiis pietas eximia est Soâ— are fullest of love of bowels of brotherly kindeness and compassion Hence the Stork which by divers of the ancients was put for the Emblem of love and benignity is exprest in the Hebrew by this word Levit. 11. 19. The Storke is very tender towards her young ones and her young ones are as tender of her when she is old as naturalists have observed So then this word imports the height of all offices and affections of love from man to man especially from Christian to Christian in times of trouble and cases of extremity This Pitty you should have shewed me saith Job But he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty That is he forsakes all godlinesse goodness and religion Fear takes in all that 's good and so it is conceived that Job retorts the words of Eliphaz in the fourth chap. Is this thy fear or where is thy fear thy Religion Now Job saith Is this your fear You have forsaken the fear of the Almighty Is this your Religion to deal so harshly with a distressed friend or to give him such cold comfort Surely you have forsaken that fear of the Almighty which you charged me with Have not I reason to ask Is this thy fear or to conclude You have forsaken the fear of the Almighty These words are diversly rendred Some thus He that takes away pitty from his friend hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty And Qui tollit ab â—mico suo misericordiam timorem Domini derelinquit Vulg. that 's a truth and a good sense though not so clear to the letter of the Text. Mr. Broughton joins this with the former verse By him whose mercy is molten toward his friend and who leaveth the fear of the Almighty So referring this melting to mercy and not to the man joining it with the former thus Have not I my defence and is judgment driven away from me by him whose mercy is molten away toward his neighbour and who leaveth the fear of the Almighty As if Job had said Eliphaz doest thou thinke thou haste driven away all wisdome from me by thy dispute Doest thou think that I have lost my reason as thou hast lost thy pitty Thou thinkest wisdome and understanding have forsaken me but it appears by thy dealings that thou hast forsaken the fear of God which is the beginning of wisdome Thirdly it is rendred in the contrary sense The word Chesid An dissoluto à sodali suo convitium et quod timorem omnipotentis
〈◊〉 Significat haereditatem deinde fluvium quoniam torrens plerumque in valle labitur accipitur aliquando provale Mer They are as a brook The word signifies both a brook and a valley because brookes usually runne in valleys therefore one word expresseth both The same word signifies also to inherit and an inheritance Hence some joine all the three sences together in this one word A brook a valley and an inheritance because valleys inherit the brooks which descend to them from the maintains valleys are the heirs or inheritresses of the streams which issue from the hills Psa 104. 10. The holy Ghost describes a spring or a brook thus He sendeth springs into the Valleyes which run among the hills hills are the original of Rivers and they runne among the hills hills send them down as a portion to the valleys But the brook here spoken of is not such a brook as hath a spring in a hill mountain or rock but a brook or torrent caused by rain or melted snow The text cleares that meaning My friends have dealt deceitfully as a brook A brook springing from a hill will not deceive such a brook being fed with continuall supplies of water will give us drink continually but a brook falling from a hill failes quickly such a brook the next words expresse more clearly and as the stream of brooks they passe away As a stream of brooks That is as those torrents and overflowings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aqua impetuosa violenta quae fluit cum vi impetu of brooks A brook hath a constant channel and it hath an accidental channel We see many streames running into a brook in a time of rain and that brook swolne above its banks sending out many streames So that to say they are like the stream of brooks is to say they are like brooks when they stream forth or to those streames of brooks which by waters from the clouds are sodainly increast These streams of brooks usually called Land-flouds having their spring or fountain in the clouds which sometimes distill in soft soaking dewey showers and often pour out in strong violent stormy raines whence these streames which in the Hebrew are denominated from their impetuous violent strength run violently and spend their strength as quickly That which is violent cannot be permanent much lesse perpetual Nullum violâ—ntum perpetuum We have the word Psal 126. 4. Where the Church prays Turn again our captivity O Lord as the streames in the South which some render As the mighty waters in the South Why Tanquam aquas validissimas Jun. would they have their captivity turned like those mighty flouds in the south The reason is this because the South is a dry country where there are few springs scarce a fountain â—o be found in a whole desart What then are the waters they have in the South in those parched Countries They are these mighty strong torrents which are caused by the showers of Heaven So the meaning of that prayer in the Psalm is that God would suddenly turn their captivity Rivers come suddenly in the South where no spring appears nor any sign of a River yet in an hour the water is up and the streams overflow As when Eliah sent his servant toward the Sea in the time of Ahab he went and looked and said There is nothing That is no shew of rain not the least cloud to be seen yet presently the heavens grew black and there was a great rain 1 Kings 18. 44. Thus let our captivity be turned thus speedily and suddenly though there be no appearance of salvation no more than there is of fountain in the sandy desart or of rain in the clearest heavens yet bring salvation for us We use to say of things beyond our supply have we a spring of them or can we fetch them out of the clouds so though no ground appears whence such Rivers should flow yet let our salvation be as Rivers in the South as Rivers fetched out of the clouds and dropt in an instant immediately from the Heavens Job compares his brethren and friends to those streames of brooks they came suddenly but they are quickly down again The Comparison in the Psalm is made onely with respect to the sudden appearance of those Rivers but Job applyeth it to the sudden passing away of those Rivers as the stream of Brooks they pass away Their coming so suddenly is a great refreshing but their sudden departure is as great a disappointment The word notes two things First motion and secondly consumption 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est praeterire perire evanescere quia quae praeterierunt non amplius existunt In both sences violent torrents pass away First they pass away with a strong motion and then they pass away with a sudden consumption they runne so fast that they run themselves off their legs they come to nothing their motion spends them whereas the motion of a River doth not So the word is used Psal 37. 36 He passed away and lo he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found Those things that passe away are many times said to loose their being and their use he passed away and lo he was not So Job meaneth here these streams passe away and lo they are not Having thus proposed this similitude that his friends dealt deceitfully as a brock and shewed what kind of brook he meant those violent torrents which pass away now he gives a further description of those brooks Vers 16. Which are blackish by reason of the ice and wherein the snow is hid The Vulgar Latine puts a strange sense upon this passage rendring it thus He who fears the frost shall be overwhelmed by Qui timet pruinam irruet super eum nix Vulg. snow Which seemes to be a proverbial speech to set torth those who shifting from one danger or extream run into another more dangerous like that of the Prophet Amos ch 5. 19. As if a man did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him or went into his house Elegans dictum in socios Iobi sed minus concordat cum Ebraica veritate Drus * Tinebam peccata minima nunc punior quasi pro magnis sceleribus Glos and leaned his hand on a wall and a Serpent bit him But as their translation is a corruption of the Text so their ordinary glosse corrupts their translation * I feared smallest sins but now I am punished after the rate of great sins Whereas indeed Iob was ready to acknowledge that the least sin he ever committed deserved a greater punishment then the greatest pain he felt and yet never lookt upon any of his pains as the punishment of his sins But to pass that Take the mind of Job as pursuing his similitude in more words to this effect These mighty streames are but for a while they pass away or if at any time they continue it is not from any quality
to have found water there and it grieved and repented them that ever they had hope to find water there because there was none to be found They were confounded The word signifies indifferently to be ashamed or to be confounded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Puduit rei vel facti and to be confounded in regard of events or actions The word is very neer in sound to our English Abashed It notes also a waxing pale and wan when the colour failes and withers comes and goes If a man be failed much in what he much hoped his countenance fails too his visage changes as his thoughts change and he waxeth pale Therefore we translate it well confounded And it is expressed by confounding for two reasons First because the complexion is confounded at such a time shame and blushing make a kinde of confusion upon nature Secondly the Spirits are confounded the heart is troubled Disappointments of our hope perplex a man both within and without He is disordered quite through And because long delaies cause shame therefore by a Metonymie of the cause for the effect this word signifies to delay time Exod. 32. 1. And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down c. that is when Ainsworth on Exod. the people saw that Moses made them ashamed by his long delay they gathered themselves together c. They waited for Moses 40. daies and now Moses had staied so long that they were ashamed of his stay that is they expected but he came not as they expected this troubled them We read the word in the same sence Judg. 5. 28. The mother of Sisera looked out at a window and cried through the latice why is his chariot so long in comming Why tarry the wheels of his chariots Why is his chariot ashamed that is why doth his chariot stay so long as to make us ashamed of our stay We have long looked what trophies Sisera would bring home why doth his chariot by delayes make us ashamed Thus in the text these travellers are said to be confounded because they had great hope to find water but were disappointed They were confounded because they had hoped the latter clause carries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fodit effodit-per Metaphoram traductam a fodientibus erubuit Nam qui rubore perfusâ— sunt ex peccato caâ—ut in terram dimittunt instar eorum qui terram defodiunt Cartâ— the same sence They came thither and were ashamed Yet there is a special elegancy in the word ashamed which signifies to digge to digge that we may hide a thing At it is said of the evil servant who received but one talent that he went and digged and hid his Lords mony Mat. 25. 18. And so by a Metaphor this word is translated to signifie being ashamed because a man that is ashamed would hide his head in a hole as we say if he could he would runne his head into the ground and rather be at the pains to digge a hole in the earth to hide himself then to endure the shame of shewing himselfe No man loves that should appear or to appeare in that which is his shame These two things to be ashamed and confounded are often owned by the Saints in their repentance It is best not to doe any thing whereof to be ashamed but when we have done evil iâ— is good to be ashamed To hide our sinnes for shame and not to be ashamed of them when they are not hid are equall aggravations of sinne Hence when the holy Ghost would set â—orth mâ—n impudent or shameless in sinning who sinned and cared not who saw them he saith Jer. 2. 34. Also upon thy skirts is found the blood of innocents I have not found iâ— by secret search so we translate it the Hebrew is I have not found it by digging As if he had said some men are so ashamed of their sins that when God comes to finde them out he must dig for them because they have digged into the earth as it were to hide their sins but others are so impudent in sinning that God needs not digg to finde out their sins they are so shameless that they let their sinnes lie above ground or as the Prophet speaks Isa 3. 9. They declare their sinnes like Sodome that is openly Truth and holiness never seek corners and sometimes sinne and wickedness do not And as the doing of evill forbidden causeth or should cause shame so doth the not receiving of good expected Hence when the Lord would assure his people that they should undoubtedly receive all the good he had promised and which they on that ground could expect he concludes with them thus And my people shall never be ashamed Why The reason is plain in the Text Ye shall eaâ— in plenty and be satisfyed Joel 2 26. which is directly opposite to this in Job The Temanites were ashamed because being thirsty they were not satisfyed And because Jesus Christ shall so aboundantly satisfy all the hunger and thirst and supply all â—hâ— wants and weaknesses of every believing soul therefore it is exprest under this word and notion Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed Rom. 9. 33. Such a meaning the word bears in this text They were ashamed Foderunt putees sc ad aquam inveniendam That is when they saw there was no water to be had they would have hid themselves in the earth or digged holes to hide themselves in for grief and shame And some render this word here though to another sence They digged That is when they saw that there was no water in the streames then they fell a digging to see if they could finde any springs That 's a good sense But rather take digging as before To shew what shame would have us do when we have done amisse or when we Misse what we would find then we seek covert and hide our selves Hence these two are often joyned in Scripture Shame and hiding with the disappointment of hope Reade a text of near compliance with this in the letter Jer. 14. 3. Their Nobles have sent their little ones to the waters they came to the pits and found no water it was in a time of drought they returned with their vessels empty What followeth they were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads Again verse 4. Because the ground is chapt for there was no raine in the earth the plow-men were ashamed they covered their heads And Joel 1. 10. 11. The corn is wasted the new wine is dried up What followeth Be ashamed O ye husband-men howle O ye Vinedressers because the harvest of the field is perished So that in the common language and current of the Scripture shame is an effect of disappointment and hiding the face or covering the head an effect of both Observe hence First That deceived hopes trouble us as much if not more than present wants A present want is a present smart but deceived hopes are a perpetual smart And that
him if any dare the Lion will make them a prey too We see in daily experience how angry a dogge will be if you stir him up when he hath but a bone under him Such a violence is noted in this expression you throw your selves down upon a poor fatherlesse one a man in a low condition as if you would tear him to pieces and eat him up at a morsell Our translation comes near this signification of the word Ye overwhelm the fatherlesse The word signifies to run upon one with violence and hence Giants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ruit irruit are called Nephilim in the Hebrew which is as much as to say Oppressours because they overwhelm the weaker with force and violence Mr. Broughton translates the word to another sence as noting not an open violent way of oppressing but a secret subtil way of circumventing Ye lay a snare for the Orphan the word may bear that sence namely to set a trap or to lay a snare And he paralels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scandatum est impedimentum in via ut quis vel collabatur ruat vel ab instituto cursu impediatur it with that word used often in the new Testament To scandalize or offend a brother which properly signifies to lay a trap or a snare to set somewhat whereby to entangle or catch a man that he may be stopt and hindered in his way Thus Job of his friends you set a trap to ensnare and make a pit for me to fall into or you lay a block to cause me to stumble in or turn out of the ways of holinesse while you would perswade me that he who walkes uprightly in that way shall never meet with any rubbe of outward trouble What is this but to discourage me in the way I walk because therein I have met so many troubles Thus you lay a snare for The fatherlesse The word strictly taken notes a child whose parents are dead Some of the Ancients say the word Pupill which is from the latine signifies one without sight or wanting the apple or Pupil of his eyes because being deprived of his parents he wants the light of counsel and direction to carry him Pupillus juxta Augustinum Iâ—idorum ita dicitur quasi sine oculis quae pupillae dicuntur i. e. parentibus orbus on in his course through the world What Moses spake to Hobab his father in law is a truth of all good parents to their children They are to them in stead of eyes Numb 10. 31. But here by fatherless we may rather understand any one that is destitute of help though himself be a father He that hath many children may in this sence be an Orphan that is friendlesse and comfortlesse So Psal 10. 14. Thou art the helper of the fatherlesse that is Thou art the helper of all those who want help That 's the meaning of Christs promise to his Disciples I will not leave you comfortless the Greek is I will not leave you Orphans or fatherless Orphans and fatherless are usually full of sorrows therefore to be left fatherless and to be left comfortless are the same In this larger sence take Jobs mind You overwhelm the fatherless that is you overwhelm me who am a poor destitute helplesse man who have no friend succour or support And you digge a pit for your friend Word for word thus You digge for your friend And this is on all Velut laqueum decipulam struitis ad eum capiendum i e. captionibus cavilis eum nitamini circumvenire Merc. sides agreed on to intimate the secret circumvention or subtil practice as Job apprehended of his friends For in Scripture to dig a pit is a proverbial speech and imports the laying of some secret plot to circumvent another either in word or deed So Psal 7. 15. He made apit and digged it and is fallen into it himselfe that is he devised some mischievous device to entrap his brother and the mischief is fallen upon his own head Psal 64. 5. They commune of laying snares privily And Isa 29. 21. the Prophet describes evil workers thus They digge deep to hide their counsell from the Lord wicked Polititians are diggers and underminers sometimes this is true literally as in our powder-plotters but mystically and mysteriously every one that laies a plot though he never breaks ground is said to dig a pit for his neighbour In the old law Exod 21. 33. A provision was made that whosoever digged a pit should cover it because pits were dangerous both for men and cattel To dig a pit for a friend is to endanger a friend In this sence the latter part of the verses agrees with Mr Broughtons translation of the first Ye lay a snare for the Orphan and ye digge a pit for your friend False and fallacious arguments are traps and pits in which the innocent are entangled And Job supposes his friends intended to cast him down into the pit of despair by charging him with hypocrisie and rottennesse of heart in his profession There is a further apprehension concerning this word You have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sgnificat fodere convivium instruere Epulamini super socium vestrum digged a pit Some of the Hebrew Doctours translate thus You make a feast upon your friend The word signifies not only to dig a pit but to feast and banquet and it notes a sumptuous exquisite banquet 2 King 6. 23. And he prepared great provision for them in this book Chap. 41. 6. The word is used in that sence where Leviathan is described too big for a banquet Shall thy companions make a banquet of him that is are the fisher-men able to catch and eat Leviathan As if Leviathan scorned the fisher-mens engines their nets and hooks Taking the word so the meaning of the clause may be thus conceived You overwhelm the fatherlesse yea you are not contented with that but you feast upon your poor friend that is you rejoyce in his misery and make your selves merry with his sorrows as the Philistines dealt with Sampson when they had put out his eyes Come let us bring him out and make sport with him So saith Job you deal with me you oppresse me and then make your selves merry with my sorrows The teares of an oppressed poor man are as wine to the oppressour he drinks them down the groans of a poor man are as musick to a wicked oppressour and his flesh is as meat to him Hence observe First To be fatherlesse is to be in a sad condition They who are fatherlesse are friendlesse and so most subject to oppression They who have least help in themselves have usually least help from others and often receive most hurt from others Hence we find Ps 10. 18 the oppressed and the fatherless put together as if the fatherless were to expect oppression for their portion and they who needed most protection should be sure to find most vexation We
or departed from a good conscience Further Others conceive Job bespeakes his friends in this quicke language Return yea return again to recall his Forte in dignaebundi discessum papabane-aut jaÌ„ surrexerâ—nt discessuri quaere illos invitat ad promovenâ—aÌ„ disputationem Pined friends who were ready to goe away in a pett or in a fume as we use to say They were rising to be gone and Job hastily calls them back Return I pray return As a man in discourse growing so hot that the house cannot hold him but he will breake away is usually re-invited pray stay sir return again so Job return againe my righteousnesse is in it you shall see I mill make the matter good Hence observe first taking the rerurn in a Metaphoricall sence That a passionate or inconsiderate man goes from hemself and from the matter Passion carries from the businesse before us An angry mans discourse runs wild he had need be reduced Consideration is the returning of a man unto himself or his comming home As the passions of the concupiscible appetite and intemperancies of youth carrie a man beyond his boundes and therefore the Prodigall repenting is said to come to himself Luk. 15. 17. so likewise do the passions of the irascible appetite Anger disorders and discomposes the spirit as much as luxury Secondly observe To persist in evill is worse than the committing if evill The one is common to man the other peculiar to the Devill and his peculiars who know no repentance It is bad enough to doe ill but not to returne from evill is inexcusable therefore the Lord often by his Prophets laies this as the heaviest charge of all upon his people He taxes them with their departures from him But especially with their refusals to returne unto him Yet have ye not returned unto me this is more sinfull than all the sins you have committed you have not returned you goe on and persevere in evill The sword of God proclaimes alike voice in our eares at this day Return return again We have departed and gone away from God let us not draw that ancient change upon our selves I have smitten you yet have ye not returned unto me It is not sinning but not returning which brings finall condemnation impenitency seales the stone of destruction upon Persons and Nations Thirdly whereas these words Returne let it not be iniquity are referred to Jobs friends as if he had said Let not this your passion make your sinne fouler and greater you have sinned already but if you returne not your sin will be iniquity shortly Note He stops his sin from bâ—ing an iniquity who hastens his returning from sin Every sin the least sin is sin as the least drop of water is water but every sin in a strict sence is not iniquity The nature is the same but the degree varies As many a child never comes to be a man so many a sin comes not to be an iniquity Happy â—s he that taketh those little ones and dasheth them against the stones That returnes before his sin be iniquity Fourthly observe further how Job cals upon his friends when he sees them transported as he thought with passion he leaves complaining of his owne sorrowes and gives them good counsell he for that present forgets his owne ruines that he might amend them It is our duty to reclaime and to appease those by gentle intreaties who we suppose have wronged us or gone astray from truth Job doth not raile upon or revile his friends but beseeches them to be better advised and consider what they did Fifthly in that he saith Return yea return again taking this for a call to a more serious consideration of the businesse we may note That a mans cause and condition must be considered and considered again twice that is fully considered before he be condemned We must give account of every idle word much more then of every unjust sentence or censure It is but wisdome to consider that strictly about which we must give so strict an account Sixthly in that he saith My righteousnesse is in it Observe That a good cause the more it is searched into the better it will appeare the deeper you digge into it the more truth and holinesse you will finde in it Search a godly man and the lower you goe the better he proves the nearer you come to his heart the richer treasures of grace and uprightnesse will be discovered at his tongue or his lips may be gilded over with good words but Whereas take an hypocrite and you may have a little good mettal search him to the bottome and there is all rottennesse even seven abominations at his heart A godly man is not gilded but gold Search a Job quite through try him to the center righteousnesse is in all his wayes the further you search the better he is and he will be best of all at last Vers 30. Is there iniquity in my tongue Gannot my taste discerne perverse things Formula est seipsum compellantis animum suum scrutantis facta examinantis Coc Verbaper stultitiam temeritatem prolata latentis pravitatis indices Thus he concludes his Directory to his friends and his preparatory for what himself intended to pursue in the next Chapter Is there iniquity in my tongue doth my tongue speak unequall or evil things Hath any thing bin spoken by me against common right or against the divine rule hath my tongue uttered any iniquity from my heart Hath the sinfulnesse of my heart broken forth at my lips Or hath it appeared that I have done wickedly by what I have said When my words are duly weighed I shall not appeare the man you make mee The word signifies calamity or misery as well as iniquity and so we may take it here Is there calamity in my tongue That is do my words bespeake or invite my afflictions We finde the word used in that sence Psal 52. 2. Thy tongue deviseth mischiefe or calamity Iniquity devised or framed by the tongue is often a scourge upon the back Micha 7. 3. the great man uttereth his mischievous desire The mischievous evill words of his soule Is there saith Job any such mischievous device in my tongue Dober Havoth Naphshi Have I spoken poison to infect you or blasphemie to dishonour God Cannot my taste discerne perverse things Cannot my taste The Hebrews is Cannot my pallate And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Palatum eleganti Metaphora a sensibus externis ad interiores translata appellat illam animae facultatem qua justa ab injustis vera â falsis aequa ac recta ab iniquis perversis dignoscuntur nonsecus ac palato cibi dulces ab amaris c. Merc. Habet anima suum palatum because the pallate is exquisite in tasting therefore by a trope the organ is expressed for the act Cannot my taste discern cannot my pallate Or as others Cannot my mouth discern perverse things That faculty of
Peter Their speech bewrayeth them and you may smell the filth of their hearts by their breath Secondly observe from these words Is there iniquity in my tongue He whose heart is upright may know that he is upright When Job questions Is there iniquity in my tongue He resolves There is no iniquity in my tongue None of that iniquity which you charge me with I grant a believer hath not alwaies a sight of his own integrity and uprightness many a soule bears false witness against himself and oppresses his owne innocency yet for the most part sincerity hath a witness in it self and holiness carries a light by which it is seen to him that hath it An upright heart may know his own uprightness Thirdly in that Job is thus stiff in maintaining his own uprightness and in denying any iniquity to be in his tongue Observe It is a duty to maintain our own integrity and uprightness Job was upon it before and is now upon it again and he will be upon it afterward he never gives over justifying of himself against man though he had not a word to plead for himself against God Fourthly from the latter clause Cannot my taste discern perverse things Observe Reason distinguishes truth from falshood as the pallate distinguishes bitter from sweet Reason it is the souls-taster Princes have their tasters before they eat least there should be poison in the dish God hath given unto man a taster for his spiritual meat The Pope will not suffer the meat he provides and cooks to be tasted but will have it swallowed whole or else he will thrust it whole down their throats It is alike spiritual tyranny to starve souls and to cram them It is our duty when meat is set before us we are at a full table of knowledg where variety of doctrins and opinions are served in then to call for our taster We may be surfetted else if not poison'd There may be a wild guord among good hearbs in the pot and so death in the pot too therefore first taste then eat and digest A Christian hath a taste to discern error from truth why then should he be denied the use of it A woe is pronounced against those who offer unwholsome doctrin Isa 5. 20 Wo to those that call evil good good evil that put light for darkness and darkness for light that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter A like wo is due to them who will not give others leave to discern for themselves what is good or evil light or darkness bitter or sweet as good let another live for us as another taste for us And their misery will be little less then the woes of these men who cannot or will not take pains to distinguish when evill is called good and good evil when light is put for darkness and darkness for light when bitter is put for sweet and sweet for bitter or as Job speaks here whose taste cannot discern perverse things There are some whose taste is so far from discerning perverse things that it is easie to discern their taste is perverse for bring them wholesome true and savoury doctrine they say it is bitter or false doctrine Bring them false doctrin a lie a dream a fancie a meer humane invention dish out such provision before them that 's excellent chear This was the heaviest curse which God sent upon the Gentiles Rom. 1. 28. God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient that is to a mind void of judgement a mind that could not taste or distinguish things therfore the issue or effect was They did things which were not convenient as if a man not being able to judge of meats eats poyson or meats most contrary to his health and constitution It is a fearful judgement to be given up to an unapproving mind to a mind that cannot discern truth from false-hood the Oracles of God from the forgeries of men superstition from holy worship It is a sad thing to loose our spiritual senses Such as play the wantons with the word of God and walk below the truths they know are at last given up to a reprobate mind to a mind not able to know the word of truth and then they swallow down error for truth and suck in deadly poison like sweet pleasant wine The Apostle speaking of the difference of doctrins under the metaphor of meats saith Milk is for babes but strong meat is for them of full age even for those that by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil That is their spiritual senses exercised to taste this from that doctrin and not to swallow every doctrin alike It is a great blessing when a people have senses exercised And it is a blessing we have much cause to pray for in these times That many pallats are out of taste is too apparent by the multitude of heterodox opinions which go down without disrelish Some which would even make a man tremble to name them are entertained with delight Some which dissolve our comforts and breaks us off from comfortable communion with Christ Some which shake if not overthrow the very foundations of faith are swallowed as pleasant morsels Doth not this convince that there 's a want of Jobs taste among us to discern perverse things Therefore get your senses exercised be established in the present truth that ye as this holy man in the middest of all bodily distempers and outward troubles which usually put the natural pallate out of taste may yet even then as he have your inward senses exquisite and your spiritual pallate exact to discern right from perverse things Lastly note False doctrine or true doctrine falsely applied is a perverse thing False doctrin perverts First Reason Secondly Scripture Thirdly the souls of men The Apostle Acts 20. 30. prophecies to the Church of Ephesus and with them to all Churches That out of themselves men should arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them Holy doctrin draws men to God and false doctrine draws men to man As itching ears heap teachers to themselves 2 Tim. 4. 3. So false tongues heap disciples to themselves That which is perverse in it's nature is perverting in its effect JOB Chap. 7. Vers 1 2 3 4. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth are not his dayes also like the dayes of an hireling As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work So am I made to possess moneths of vanity and wearisome nights are appointed to me When I lie down I say When shall I arise and the night be gone and I 'am full of tossings too and fro unto the dawning of the day WHere the knot of connection between this and the former Chapter lyeth is not so discernable which hath given occasion for much diversity of conjecture about it First It may be conceived that Job in
a vineyard to hirelings who wrought for a penny a day and at night they had every one their pay It is so in reference to the whole course of this life we are hirelings in the evening we shall have our penny verily There is a reward for the righteous their labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. And as the righteous have a reward so the wicked shall have wages Satans hirelings shall have full pay though no content for all their works The wages of sin is death there 's pay such as it is woefull pay a black penny The daies of man are as the daies of an hireling there is an issue a reward for every work Fourthly note from the Metaphor while an hireling is doing his masters work he doth his owne too that is his owne profit comes in by those acts in which he labours for another It is thus also in the generall state of man above all Christs servants and hirelings gaine by the duties of obedience they performe to Christ their own profit comes in with his honour A godly man cannot doe a stroake of worke for God but he works for himself too the servants of God must not be self-seekers and self-workers they may not make themselves their end but as it is with an hireling let him be never so upright hearted toward the master he serves let him lay self by in all he doth yet he hath a share of profit in all his labors God hath so espoused and married his owne glory and the good of man together that whosoever really promotes the one promotes both It is so likewise with those who work the works of darknesse and doe the lusts of the devill While his slaves are doing his worke they are gaining towards destruction and their owne wages encreases daily they are treasuring up wrath and judgement against the day of wrath As the measure of their sinne fils so doth the measure of their punishment Thus also the daies of man are as the daies of an hireling There are two generall observations which I shall but name because they will occurre again 1. The life of man it is short As the daies of an hireling The servant doth not abide in the hous for ever a hireling is but for a time And it is good for a man that it is so some complaine exceeding much because their lives are so exceeding little But let them weigh it well and they shall see cause to rejoyce much because they live so little In some respect it is good for wicked men that their lives are so short if their lives were longer they would be wickeder and so heaping up more sin they would heap up more wrath against themselves And it is very well for the Saints that their lives are so short Their corruptions temptations their weaknesses and infirmities their troubles and afflictions are so many that it is well their dayes are so few If they should have length of life added to heaps of sorrows and perpetuity with outward misery how miserable were they Christ promises it as a point of favour to his that the days of trouble should be shortned Except those dayes should be shortned no flesh should be saved that is kept or preserved alive in those tribulations but for the Elects sakes those dayes shall be shortned Mat. 24. 22. It is a favour also to the Saints that their particular dayes are shortned that their's are but as the dayes of an hireling for as much as their present dayes are dayes of trouble and travel The dayes of the best are so full of evil that it is good they are no fuller of dayes And further it is good they are so evil or full of trouble It is well for wicked men that their dayes are full of trouble the sweeter their lives are to them the sinfuller they are against God Their outward comforts are but fewel and incouragement to their lusts and while their lives are calm and quiet they do but saile more quietly down into that dead sea of everlasting misery And the Saints have this advantage by the troublesomenesse of their lives to be kept in continual exercise and more dependance upon God they would love the world too well and delight in the creature too much if God did not put bitternesse into their cup. Job having thus shadowed the state of man seems to make out his intendment or scope thus There is no reason why I should be charged so deeply for desiring death For what is the life of man Is it not a life full of travel and of trouble full of dangers and temptations is not the time of his life short and set Is it not a speedy passing time and yet a firmly appointed time Why then should not I think the period of my life to be at hand Why should not I think my appointed time is come Forasmuch as I have so many evidences and symptoms of death before me and have heard so many messages and summons to the grave Death sits upon Plurima mortis imago my lips ready to come in while I am speaking Death hath taken possession of me already and seiz'd my port death is in my face I am the very picture of death and images of death stand round about me Therefore Eliphaz why should I not call to have my daies summed up that I may see the end and summe of these troubles Or wherefore wouldest thou stay my complaint against my life or stop my desire of death by giving me hopes of many daies and of a flourishing estate in this world That 's his first argument from the general condition of mankind Now he proceeds to consider somewhat more special in that condition Verse 2. As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work Verse 3. So am I made to possesse months of vanity and wearisom nights are appointed to me As a servant earnestly desireth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Traxit aerem ad os per Metaphoram inbiavit ardentur cupiit qui enim vehementer aeliquid cupiunt prae desiderii expectationis magnitudine ad os rem trabunt seu frequentiùs respirant To desire earnestly is but one word in the original it is so full of sence that we cannot empty it into any one word in our language The letter is As a servant breaths after the shadow And because a man that hath an earnest longing desire for a thing pants breaths and gasps after it therefore that word which signifies to gape and draw in the air pantingly signifies also to desire or to desire earnestly As a servant earnstly desireth The shadow Some understand it of the night when the servant comes to rest himself after his labour all the day Night is but a great shadow Secondly We may take it for the shadow of the day A servant that is heated in labour abroad in the open field earnestly desires a
relief of himself and family take heed saith the Lord that thou detain not his wages for the poor man lifteth up his soul to it as a thing he reacheth upward for It is very dangerous to take that out of the hands of man which he is taking as it were out of the hand of God But a rich man who hath aboundance lets his heart down he croucheth and broodeth upon the creature A godly poor man looks up to his reward and fetches his bread from Heaven A covetous rich man looks down to his reward and takes his bread from the earth A godly man is above all earthly things and yet he lifts up his mind to receive them A meer natural man is below earthly things and yet he descends that he may receive them The things which both receive are the same but the conveyance and derivation differ alwayes as much as Heaven and earth sometimes as much as Heaven and hell But to the text Lastly observe That it is the property of an hireling take it strictly to eye his reward This is the description of an hireling he is one who looks to his reward whatsoever be doth to his work Christ John 10. 13. confirms this character The hireling fleeth because he is an hireling and careth not for the sheep he cares much for the fleece and for the flesh but he cares little if at all for the sheep that is how or whether the sheep be fed and prosper He that works for Christ finds his reward in his work and his eye is upon his work as a reward as well as upon the reward of his work he is pleased as much yea far more with his business then he is with his wages Did he not take content and pay himself in this that he is in a work acceptable to Christ he could take no content he could not be pleased at all that he is in a work profitable to himself Now Job applies this general about the nature of a servant and an hireling to his own condition So I am made to possess months of vanity and wearisome nights are appointed to me So am I made It looks like a strange and a very unlikely similitude As a servant desireth the shadow so am I made to possess months of vanity Therefore to clear it we must remember that this is a similitude with a dissimilitude The similitude is conceald the dissimilitude is exprest we may make it out thus As a servant desireth the shadow and an hireling looketh for the reward Similitudo dissimilis of his work so I who am labouring in the heat of these afflictions do earnestly desire a shadow and I who am at work as an hireling would have a reward that is I would see the end and issue of these troubles But here 's the dissimilitude I am made to possesse months of vanity and wearisome nights are appointed to me As if Job had said When the servant hath wrought all day and is weary he can lie down at night quietly rest himself but alas the night is as troublesome and as laborious to me as the day When the hireling hath laboured and taken pains he receives his reward at evening but my wages are months of vanity and my rewards are nights of trouble I am paid in ill coyne months of vanity wearisome nights are appointed for the reward of weary dayes Thus the sence is plain I am made to possess The word signifies possessing by inheritance and descent Two things are implied in that phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est jure baereditario aliquid acquirâ—re possidere First that troubles and afflictions belong to us by right they are possest as an inheritance which we receive from our parents and progenitors I am made to possesse And Secondly it notes the continuance of troubles upon us We have not onely an ill lodging for a while or we stay not with trouble as travellers for a night but we possess and inherit them as our own Jobs troubles were not to him as an hired house or a lodging but as an inheritance wherein he was setled and estated I am made to possesse months of vanity as if he had said you see what the patrimony and inheritance is which descends to me I have waited for comfort and have been in expectation of good dayes but I possess months of vanity that 's all I have found and felt as the issue of my labours Months of vanity Some read Empty Moons the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beares that sence as if Jobs Moon were alwayes in the wane or ever in the ecclipse The word signifies any kind of vanity whether in word or in deed personal vanity or real vanity falshood or deceit any thing that is trivial or light Such months have I appointed to me But some may say Months of vanity Why doth Job complain of this Hath any man in the world any other than months of vanity Why then doth Job take it so ill that he possesseth months of vanity when no other fall to the lot or possession of any man David Psal 39. vers 5. affirms that man at his best estate is altogether vanity What reason then hath Job to complain of months of vanity in his worst estate It was with him as well as with any of his neighbours we know not who hath any other than months of vanity The Preacher makes this the preface of his Sermon Eccles 1. 2. Vanity of vanities saith the Preacher vanity of vanities all is vanity I answer it is true our whole life is a life of vanity but yet there is more vanity in some mans life or in some part of the same mans life than in another Vanity is gradual There is a vain and a rainer vanity and there is the vainest vanity Months of vanity may be understood two waies First Months of vanity that is months empty of comfort fruitlesse months months bringing me no refreshing or content Inanis vacua quia erat vacua hominibus jumentis plantis As Gen. 1. 2. it is said the earth was without form and void void that is it had neither man nor beast nor plant upon it there was nothing but emptinesse upon the face of the earth as it lay in that rude masse So Job saith here mine are months of vanity void months that is months not filled up with any comfort with any refreshing with any joy with any light or content all these which are as the filling up of our months and the beauty of time are taken away from me mine are empty months my dayes are all Dogg-dayes or at best the dayes in the kalender of my life are blanks Secondly Months of vanity because he had not what he expected or the issue which he waited for Job expresses himself in a Vacuum tempus est quon nullam nobis offert utilitatem posture of waiting by the former similitudes The hireling looks for his wages
loathsome We may hence learne what our own bodies are The Apostle Phil. 3. 21. cals the body a vile body not that the worke of God was vile The worke of God was noble and honourable in all he wrought especially in that Master-peece of it the fabrique of mans body but as the body is come out of the hands of sinne so it is a vile body that is it is a body subject to corruption and will quickly corrupt be vile and loathsome 1 Cor. 15 53. This corruptable must put on incorruption The body of man is but one remove from wormes and corruption Chap. 17. 4. I have said to corruption thou aâ—t my Father and to the worme thou art my mother We shall quickly bear the image of our parents wormes and corruption Then be not proud of your bodies nor of your beauties They who are now the fairest and goodliest to looke upon may quickly have a broken and a loathsome skin A disease one fit of sicknesse will spoile all thy beauty deface and blemish thy excellent feature and if a disease doth it not old-age will time will draw furrows in thy face and make wrinkles in thy brow Strength and beauty of body are no matches for time All things were made in time and time will marr all things So long as generation continues corruption must Againe take heed of pride in cloathing The two externals of which man is most subject to be proud are beauty and apparell Cloaths are a flag of vanity and pride sits upon the skirts But remember how fine soever your cloathing is this day and houre God can put you on another suite before to morrow We see what change of apparrell Iob had a godly man an humble man That which God did to try the grace of one he can quickly do to punish and chastise the sin of another he can quickly put you on such clothing as you shall have little cause to be proud of He can make you weare wormes and clods of dust And if we consider it we have little reason to be proud of clothes for if we follow the best of them to their originall they will be found to be but a clothing of wormes and clods of dust what are silkes sattins and velvets but the issue of wormes And what is your gold and silver what your pearls and precious stones are they any thing if you will resolve them into their principles but clods of dust They are indeed better concocted by the heat of the Sunne refined and polished by the art of a man but if you search their pedigree they also are but clods of dust In your most glorious aray you are but cloathed with dust and wormes and if you be proud of such cloathing God can cloth you with worms and clods not onely of unrefined and unpollished but of putrified and filthy dust Thus we see the first thing the picture or description of Iobs body His friends at first sight might be convinced that a body in such a case could take little rest day or night He carries on his complaint a degree further at the 6. verse Verse 6. My daies are swifter than a Weavers shuttle and are spent without hope My daies are swifter The Seventy render it thus My daies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are swifter or nimbler than a word or speech Nothing moves faster or passeth away more lightly than a word a word is gone and it is gone suddenly Hence the similitude is used proverbially Psal 90. 9. We spend our daies as a tale that iâ— told or as a meditation so some translate suddenly or swiftly a discourse is quickly over whether it be a discourse from the mouth or in the mind and of the two the latter is far the more swift and nimble of foot a discourse in our thoughts out-runs the Sunne as much as the Sunne out-runs a snaile the thoughts of a man will travell the world over in a moment he that now sits in this place may be at the worlds end in his thoughts before I can speak another word So that the translation of glosse by speech or meditation aggravates the sence and extends it to the highest But the word properly signifies as we translate a Weavers shuttle which is an instrument of a very swift and sudden motion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the word which we render Swifter signifies that which is fitted for the swiftest motion Any light thing because those things which are light move swiftest and we call a good runner a man light of foot Hab. 1. 8. The horses of the Chaldeans are thus described Their horses are swifter or lighter of foot than the Leopards so swifter or lighter than the weavers shuttle which passeth the loome or web with such speed that it is growne to a Radius Textoris dictum proverbiale radio velocius proverbe for all things which are quick and transient The Latines expresse it by that word which signifies a ray of the Sunne which is darted in a moment from one end of the heavens to another But a question rises Iob in the third Chapter and so in the fifth complains that his life was so prolonged and slow-paced that it was very tedious to him and in this Chapter by a repeated request he spurrs and hastens his life to it's journies end he thought it seemes his time not wing'd but slow footed how is it then that in this place he complaineth of the swiftnesse of his daies My daies are swifter than a Weavers shuttle I answer In a word By his dayes here we are to understand his good dayes his dayes of comfort and prosperity the dayes of my peace and plenty are slipped away and gone even as a weavers shuttle But when he complains that his life is slow-footed and requests that his dayes might move faster he meanes the dayes of sorrow and trouble which had overtaken him in his journey the former were too swift and the latter too slow It is as if he had said Alas all my faire dayes of prosperity are gone they are slipt away as a weavers shuttle they are as a tale that is told nothing remaines of them but the remembrance which is an addition to my sorrow but now I have dayes that seeme long very long they hand upon my hands I cannot get them off my sorrowes clog my time and make every houre seeme a yeare Hezekiah in his complaint upon his sick bed useth this allusion Mine age is departed and removed from me as a shepheards tent I have cut off like a weaver my life Isa 38. 12. As the weaver cuts off the thred when the web is finished so it is with me I have cut off as a weaver my life Not that Hezekiah was active in his own death we are not to understand it so for he pray'd that God would spare him and he spake this upon the promise of God to lengthen out his life and to tye the thread of his dayes
againe according to which the web was woven on for fifteen yeares more But this speech of Hezekiah as a weaver I have cut off my life is like that of the Apostle I have finished my course He compares the passing of his life to a shuttle and the conclusion of it to the cutting off of the thread Nights and dayes passe this shuttle forward and backward to and againe the night casts it to the day and the day to the night beween these two time quickly weares off the thred of life The heathen Poets had a fiction answering this allusion of the holy Ghost they tell us a story or a fiction rather of three sisters whereof the one held the wheele or the distaffe the Tres Parcae elotho Lachesis Atropos second drew out the thred and a third cut it off In this they shadow the state of mans life our ordinary phrase for living long is spinning a long thred and for dying the cutting off the thred of life And they are spent without hope Some translate they are spent so as that there is no hope left The word which here we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 english spent signifies both consumption and consummation or sometimes in a good sense the end or perfecting of a thing and sometime in an ill sense the end or consuming of a thing Gen. 2. 1. So the Heavens and the earth were finished It is this word they were ended God ended his works by way of perfection and consummation he made his work compleate But here and often in Scripture it notes ending by way of consumption or as we translate the spending of a thing Jer. 14. 12. I will consume or make an end of them by the sword And Exod. 33. 3. God commands Moses to goe with the people into the wildernesse for saith he I will not goe up in the midst of them lest I consume them in the way And to shew how deep an expence and consumption of time was upon him Job tells us it had devoured and eaten up all his hope It is worse to have our hope spent then to have our dayes spent now saith he my dayes are spent and that is not all my hope is spent Some translate so my dayes are spent and I have Cum inopia spei vel defectu spei sc longioris vitae want or penury of hope as I have spent my dayes so I have spent my hope And his hopelessenesse may refer two wayes I have no hope or my hope is spent First in regard of long life I see I am so afflicted with this disease that there is no hope I should hold out under it Secondly without hope that is without hope of being in a better condition that is of having my estate restored unto me again if I should have health restored and a longer life continued In both these sences as he saw the thred of his dayes cut off so he saw the thred of his hope cut off he was near death and his hope was dead My dayes are spent without hope or there is no hope remaining This also is a negative to both parts of Eliphaz his promise either of longer life or of a better We may observe hence first a common truth which I shall not insist upon about that pretious commodity a commodity more pretious then the gold of Ophir Time All time is short and we have a very short estate in time Man is not master of one day and a servant but of few dayes The holy Ghost gives us very many remembrances of this which is an argument that we are very apt to forget it Man is slow to take notice of the swiftnesse of time and very dull in apprehending the speed of his dayes It is a wonder that such a plaine common doctrine should be handled so often and that the Holy Ghost should as it were labour for similitudes and fetch in all things that are more then ordinarily transitory in nature to teach us the transitorinesse of our condition We meete with many in this booke all hinting at the sudden invisible motion of time This is a point easie to be known but very hard to be beleeved every man assents to it but few live it And surely the holy Ghost would not spend so many words about it nor gather up so many illustrations of it from sence if it were not of much importance to our faith We usually slight the hearing of common principles â—nd a Sermon preacht upon this subject the shortnesse of our lives and the speed of time is judg'd a needlesse shortning of time and the houre seemes very long which runs out upon the speed of time we think it an easie doctrine and a Theame for boyes But the truth is if the heart did well disgest how few our dayes are we should have better dayes and men would live holier if they knew indeed their lives were no longer Therefore though I only touch this subject yet doe ye dwell upon it and stay long in your thoughts upon the shortnesse of your lives Common truths neglected cause a neglect of every truth Had we more serious thoughts of Heaven and hell that these are and what these are that there is a God and who he is that there will be a judgement and what it will be we should more profitably improve and trade our time and talents Secondly note Time passeth irrecoverably When the weavers shuttle is once out of his hand 't is gone presently there is no hope time past should be recalled or time in motion stopt To consider time under that notion should make us very good husbands of our time or as the Apostle advises to redeeme the time Redemptions are made by purchase to redeem a thing is to buy it with a price the price we redeeme time with is our labourand faithfull travell It is matter of mourning to consider that so little care is taken in spending that which when it is gone we have no hope it can be restored to us again Thirdly In that Iob complained before that his life was so long and now complaineth of the shortnesse or swiftnesse of his life we may note That Man thinks good daies end too soone and that evill dayes stay too long or will never have an end We love the company of good dayes and are therefore sorry when they depart When the Disciples were upon the Mount and had such a good day of it how desirous were they to have continued there and sorry they were the day was at an end Master saith Peter it is good for us to be here The sudden passing of our comforts is our trouble Time is alwayes of the same pace no creature keeps his pace more evenly then time doth it alwayes moves at the same rate neither faster nor slower but man thinks this time short and that time long this time speedy and that time slow according to the severall objects he meets with and to the conditions
are vanity all goe to one place all are of the dust and all turn to the dust again And whereas the Atheist heard some speake of the ascent of mans spirit after this life he puts it off as but talke and guessing ver 21. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth That is who can tell that there is such a difference between the spirit of a man and of a beast who ever saw the one ascending or the other descending or from what Anatomie was this learned Thus the Atheist derides the doctrine of the soul and will therefore laugh and be merry with his body while it lasts that 's his portion For who shall bring him to sâ—e what shall be after him ver 22. Is it not strange that any who are called sober Christians should plant their opinions in this soyle of Atheisme and make that a proofe of their faith which Solomon brings only as a proofe of some mens infidelity The Preacher in this Book personated those whom he abhor'd and sometimes speakes the practises of other men not his own opinion There is no more reason to ground this Tenet of the Soules Mortality upon those texts then there is of encouragement to intemperancie in that chap. 11. 9. Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheare thee in the dayes of thy youth and walke in the wayes of thine own heart Or in that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 32. Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die If any would learne Solomons own sence about this point let him reade it as plaine as words can make it Eccl. 12. 7. Then namely when man dies shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it So then to the next before us the soule is not a wind but the Hujusmodi sententiâ— regressum animarum in corpora minin è negant sed necessitatem moriendi confirmant celeri atem life And all those Scriptures where life is compared to wind and dying to the passing of it without returning deny the regresse or returning of the soule to a naturall not to an eternall life and imply the short stay of the soule in the body and certaine departure from it not a not being when it parts These two must part and so part as never to returne to that estate againe Thus Iob expounds himselfe in the words following Mine eye shall no more see good Or as the Hebrew I shall not return to see good answerable to the metaphor of a wind it passeth away and returnes no more To see In this place as often elsewhere is to enjoy I shall not Videre bonum pro frui nota locutio est enjoy good Psal 4. 6. Who will shew or who will cause us to see any good It was not the bare sight of good which they desired but the enjoyment of it So Ier. 17. 6. The man whose heart departeth from God is threatned that he shall not see when good cometh that is he shall not enjoy good when it comes For though to see good be a mercy yet to see it and not to tast it is a curse Therefore at the last day they who thought themselves high in Gods favour but were indeed under his wrath are told that they shall Lam. 13. 26. see Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdome of God and themselves shut out they shall see what they cannot enjoy and that sight shall adde to their sorrow The Prophet cries out Lament 3. 1. I am the man that hath seen affliction that is I am the man that hath felt and had experience of afflictions And Psalm 16. 10. the great promise to Christ is that though he took a corruptible body upon him yet he should not see corruption that is partake of corruption corruption should have no communion with much lesse power over him And we have the same use of the word in this book chap. 20. ver 17. where Zophar tells the hypocrite that God will deprive and strip him of every good thing He shall not see the rivers the floods the brookes of honey and butter It is a rhetoricall expresson comparing the affluence of outward things to floods and rivers and brooks which send forth their streames plentifully as if he had said though there be great store of honey and butter those two are specified for the rest though there be rivers brooks and streames of these commodities yet he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall see none of them that is he shall not enjoy or tast a drop of Sicut Graeci 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Latini bonum aliquando pro pulchro commodo utili usurpant Isa subinde Hebraei vocabudum Tob Fagius in Gen. 2. 18 them That unbeleeving Lord is told by Elisha that he should see plenty in Samaria the next day but should not eate thereof 2 King 7. 2. Not to see is not to eat and he that sees but eates not is not releeved but troubled at the sight Mine eye shall not see good What good when a man dies shall he see no more good we see but little good while we live and the greatest good is to be seen when we die or rather while we live what doe we see but evill and when the Saints die what have they to see but good how is it then that Iob saith when I die mine eye shall not see good what miserable creatures were we if there were no good to be seen beyond the line of this life our richest stock of comfort lyes in the good we shall see hereafter which is therefore called the blessed-making vision And Iob knew well enough that his eyes should see good after death for he saith chap. 19. 27. with these eyes shall I see God he knew also his soule had an eye to see good and a better good then ever he saw in the world while his body lay in the grave Then his meaning of Mine eye shall no more see good is no more worldly good none of †these good things which I have seen I shall be above the smart of earthly sorrows and above the sence of earthly joyes Good is either natural or civill or spirituall When God created the world he looked upon all that he bad made and he saw that all was very good Civill good is the order peace and prosperity of the world death stops the sight of all this good As for eternall or spirituall good death cannot close or dimme the eye against those objects Then here is no plea for Atheists against the resurrection nor any against the soules Being or being awake till the resurrection Iob speakes only about the speare and course of nature when man dies naturally and is in the state of the dead he enjoyes nothing he acts nothing according to the estate of the living * In his
and returns no more In that place of Ecclesiastes Solomon is only giving us a description of old age and the sad condition of man in it he calleth it the evil day and wisheth men would be wise to consider their latter end remembring their Creatour and laying up a good foundation before those evil dayes overtake them before the light of the Sun and Moon and Stars be darkened and the clouds return after the raine In old age the clouds returne after the raine thus as in some very wet time when we think it hath rained so much as might have spent and quite exhausted the clouds or drawn those bottles dry yet you shall see them return again it wil rain day after day as fast as ever so in old age when rheumes distil so freely that you would think an old man had emptied himselfe of all yet the clouds will return again and flouds of watery humours overflow Thus the clouds of old age returne And in this sence the clouds of the ayre returne after they are consumed and spent into raine But how doth a cloud return not the same cloud numerically that cloud which was dissolved doth not return the same Sunne goes down and vanisheth out of our sight in the Evening and returneth again the same individual and numerical Sun in the morning but that numerical cloud which vanished comes not again Thus man vanisheth and returns as the clouds return after the raine that is after one generation Si id quod nunquam fuiâ— nunc est quomodo quod nunc est post interritum dcnuo fore negatur Nam si hoc mirum illud magis mirum videtur of men are dead they return again in their children another generation springs up other return to life there is none till all shal return at the general judgement of quick and dead As now we are who never were so all shal return who were but are not It was a witty answer of a learned Jew disputing with a heathen Philosopher who opposed the Resurrection If that saith he which never was in the world now is is it strange that that which now is should be again after it is not in the world If this be a wonder the other is much more wonderful Neither shall his place know him any more His place may be taken three wayes First For the calling and condition of a man in this life that 's the place of a man a mans Calling is his place Or secondly Locally for his house or inheritance where he dwelt he shall come to that place no more Or thirdly Place is taken for dignity magistracy for the eminency of a mans calling therefore we say of a Magistrate or a man in honour he hath a Great place or he is a man of place and Rank in all these senses his place shall know him no more His place shall not know him That 's an elegancy of the holy language Places are without life and without sense much more without knowledge knowing is an act of reason how is it then said his place shall know him no more Did it ever know him Ther 's a double figure in it Some understand it by an Hypallage or transmutation of the words his place shall know him no more that is he shall know his place no more So that is expounded Psal 103. 16. The place thereof shall know it no more speaking of man passing away like a wind So Psal 37. 10. Thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be his place shall not be places continue while the world continues Then his place shal not be is he shall not be in his place Or secondly understand it by a Prosopopeia frequent in Scripture which is the imitation of life by things without life when a place takes upon it the person of a man or when a place acts or imitates the speech of a man sence and reason are often ascribed to things without life and so the meaning of his place shall know him no more may be Quosi diceret ipsae res inanima quae serviura parent ad nutum mortalibus mortuis tamen null usui sunt Illos non agnoscunt dominos Ea enim est vis verbi cognoscendi non cognoscendi conceived thus When a man lives and comes home to his house his house as it were welcomes him home and his place is glad to entertain him as in the Psalme the little hils are said to rejoyce at the showers so when a man comes home his house and all he hath have as it were a tongue to bid him welcome and open armes to receive and embrace him but when he dies he shall return no more and then his place shall know him that is receive him no more Observe from this briefly because it is a similitude of the same importance with that opened in the former words first That death is the conclusion of all worldly comforts and relations As the cloud vanisheth and returneth not so in that sence there is an utter conclusion of man he is gone and there is no returning God by his almighty power hath fetched back some and the vanishing clouds have been brought again so Lazarus and others at the death of Christ was raised from the grave but in a natural way death seizeth all fast for ever your places your relations your credits your Friends shall know you no more or give you farther entertainment Secondly observe That God hath given us not only the book of Scripture but the book of the creature therein to learn and read our own frailty and mortality The creatures preach what man is and that is a reason why the holy Ghost spends so much time and is so frequent in giving us the measure of our selves by creatures these are every houre in our eye we meet with and see and handle and feel them continually The wind the vapours the clouds set forth what we are When I consider said David Psal 8. 3. 4. the Heavens the work of thy fingers the Moone and the Starres which thou hast ordained what is man that thou art mindfull of him To consider the greatnesse of the works of God should abase man it should amaze us to remember that God hath made such things for our use who are our selves so uselesse in comparison of what we ought to God And when man considers the Heavens and the earth and weighs how many things there are in them which set forth his frailty he hath reason to cry out O Lord what is man Man is but a wind a cloud a vapour even such a thing as I see most perishing and vanishing in the whole compasse of the creation Psalm 19. 1. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work The heavens are excellent creatures and full of glorious wonders they speake the power and wisdome of God they shew forth his handy work they can be the work of none but
in the bitternesse of my soul What the bitternesse Amarum non solum dulci opponitur sed etiam jucundo Amariorem me fecit senectus i. e asperiorem Plauâ— of the soule is hath been expounded already in the third Chapter therefore I shall not stay upon it It notes only the height or extremity of affliction Bitter is opposed to unpleasant as well as to sweet In the bitternesse of my soule The affliction appeared most upon his body but it afflicted him most in his soule He speaks little of the pain of his body in comparison of the trouble upon his spirit he insists principally upon that I will speake in the anguish of my spirit I will complaine in the bitternesse of my soule not in the pains of my flesh or sufferings of my body and yet that forme of speaking excludes not his sence and sensiblenesse of bodily paines for a man may well say his soul is in bitternesse by reason of the paines of his body Being in this condition we see what his remedy was he falls a crying and a complaining before God telling how it was with him Jobs complaints have been spoken of in former passages of the Book and why he complaines hath been shewed An afflicted soule finds some ease in complaining of affliction To complaine out of impatience distrust and hard thoughts of God is very sinfull in that sence we must be silent as David Psal 39. 9. when the hand of God was heavy upon him I was dumbe I opened not my mouth because thou didst it in reference to the dealing of God with him David had not a word to say Our Lord Christ the great patterne of suffering was as a sheepe before the shearer dumbe and opened not his mouth no impatient speech came from him Though the griefe of Job was very great and so it might somewhat as hath formerly been cleared excuse the greatnesse of his complaint yet in this Job shewed himselfe a Docemur quantae sint hominis virâ—s sibi à Deo derelisti Merc. man subject to like passions as we are Man thinks to get cure by complaining but usually he gets a wound What poore shifts are we poore creatures often put to How often doe we entangle our selves because we are straightned Though Jobs heart kept close to God in the maine though his spirit was preserved untoucht of blaspheming yet we find him touching too often and too loud upon this string of complaining He cannot be excused from some motions of impatience while we hear him setling upon these resolutions to take his fill of or to let loose the reins of his passion to complain I will complaine in the bitterness of my soul Anguish is a very ill guide of the tongue It must needs be troubled matter which passion dictates Observe further That when sorrow continues and hangs long upon us it grows boysterous and resolute We have three wils in the text as if Job had turned all his reason into Will and his will into passion I will not refraine I will speak in the anguish of my spirit I will complaine in the bitternesse of my soule He was grown to a kinde of resolvednesse in his sorrow It is as unsafe for man in this sence to will what Nec tamen is fuit Job qui quod sibi licere non putaret protervè ac procaciter vellet aggredi Meri he doth as to do what he will we ought to will the will of God but we must submit our own We should not mourne over our afflictions nor rejoyce over our comforts but as God wils Yet in this the wil of Job was rather strong then pertinacious He was not a man of that rough make to oppose his wil against the wil and good pleasure of God though that were a paine to him Having thus resolved to complain he complains in this very high Language Verse 12. Am I a sea or a whale that thou settest a watch over me These are his first words words full of deep complaint like the sea which whether he was or no he would be answered Am I a sea Tell me His question is of like importance with that at the 12. verse of the 6. Chapter Is my strength the strength of stones or is my flesh brasse He expostulates with God why hast thou laid such trouble upon me Am I stone or brass that I should be able to bear it And here like a sea swolne with bitter waters in the bitterness of his soul he begins to break the bounds again Am I a sea or a whale that thou settest a watch over me A sea or a whale The sea and the whale are often joyned in Scripture Psal 104. 25 26. O Lord how manifold are thy works c. the earth is full of thy riches so is the great and the wide sea there goe the ships there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein Againe Psal 74. 13. 14. Thou diddest divide the sea by thy strength thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters thou brakest the head of Leviathan in pieces But why doth Job speake this language In briefe the meaning is this The sea you know is a mighty boisterous and unruly creature and the whale is the strongest mightest and most dreadfull creature in the sea the greatest of the creatures whether upon sea or land The sea is the most boisterous of all the inanimate creatures and the whale is the most boisterous of all living creatures So that here Job gives instance in two creatures which are the most head-strong violent and out-ragious in the whole creation The whale and the sea And he sets forth his own weaknesse by the Antithesis of these two creatures surpassing all in strength with which God only is able to graple and encounter And in asking Am I a sea or a whale he may be conceived to speake thus Lord thou seemest to deale with me in a way beyond all thy dealings with the children of men Thou carriest thy selfe towards me as if I were more proud heady hard to be reclaimed then any man in the world thou seemest to take such a course with me as with the unruly sea and with the boisterous whale to keepe me in compasse He speaks as if God laid too heavy an affliction upon him and tooke too strong a course to tame him or as if he might be more gently dealt with and that God needed not prepare such bonds and fetters for him or lay such law upon him as upon the mighty sea and the monstrous whale But for the words in particular Am I a sea There are three things in the sea specially considerable at which Mare barbarum indomitum elementum est Job might have an aime here First the turbulency of the sea the sea is stormy and turbulent so stormy and turbulent that it threatneth to over-whelme all to over-whelme the ships sailing upon it to over-whelme the Visat est
Deus conjecisse mare in carcerem atque illi pedes ac manus constrinxisie propte◠quam exquisita dry land encompassing it and it would doe both if God did not bound it if he had not said Hitherto shalt thou come but no further and here shall thy proud waves be staied did not God put an everlasting law upon it it would be lawlesse Gen. 1. 10. the text saith That the gathering together of waters God called seas God gathered them together thrust them together into one place and there set a watch upon them put them in prison bound them Deiprovidentiam dioitur Psal 95. 4. in chaines for he saw what an unruly element it was and how soone it would disturbe all if left to it 's own guidance So Job 38. 10. He hath set bounds to it barrs and doors to keepe it in He locks and bolts it in by his mighty power And then Jobs meaning may be this Am I an over-whelming tyrant or oppressour a swallower up of the poore c. that thou dost thus imprison and restrain me Secondly there is a wonderfull capaciousnesse in the sea the sea is so bigge and broad so extensive and vast that it takes in all the waters that come off the land into it's bosome and yet feeles no accesse And then his meaning may be thus conceived Am I able to drinke in all these flouds of sorrow and rivers of affliction which are let out and unburthen themselves upon me Thirdly the sea is of mighty strength though we say weak as water water is a weake element in one sence yet in another water is a strong element so strong that it beares all downe before it and beares all the stormes that rage upon it And so his meaning is am I able to bear continuall tempest perpetuall tossings and agitations Wilt thou ever let loose the winds and gusts of trouble to blow thus furiously upon me Or am I a whale The word signifies any great and terrible creature any monster 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vasta five stupenda quae vis animantia significat sive terrestria sive aquatilia sive aeria Quidam Thinnorum nomen binc deducunt whether of sea or land but frequently the whale so Gen. 1. 21. God created great whales and Lamen 4. 3. The sea monsters draw out their breasts which some interpret the sea calfe It is taken also for the dragon which lives partly upon the earth and partly in the water Deut. 32. 3. their wine is the poison of dragons and so Jer. 51. 37. But place it either at land or sea it notes the most fierce devouring and cruell of all living creatures Our Translations understand it of that huge stupendious sea-monster the whale or Leviathan Am I a sea or a whale That thou setteth a watch or a guard over me The word signifies to watch a thing so narrowly that it can neither escape nor doe hurt for upon these two reasons watches and guards are set we are afraid some will run from us that others will hurt us therefore we set a guard upon them In this last sence Job specially meaneth it Thou settest a watch over me as thou dost over the sea and the whale Why doth God set a watch over these It is that the sea should not hurt thc earth that whales and sea monsters should not hurt man sailing upon the sea or destory the lesser fishes swimming there In the 39th Psalme ver 2. the word is used for setting a watch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Custodire servare significat custodism undique circumclusam unde nullum patet effugium upon the tongue I have set a watch saith David upon my lips c. A man sets a watch upon his lips least he should speake a misse or least he should doe hurt or wrong in speaking so Ps 141. 3. the Psalmist desireth God to set a watch before his mouth and keepe the doore of his lips The tongue is a hurtfull instrument as the Apostle James describes it a little member which hath a world of iniquity in it Therefore the tongue being so hurtfull it is a great part of grace to keepe a watch over it and a great part of our duty to begg of God to set a watch upon it that it may doe no hurt that it may not as a sea or a whale swollow up our neighbours good name Nehemiah Chap. 4. 23. made his prayer a sweet conjunction and set a guard or a watch why was it to keep off his wicked enemies from hurting him and hindring the good work he had in hand Some translate it thus Am I a sea or a whale that thou shouldest inclose me in prison It comes to the same sence and the Circum dedisti me careere Vul. Sicut carcer latinis a coercendo sic Hebraeis a custodiendo word signifies a prison in divers texts of Scripture prisons are places of watch and guard from whence there is no escape or getting loose Job thought himselfe a man kept in prison as offenders are The sea is a prisoner shut within banks and walls as a man in prison cannot goe where he will so neither can the sea And the whale of whom it is said He takes his pastime in the sea is yet Gods prisoner there And the truth is all creatures are in the prison of providence the limits whereof they can no more goe beyond then a man that is bound as Peter with two chaines and all the doors lockt upon him Especially afflictions are imprisonments sicknes is an imprisonment A disease is sent like a Sergeant to attach a man that shuts a man within his house confines him to his chamber and then binds him upon his bed not to stirr till God give a release sorrow is often called a Cord Psal 18. 4. The sorrows of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the cords of death as the Hebrew is compassed me about And Psal 116. 3. The sorrows of hell or the cords of hell were about me And in that sence Job speaks of himselfe why dost thou arrest and cast me into prison binding me with the cords of these sorrows and sicknesses So he complaines Chap. 13. 27. Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks and lookest narrowly to all my paths thou settest a print upon the heeles of my feet It is said of the woman Luk. 13. 16. that Satan had bound her eighteen years she was bound with the cords of that infirmity and kept as a poore prisoner those many yeares From all we may collect the sence formerly hinted that Job expostulates with God for using him after the manner of a whale or a sea as if he were a man so unruly that nothing could tame and quiet him but such a severe course as is used with beasts or as if he were a vexer and a devourer of his brethren a very enemy to man-kind Observe from hence First in that Job
the dayes of man be vanity let us set our eyes and hearts upon that which is something upon that which is all upon that which is lasting upon that which is everlasting upon that which is true upon that which is truth upon that which will not deceive upon that which cannot deceive upon that which will be more in fruition then ever it was in expectation The excellency of that estate we have in spirituals consists in this that as it promiseth much so it performeth much and rather more than it promiseth a beleever finds himselfe satisfied in Christ beyound expectation the soul did not expect so much as it finds As the Queen of Sheba comming to Solomon had satisfaction beyound report and promise so shall all who come to Christ he makes us large promises and if we beleeve we shall find larger performances We shall at last say that the halfe of those good things which we now enjoy were not told us in the promises God hath layed up all good in his word but our thoughts are not able to take out the extent of those good things Hence it is said that when Christ appeares He shall come to be admired in his Saints things shall be so far beyound their apprehension that they shall be all in admiration JOB Chap. 7. Vers 17 18. 19. What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him And that thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment How long wilt thou not depart from me nor let me alone till I may swallow down my spittle THese three verses containe a farther argument whereby Job strengthens his complaint The summe of the argument is taken from a comparison of the power majesty and greatnesse of God with the meannesse and misery with the lownesse and poverty of man What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him Why should the great the wise the powerfull the glorious God contend or have to do with weak miserable vaine man How unequall is this Paria paribus congandent match What is man The word is what is miserable man Enosh man encompast about with sorrowes What is this sorrowfull miserable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 man Job concluded in the former verse man is vanity And yet here he questions What is man The question rellisheth of contempt rather then of ignorace and carries with it a low estimation of man let him be what he will not a want of information what man is What is man As we use to say to or of those we slight who are you or what 's he It imports the vanity and deficiency of the creature Or the words are a diminitive admiration He admires the smallnesse the littlenesse the meannesse the nothingnesse of man Questions in Scripture often abate the sence Zech. 4. 7. Who art thou O great mountaine thou lookest very big and very great but who art thou tell me who thou art or I will tell thee thou art now but a molehill thou shalt be a nothing shortly Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plaine it is a contemptuous undervaluing question against the proud opposers of the Church Who am I O Lord and what is my house saith David 2 Sam. 7. 18. His question extenuates On the other side questions often increase the sence and raise it to the highest Exod. 15. 11. Who is a God like unto thee where is there such a God as thou art So Mich. 7. 18. Who is a God like unto thee pardoning iniquity transgression and sinne The question puts the brightest glory upon God in pardoning sin Hence man is abased in a question what is man how low how poore a creature is he Or take the question barely for a desire of resolution as if this were a peece of a Catechisme about mans frailty what is man He had told us in the words immediatly forgoing the text that man is vanity why then doth he enquire in these words what is man It is not to learne what man is but to teach us the wonder that man being such should be thus regarded As if he had said Forasmuch as man is vanity what is vanity that thou shouldest magnifie it will any one esteeme vanity and prize a thing of nought man is vanity that 's the answer to the question The Scripture gives many answers to this question Aske the Prophet Isaiah what is man and he answers chap. 40. 6. Man is grasse All flesh is grasse and the goodlinesse thereof as the flower of the field Aske David what is man He answers Psal 62. 9. Man is a lye not a lyar only or a deceiver but a lye and a deceit All the answers the holy Ghost gives concerning man are to humble man Man is ready to flatter himselfe and one man to flatter another but God tels us plainly what we are That thou shouldest magnifie him or make him great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is a three-fold sense of that word magnifie used in Scripture Magnus quantitate vel qualitate annis bonore existimatione authoritate Shind 1. It implies only a manifestation or declaration of anothers greatnesse or an opening of his intrinsicall worth and dignity in which sence man is often said to magnifie God he declares and publishes the infinite internall worth and dignity of God Luke 1. 46. the Virgin beginneth her Song thus My soule doth magnifie the Lord. It is impossible we should give the least addition to the greatnesse of God Then magnifying of God is only a declaring that God is great So Psal 34. 3. O magnifie the Lord with me that is let us joyne our hearts and our tongues in this great work to lift up the honour and Name of our God 2. To magnifie is to esteeme or prize greatly So the Apostle speaking of his office shewes how highly he priz'd it by breaking forth into this holy boast Rom. 11. 13. I magnifie mine Office I esteeme this as my greatest priviledge and honour that God hath called me to be an Apostle And Acts 5. 19. when the Pharisees were so angry with the Apostles and many were afraid to joyne with them the text saith the people magnified them that is the people had high thoughts of them and esteemed them greatly But thirdly which is chiefely intended in this place to magnifie is to make great or to give some reall addition of worth and respect Thus the Lord magnifies man he magnifies him by adding somewhat to him by giving glory and lustre to man who in himselfe is vile and mean and contemptible And thus God magnifies man foure wayes First He magnifies man in the work of creation of that we reade Psal 8. 4. where this question is put What is man that thou shouldest be mindfull of him or the sonne of man that thou visitest him The third verse shewes us what it was which raised the Psalmist to this admiration
what is man that thou shouldest magnifie him If God magnifie man one man should not vilifie and debase another one man should not contemne and slight another Who art thou that centemnest thy brother Thou canst not really magnifie thy brother and wilt thou debase him It is a most dangerous attempt to abase those whom God magnifies to despise those whom God honours That on whom God sets his heart against him man should set his heart or tongue or pen. God seekes occasion to magnifie us though we give him advantages every day to cast dishonour upon us Let man takc heed how he dishonours those whom the great God now doth and intends to honour more When Pharoah magnified Joseph he caused the people to cry Abrech that is bow the knee before him Gen. 41. 43. And when Ahasuerus intended to advance Mordecai He commanded him to be arrayed in royall aparrell c. and proclamation to be made Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King delighteth to honour Esth 6. 11. Princes expect that al should favour and honour those whom they honour and make their favourites Surely then the great God will not beare it that they should be despised whom he delights in and casts honour upon But here a Question arises How this is appliable unto Job why doth Job who lay upon a dung-hill and was cast into so low a condition speake of magnifying Was Job magnified Doth Job wonder at his preferment and exaltation when he was brought downe to the dust Poore Job Thou wast almost nullified and made no body and dost thou speake as if thy honour were too big for thee What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him We may answer First By connecting this word magnifie with the words that follow What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him As if he had said What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him by setting thine heart upon him And so setting the heart upon man is an explication of what is meant by magnifying man And that 's a cleare truth when God sets his heart upon a man he magnifies him sure enough that act of God is the exaltation of the creature Man needs no greater honour then this that God sets his heart upon him he that knows that knows himself high enough Whatsoever man sets his heart upon he as man can exalts and magnifies it If a man sets his heart upon another man he magnifies that man Yea if a man sets his heart upon a beast or a stoue he in a sence deifies that beast that stone If he sets his heart upon any creature he makes that creature a god to him for nothing should have the heart but God alone And the reason is because setting the heart upon any thing is the highest exaltation we can give it Therefore nothing ought to have the heart set upon it but God for he is Lord over all And the Lord cals us to set our hearts upon him because that is the highest honour creatures can give him Now as our setting our hearts on God magnifies him so the setting of his heart on us doth wonderfully magnifie us And he therefore sets his heart upon us that we might at once see and admire how much he honours us If a King set his heart upon a man that man is greatly magnified he is magnified in the opinion of others and not only in the bare opinion of others but there is a real dignity put upon that man on whom a King puts his heart How much more if God sets his heart upon man is man really magnified That God sets his eye upon a man is a magnifying of him It was the priviledge of Solomons Temple that the Lord promised his eye would be upon that place and it was a high honour to the Temple that God would looke upon it continually 1 King 8. 29. If it be a condescension for God to eye the creature He humbleth himselfe to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth Psa 113. 6. How great is his condescention in setting his heart upon the creature So there is a truth in this sence and we may make a comfortable improvement of it What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him by setting thine heart upon him Secondly Job may have respect to his former greatnesse when God magnified him and made him the greatest man in the East and is now be-moaning his owne change in the changeablenesse of mans condition who when he is lifted up to the highest fairly built and adorned yet in a moment may be cast downe and Quorsum in me loâ—â—pletando tuam operam pâ—suisti tuam providentiam ostendisti quare me ad cum statum evexisti in qua parsistere non poteram ruin'd Therefore Job comes with his wonder Lord what is man What is the ordinary state of man that thou shouldest take care to make him great As if he had said why didst thou magnifie me to make me the greatest man in the East Why didst thou set thine heart upon me to blesse my family and provide for me as if thou hadst none else to provide for Thou seest mans beauty is blasted in the twinckling of an eye and then all thy worke is lost It is not worth the while to doe that which may be undone so soone Would any one be at cost to build a house to bestow a great deale of charge pains upon it and it may be spend some yeares about the adorning and furnishing of it and when all 's done it is such a house that the next breath of wind may levell with the ground What is such a house that a man should build it When man is raised up and built a puffe of wind a blast of affliction blowes him downe and brings him to the dust what is this man that he should be magnified This is a good sence of the words that Job reflecting upon his former greatnesse and honour now defaced and overthrowne breakes out into this expostulation what is man Why should God in his providence lay out so much to magnifie and set a man up who may be so quickly down as you see I am at this day But thirdly rather take it thus What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him Namely by dealing with him thus in chastnings and afflictions by disciplining and tutoring him with the rods of thy correction But you will say Is it a magnifying of a man to afflict a man Yes it is a magnifying of man man is magnified two wayes by affliction First in that God who is so great will discend to chastise and correct or to order the Chastisements and corrections of man Man is magnified when God deales or contends with him That Indignus sum quem vel percutias contemptior sum quam ut adversus me manum extendas God wrastles and strives with man is an honour to man David 1 Sam. 24. 14.
Hajom i. e. corpus sive robur dici Bold body or strength we the heat of the day either morning may be here meant though the word bears the later properly Thou doest visit him every morning that is as soone as the Sun is up yea as soone as day breakes or there is any light thou art visiting Mans visits are usually in the afternoone it is an extraordinary thing to visit one in the forenoone more extraordinary to visit in a morning and most early in a morning Gods visits are extraordinary visits they are visitings in the morning and visitings every morning as often as the morning returnes so often doth God come to visit not a morning that we misse him To doe a thing every morning notes first the doing of it alwayes or secondly the certaine doing of it Thou doest visit every morning that is as surely and as certain as the Sun riseth and the morning cometh so certainly doth God visit man Or thirdly it notes the speed the hast that God makes to visit He visits in the morning that is betimes God delayes not untill noone much lesse stayes till it be night but he cometh in the morning Psal 46. 5. God shall heare her and that right early the Hebrew is God shall heare her in the morning betimes speedily The late coming in to work in the vineyard is exprest by coming at the eleventh houre they came speedily who came in the morning at the first houre And to shew that we ought not to continue in wrath and keepe up our anger it is said let not the Sunne goe downe upon your wrath that is do not continue all day angry let your anger goe down speedily even before the Sunne In this sence Job saith that God visits man every morning as a Hic ad conservationem generalem providentiam pertinet Metaphora a pastoribus singulis matutinis oves suas recensenntibus Coc shepheard his flock least any should be hurt or straied we may apply it as before in the several sences of visitation either to Gods visiting of us in afflictions or in mercies he afflicts if he pleases continually speedily certainly And as sure as the Sun riseth and the morning cometh so sure God visiteth his with mercies therefore his mercies are said to be renewed every morning Lam. 3. 23. or fresh every morning Unlesse God bring new mercies every day the old would not serve we cannot bring the mercies of one day over to another The mercies of a former day will not support us the next therefore they must come every morning sufficient for the day is the evill thereof Mat. 6. and but sufficient for the day is the good thereof As we are therefore commanded to pray every day for our daily bread the bread you had the last day will not serve this day you must pray for the bread of this day and for a blessing upon it that God would visit your bread and your store in mercy So if need require God afflicts every day And the hearts of some men want as much the rod every day as bread every day they could not be without affliction every day to keep them in order God will be as carefull to correct his children as to feed them If a man be watchfull over his own wayes and the dealings of God with him there is seldome a day but he may find some rod of affliction upon him But as through want of care and watchfullnesse we loose the sight of many mercies so we doe of many afflictions Though God doth not every day bring a man to his bed and breake his bones yet we seldome if at all passe a day without some rebuke and chastning Psal 73. 14. I have been chastned every morning saith he Psalmist Our lives are full of afflictions and it is as great a part of a Christians skil to know afflictions as to know mercies to know when God smites as to know when he girds us and it is our sin to overlook afflictions as well as to overlooke mercies Secondly Take the word as it imports care and inspection Then observe The care of God is renewed every morning The eye of God is alway upon us He visiteth so as he telleth all our steps he tels our very wandrings He visiteth us so that we can turne no way but he is with us his eye of inspection as a Tutour as a guide is ever upon us he lookes to his people as a shepheard to his flock who knowes their wandrings And try him every moment It is of the same sence with the former Try him The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Periculum fecit expertus est tentavit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. signifies an exact and through triall Some take it to be an allusion to the practise of those who set the watch in Armies or Garrison Townes who least their Centinels or Watchmen should sleepe use to come suddenly upon them possibly divers times in a night to try whether they are faithfull and wakefull The Prophet Isaiah hints at such a custome chap. 21. The watchman is set v. 6th Goe set a watchman let him declare what he seeth The watchman is tried v. 11. He calleth to me out of Seir watchman what of the night watchman what of the night And it is observed in forraigne parts that their watchmen in Frontier Towns are tried every houre of the night the token being their giving so many tolls with the Bell hanging in their Watch-tower as the great City-clock strikes This is a good sence of the place the Lord visits ns every morning and tries us every moment that is very very often as often as may be to see whether we keep our watches and stand duely upon our guard But secondly it may note a triall as a Schollar is tried by examination We call it Probation day when the proficiency of Schollars is examined God cometh to examine and make probation of mens proficiencie what have you gotten how have you improved such times such opportunities for the gaining of spirituall knowledge what have you learned what know you more of your selves what more of God and Jesus Christ whom to know is eternall life Thirdly It may note triall by affliction There are three words 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifie the troubles which God brings upon man They are First strictly Judgements which he sends in wrath upon enemies Secondly Chastisments and corrections Thirdly Temptations or trials these are proper to his children Hence observe Afflictions are trials The Lord proves what grace there is in the heart he tries what corruption there is in the heart by affliction There are many graces in the heart of man untried and there are some that cannot be tried till God bring him to an houre of trouble There are many corruptions in the heart of man which he taks no notice of nor can till
is stronger then they were So I may say be yee not strivers or strugglers with God for your bands are made strong It is said Exod. 4. 25 26. That the Lord met Moses in the Inne and sought to kill him The Lord is never to seeke to doe what he pleases but thus he speakes after the manner of men who offer or assay at any businesse They seeke to do it But Zipporah having circumcised her sonne He let Moses goe It is this word He slacked or loosened having before as it were arrested and attached him or clapt him in prison for making that great default the neglect of Circumcision Sometimes we find the Lord himself speaking as if he were at the mercy or under the power of man and therefore calling in this word to be loosened or let alone Deut. 9. 14. Let me alone that I may destroy them The prayer of faith is as a band upon Gods hand holding him so fast that he seems as one that cannot strike or destroy till a Moses will give him leave by ceasing to pray unto him To be sure we are at Gods mercy and under his power so that nothing but the prayer of faith can loosen us And therefore Job doth not attempt to break the cords or cut them asunder nor seeks he to untie their knots but desires God himself to do it let me alone loosen me I will be a prisoner till thou openest the door for my deliverance As Jephtahs daughter said to him Judg. 11. 37. when he had bound himself and her in the bands of a rash vow Let me alone for two months or loosen me from the ingagement of my vow for two months as if she had said I will not loose my self by a wilful refusal but doe thou give me a willing dispensation So a godly man bespeaks the Lord in his straights Loosen me Lord. Unlesse God be pleased to loosen him he will be contented and when in a good frame of heart and freeness of spirit well-pleased with his bands In some sence he speakes as Paul and Silas when they were in prison Acts 16. 37. Let the Lord himself come and fetch us out That is let us see such means of our inlargement and freedome from trouble as may assure us that the Lord hath loosened and enlarged us A godly man had a thousand times rather be put into a prison by God than put himself into a paradice He had rather be bound by Gods hand than loosened by his own That place toucht before may reach this sence Prov. 24. 10. if thou faintest so we or loosnest thy self in the day of adversity Thy strength is small that is the strengh of thy faith and patience is small There is nothing discovers our weakness more than striving to break the cords of our afflictions The stronger we are in faith in love in humility the more quietly we lie bound Faith seeks ease and release onely in God to say Lord loosen me is a duty to loosen our selves is both our sin and our punishment Till I may swallow down my spittle Some conceive that from this Hebrew word Rak which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saliva undè quidam deducunt Raca Mat. 5. 22. quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interpretantur i. e. conspuendum vel dignum qui conspuatur Alii a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vacum quasi cerebro vacuus judicio carens Drus we translate spittle Raca is derived Mat. 5. 22. as if to call a man Raca were as much as to say he is worthy to be spit upon or that one should spit in his face though others spring that word from Rik which signifies empty as if it were as much as to call a man an empty fellow without wit or brains or within one degree of a foole which is the next word in Matthew But what is Iobs intendment in desiring God to let him alone Till he might swallow down his spittle First Some refer it to a bodily distemper as if Iob were troubled with a (a) Inter caetera mala Synanchen habuisse se perhibet Hieron squinsie or sore throat which hindered the swallowing of his spittle (b) Dimitta me ut gustum aliqâ—em hujus vitae capiam Albert. Another takes it in a Philosophical notion as if Iob had said Lord let me have some ease that I may at least tast once more what it is to live or how sweet life is For that sence of tast works by the salival humour or spittle in the mouth which mixing with the juice or sap that is in meats affects and delights the pallate Thirdly these words are taken as the discription of a man ready to die who is disabl'd either to swallow his spittle or to void it As if he had said I am now even at the point of death let me alone a little Davids prayer comes near this sense Psal 39. 13. O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more Fourthly It may be taken proverbially and that two waies First To note the shortest time even so much as may serve a Serno proverbialis talis est neque ad scalpendas aures mihi otium est man to spit As if he had said O let me have a little intermission a little respit such is the sence of that phrase Chap. 9. 18. He will not suffer me to take my breath And the like are those used in some countries I have not leisure or time to scratch my ear or to pare my nails My sorrows know no interim my feaver is one continued fit I have no well daies no nor a good hour Ne tantillum quidem temporis est quoÌ„ non tenter aâ—te Coc. therefore let me at least have so much time of ease as I may swallow my spittle let me have the shortest time That I may once more know though but for a moment what it is to be without pain To whlch interpretation that also subscribes which makes these words to be a circumlocution for silence For while a man is swallowing his spittle his speech stops he cannot bring up his words and let down the spittle at the same time so his meaning is I am forced to complain continually I would be silent and forbear speaking but my grief will not suffer me The second proverbial understanding of the word is that they Elegans proverbialis loquutio ad denotandum diligentem in alium intuitum quo minim as in alio discernet actiones Saliva ferè imperceptibiliter obsorvetur import a very strict watch held upon another in all his motions so that he cannot stir a finger or move his tongue silently in his mouth unobserved If I do but stir my tongue to swallow my spittle which is one of the most unperceivable acts of man thou takest notice O do not hold so strict a hand and so curious an eye upon me Let me have a little liberty do not examine every failing do
the Holy Ghost Good and bad beleevers and unbeleevers speak often the same good words but they cannot speak the same things nor from the same principles nature speaks in the one in the other grace The one may say very passionately he hath sinned and sometimes almost drown his words in tears but the other saith repentingly I have sinned and floods his heart with Godly sorrowes Thirdly to clear it yet more the general confession of the Saints have these four things in them First Besides the fact they acknowledge the blot that there is much defilement and blackness in every sin that it is the onely pollution and abasement of the creature Secondly They confess the fault that they have done very ill in what they have done and very foolishly even like a beast that hath no understanding Thirdly They confess a guilt contracted by what they have done that their persons might be laid lyable to the sentence of the law for every such act if Christ had not taken away the curse and condemning power of it Confession of sin in the strict nature of it puts us into the hand of justice though through the grace of the new Covenant it puts us into the hand of mercy Fourthly Hence the Saints confess all the punishments threatned in the Book of God to be due to sin and are ready to acquit God whatsoever he hath awarded against sinners O Lord righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of face as at this day to the men of Iudah and to the inhabitants of Ierusalem Dan. 9. 7. And as in this confession for the matter they acknowledge the blot the fault the guilt the punishment of sin so for the manner which sets the difference yet wider between the general confessions of wicked and Godly men they confess First freely Acknowledgements of sin are not extorted by the pain and trouble which seazeth on them as in Pharaoh Saul and Judas But when God gives them best dayes they are ready to speak worst of themselves And when they receive most mercies from God then God receives most and deepest acknowledgements of sin from them They are never so humbled in the sight of sin as when they are most exalted in seeing the salvations of the Lord. The goodness of God leads them to this repentance they are not driven to it by wrath and thunder Secondly they confess feelingly when they say they have sinned they know what they say They taste the bitterness of sin and groan under the burdensomeness of it as it passes out in confession A natural mans confessions run through him as water through a pipe which leaves no impression or sent there nor do they upon the matter any more taste what sin is then the pipe doth of what relish water is Or if a natural man feels any thing in confession it is the evil of punishment feared not the evil of his sin committed Thirdly they confess sincerely they mean what they say are in earnest both with God and their own Souls Blessed is the man in whose spirit there is no guile Psal 32. 2. The natural man casts out his sins by confession as Sea-men cast their goods over-board in a storm which in the calm they wish for again They so cast out the evil spirit that they are content to receive him again when he returns though it be with seven worse then himself Even while they confess sin with their lips they keep it like a sweet bit under their tongues And wish it well enough while they speak it very ill Fourthly they confess beleevingly while they have an eye of sorrow upon sin they have an eye of Faith upon Christ Iudas said he had sinned in betraying innocent blood Mat. 27. 4. but instead of washing in that blood he defiles himself with his own he goes away and hangs himself No wicked man in the world continuing in that state did ever mix Faith with his sorrowes or beleeving with confessing he had sinned So much for the clearing of the words and the sence of this general confession Hence observe first While a Godly man maintains his innocency and justifies himself before men he willingly acknowledges his infirmity and judges himself before God Iob had spent much time in wiping off the aspersions cast upon him by his friends but he charges himself with his failings in the sight of God Secondly observe God speakes better of his servants then they doe of themselves When God speakes of Job we find not one blot in all his character all is commendation nothing of reproof He saith c. 1. v. 21. in all this Job sinned not but for all that Job saith I have sinned A hypocrite hath good thoughts of himself and speakes himself faire He flatters himself in his own eyes until his iniquitie be found to be hateful Psal 36. 2. A godly man thinks and speaks low of himself he accuses himself in his own eyes though his integrity be found very acceptable with the Lord. Thirdly observe The holiest man on earth hath cause to confess that he hath sinned Confession is the duty of the best Christians First The highest form of believers in this life is not above the actings of sin though the lowest of believers is not under the power of it And if the line of sinning be as long as the line of living then the line of confessing must be of the same length with both While the Ship leaks the pump must not stand still And so long as we gather ill humors there will be need of vomits and purgings Secondly Confession is a soul-humbling duty and the best have need of that for they are in most danger of being lifted up above measure To preserve us from those self-exaltations the Lord sometimes sends the Messenger of Satan to buffet us by temptations and commands us to buffet our selves often by confession Thirdly Confession affects the heart with sin and ingages the heart against it Every confession of the evill we do is a new obligation not to do it any more The best in their worst part have so much freedome to sin that they have need enough to be bound from it in variety of bonds Fourthly Confession of sin shews us more clearly our need of mercy and indears it more to us How good and sweet is mercy to a soul that hath tasted how evil and how bitter a thing it is to sin against the Lord. How welcome how beautiful is a pardon when we have been viewing the ugliness of our own guilt Fiftly Confession of sin advances Christ in our hearts How doth it declare the riches of Christ when we are not afraid to tell him what infinite sums of debt we are in which he onely and he easily can discharge how doth it commend the healing vertue of his blood when we open to him such mortal wounds and sicknesses which he only and he easily can cure Wo be to those who commit sin abundantly that grace may abound but
it is our duty to confesse sinne aboundantly that grace may abound Lastly Though we need not confesse sin at all to informe God he knowes our sins though we will not make them known and hath an eye to see though we should not have a tongue to confes Though I say we confesse not to informe God what we are or what we have done yet we must confesse to glorifie God While we shame our selves we honour him My sonne saith Joshua to Achan c. 7. v. 19 give I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him Every attribute of God receives this gift of glory by mans confession Justice is glorified and mercy is glorified patience is glorified and holinesse is glorified Holinesse is glorified in opposing sin and patience in sparing the sinner mercy is glorified in pardoning sin and justice in receiving satisfaction at the hand of Christ for the pardon of it Fourthly observe Holy confession of sin leades the way to gratious pardoning of sin Job begins the next verse with a vehement prayer for pardon And why doest thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquity Sin concealed and kept close growes upon us And it growes three wayes First in the strength of it Secondly in the guilt of it Thirdly in the terrour and vexation of it Psal 32. 3 4. When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long Confession is a meanes to obtaine the abatement of sin in all three The strength of it is weakened the guilt removed and the terrour overcome Then heare the counsell of the Prophet Isa 43. 26. declare that thou mayest be justified Thus farre of the words as they are a confession of sin I shall now handle them as they are a concession or a grant that he had sinned and so the sence may be given thus I have sinned what shall I doe unto thee As if he had said Let it be granted or subpose that I have sinned and sinned as deepely as my friends have charged me supâ—â—â—e I have been as wicked as they imagin what thâ—n if this were my case what shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men The later words plainly import a question What shall I doe unto thee But the sence of the question is not so plaine The question may be taken two wayes Either affirmatively or negatively Take it affirmatively and so the sence is what shall I doe that is Lord direct me councell me order me teach me what becomes me to doe in such a case in such a sinfull condition as I either confesse my selfe to be in or am supposed to be in That 's the affirmative sence What shall I doe The word which we translate do signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice pagnal respondet Graeco 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est agere cum energia effectu Piscat working or doing under a two fold qualification 1. Working with great willingnesse and readinesse of mind and hence it is applied to the workings of sin in naturall men who work with the greatest freedome that can be Man sins naturally and therefore freely he is carried on with a full swing with tide and wind he sins nothing in himself contradicting or giving a contrary vote He is a true worker of iniquity Psal 5. 5. 2. Working with energie and successe and the doing of a thing not only effectually but willingly Numb 23. 23. What hath God wrought When God works he works thoroughly he doth not his busines to halves So Isa 26. 12. Thou hast wrought all our works in us that is thou hast brought them to passe they have succeeded through thy help and the influences of thy blessing The word being taken in this height of sence the question for an affirmation What shall I doe that is shew me direct me what to do we may observe from it First That What to do in case of sin is a point of the highest consideration I have sinned what shall I do If ever we have need to go and aske counsell to sit down and debate the mater with our sevles or others it is when we have sinned Such is the nature of sin and such the consequences that it calls us to highest consideration what to do about it Matters of great consequence are matters of great consultation Sin hath an influence upon an eternity If any thing be more worthy your thoughts then that let it have them Secondly Look upon the question as following Jobs confession Observe thence That sincere confession of sin makes the soule very active and inquisitive about the remedies of sin I have sinned the very next word is What shall I doe Many make confession of sin who are never troubled about the cure and redresse of sin Lord what shall I doe is not the next question to Lord I have sinned Nay it may be the next action is to sin over the same sin they have confest As soon as those Jewes heard of the foulenesse of their sin in crucifying Christ and of the sadnesse of their condition their question is like this of Job what shall we doe what shall we doe that we may be saved As Christ speakes to the woman of Samaria Job 4. 10. when he offered her the water of life If thou didst know the gift of God and who it is that speakes unto thee thou wouldest have asked c. That is if thou wert sensible of the excellency and vertue of this water and thy need of it thou wouldest be very inquisitive how to get it how to have a tast of it As in regard of Christ and the benefits we have by him so of sin and the evils which come by it When a man hath confest and acknowledged his sin we may say to him if thou didst but know what thou hast confest if thou didst but know what thou hast acknowleged thou wouldest presently be asking how shall I get free how shall I get clear of these sins which are so deadly poisonous destroying condemning He that is but sensible what the wound of sin is wil never be at rest never give over enquiring til he hath found a plaister or a medicine for it He that knowes what he saith when he saith I have sinned will resolve as David in another case that his eyes shall not have a winke of sleep till he sees where to have helpe against it Thirdly In that he saith what shall I doe Observe That a soule truly sensible of sin is ready to submit to any termes which God shall put upon him What shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men Put what termes thou wilt upon me I am ready to accept them That was the sence of their question Acts 2. 32. what shall we do shew us the way let it be what it will we will not stand making of conditions we will not pick and choose this we will doe and that we will not doe
object stands directly before us and we desire to have an enemy right before us And the word may be taken simply for an enemy or adversary who stands opposite to us both in his actions and designes and against whom we direct both ours We render wherefore hast thou set me as a marke and that suites the sence of the word fully because a marke at which a man aimes is set in direct opposition to him we levell our atrowes or bullets at the marke right before us Job thought himselfe thus placed why hast thou set me as a marke to meete with or intercept thy shot thy arrowes thy bullets thy blowes upon my breast Wilt thou make the bosome of thy servants like the breast of an enemy a But to receive all thy arrows A mark is as a standing enemy and an enemy is a moving marke to shoote at a marke is a livelesse enemy and an enemy is a living marke his meaning then is Thou hast set me against thee as if I were an enemy as if I were one against whom thou resolvest to direct all thine arrows and aim every stroke so the word is used Judg. 8. 21. where Zeba and Zalmunna two Kings taken captive by Gideon said to him rise thou and fall upon us it is this word set us before thee as a marke for thy victorious sword So the Prophet Amos 5. 19. tels us that a man in hopes to escape the hand of God shall be as if a man did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him such a man is but a mark for a Bear who thinks to out-runne this Lion That expression 1 King 5. 4. is very clear to this sense where the peacefulness of Solomons reigne is described thus there was neither adversary nor evil occurrent the word we translate evill occurrent it is that in the text no evil met or befel them So then the sum of all is That Job expostulates or complaines before God that he was as it were the man chosen out amongst all the men in the world to be as the mark and But against which God shot his afflictions and level'd all his arrows As if he had said There are many mo about me and thou doest not so much as touch one of the hairs of their heads there are men that receive not so much as one shot from thee but I am made thy standing marke why is it thus Lord So he expresseth himself in other words but to this very sense chap. 19. 11. chap 13. 24. Wherefore holdest thou me for thine enemy or according to the letter of the Hebrew among those who straighten thee as an enemy straightens a City in the time of a siedge And this he doth to move God to pity and compassion Lord saith he I am set as a mark against thee You would be much moved a tender heart would to see a man bound fast to a post and another standing off with his bow bent and his arrow on the string with his gun or pistoll cockt aiming at his breast Job presents himself in such a posture as if the Lord had bound him fast to a post or to a tree and were pouring vollies of shot and sending showers of arrows upon him continually Observe first the manner of the language which is by way of a vehement question or expostulation Why hast thou set me as a marke against thee Man is very inquisitive to know the reasons of Gods dealings with him That 's one thing And secondly which is near the same It is some satisfaction and ease to the mind smitten by the hand of God to know the reason why he wounds why he smites Why hast thou set me as a marke as if he had said if I could but learne this and see the reason of it surely I should receive thy wounds as kisses and take thy stroakes as embraces When Gideon saw so many evils and troubles upon Israel Jud. 6. and the Angel told him the Lord was with him Then why is it thus saith he Can you give me a reason why God being with us it is thus with us To know the reason of our paine is a great ease and almost the care of it If the people of God did but know what infinite reason he hath reason of the highest temperament of wisdome and goodness why he layes affliction upon them and makes them as his markes they would be abundantly satisfied with it What is the reason why the Saints coming out of great affliction are willing to confesse it is good for us that we were afflicted and blessed be God that we were chastned It is because then they see more cleerly the reason why God afflicted them and they then begin to tast the fruit of those afflictions If while the affliction is upon us we knew what good God meaneth us what honour he intendeth us we should beare it not onely with courage and with patience but with joy If Iob had been but fully acquainted with this that God therefore set him up as a mark to shoot at that he might be to all the world a mirror of patience that God intended him this honour that his name should be upon record in his Book so long as there was a Church surely he would have borne all with more patience and ease than he did But he was groping in the darke and therefore enquires wherefore hast thou set me as a marke against thee The words are not only or not so much an expostulation because he was set as a marke as an inquisition why he was set as a marke Thirdly note God sometimes seemes an enemie to his faithfull servants For one to be before God as a But continually shot at what other interpretation can sense make of it but this that God looks upon him as an enemy Iacob saith of Ioseph Gen. 49. 23. the archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him Joseph was as the common marke of his Bretherens envy But in this case as it is said of Joseph Gen. 42. when his brethren came to him he made himself strange to them Joseph strained himselfe and used his art to overcome his nature he made himselfe strange Joseph was of a meek and loving disposition and therefore like a Player upon a stage he only acted the part of a rigid master or governor Thus many times the Lord takes upon him the posture of an enemy and forces a frowne upon a poor creature whom he loves and delights in with all his heart he makes him as his marke to shoot at whom he layes next his own heart Thus the Church speakes Lam. 3. 12. He hath bent his bow and set me as a marke for his arrowes And Job 16. 13. that you may see how his language agrees with other Scriptures His archers compasse me round about he cleaveth my reines asunder and doth not spare He poureth out my gall upon the ground How exactly he speakes A man shootes at a haires bredth that shootes
cleanse and wash him Will he not say if it come not speedily why do ye not bring away the water there sin is the defiling and bemiring of the soul and pardon is the cleansing of it If a man be deeply and deadly wounded will hee have onely some few feeble desires or make cold requests for a Chyrurgion Will hee not call and call aloud Call and call again for helpe and healing Sins are the wounds of the soul and pardon is the only cure of it If a man hath broken his bones will he not be very earnest to have them set again Sin is the breaking of the bones and pardon is their setting How doth David cry to the Lord Psal 51. 8. That the bones which he had broken might rejoyce Sin had broken his bones first and the hiding of Gods favour from him was a second breaking If a mans peace or the peace of a Nation be disturbed is there not earnest crying as at this day to have it repaires and re-established Sin troubles our peace the peace of the soul and the peace of Kingdomes Sin is the great make-bate and pardon is the returning of our peace and quieteth all again and therefore no marvel if we cry out Why doest thou not pardon our sinnes He that is greatly in debt and fears every hour to be arrested and cast in prison is trying all friends to get security and protection Sinning is a running in debt with God and it brings us under the danger of his arrest every-moment forgiveness cancels the bond when the sin is pardoned the debt is paid and the soul discharged And therefore no wonder if in this case we hear or make strong cries Why doest thou not pardon our sinnes My son saith Solomon Prov. 6. 4. speaking about suretiship if thou be surety for thy friend if thou hast ingaged thy self for another Give not sleep to thine eyes nor slumber to thine eye-lids deliver-thy self as a Roe from the hand of the hunter and as a bird from the hand of the fowler Not to give rest to the eye nor slumber to the eye-lids notes the hottest pursuit and greatest intention of spirit about a business Thus busie Solomon advises a man to be who becometh surety for another Then what should we do who have contracted huge debts our selves How should we in this sense give our eyes no rest and our eye-lids no slumber till our souls be delivered as a Roe from the hand of the hunter and as a bird from the hand of the fowler that is from all the power and challenge which the Law without us conscience within us Satan pursuing us and the justice of God threatning us can any way make or have against the peace of our souls That 's the first thing from the manner or form in which Job sues for the pardon of sin His spirit doth not fall he grows not flat upon this point but is as high and earnest here for the pardon of sin as in any of his requests for the ease of his pained bodie or the dissolution of it Why doest thou not pardon my sinne and take away mine iniquity I shall first shew what is meant by pardoning and taking away and then what by transgression and iniquity and so put the sence of all together Why dost thou not pardon my transgression The * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accipiunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tanquam à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oblitus fuis Septuagint reads it Why dost thou not forget my transgression Or bury it in the grave of oblivion and the word may signifie to forget as well as to take away But generally it imports the lifting up or taking away of that which lies heavy upon us either in a morall or in a natural notion Hos 11. 4. I was to them as they that take off the yoak And because pardon is the taking away or lifting off of sin therefore it is often put for the act of pardoning Hence also it is applied to that gesture of the Priests when they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tollere levare per Metaphoram donare cò quòd munera donaria in altum elevari solerent sicut sacrificia cum Deo offerebantur received gifts and sacrifices because they were wont to elevate and lift them up Hence Christ the substance of all the Sacrifices is said to be lifted up himself saith As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness so must the Sonne of man be lifted up Joh. 3. 14. we may say as Aaron lifted up the Sacrifices at the altar so the Son of man was lifted up This lifting up noted also the acceptance of those Sacrifices and the favour of God to those who brought them When Pharaoh bestowed a great favour upon his chief Butler Gen. 43. 30. according to his dream he lifted up his head Ioseph expounded so After three daies Pharaoh shal lift thine head that is he shall freely pardon thy offence and bestow some great honour gift or reward upon thee And in this sence it is proper to the text when sin is pardoned a mans head is lifted up himself is advanced indeed The Lord proclaimes his name in this tenor Exod. 34. 7. The Lord the Lord forgiving or lifting up iniquity and Psal 32. 1. Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven or lifted up Further this word signifies not only to take or lift off a burthen from another and lay it down but so to lift it off from another as for a man to take it upon himself and bear it in his stead from whose shoulders it was taken And in this strict sence we are especially to understand it in the point of pardon for pardon is not the taking away of sin from a man and laying it none knows where but sin being taken off from man some other shoulders are prepared to bear it even the shoulders of our Lord Christ on him our sin is laid All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all Isa 53. 6. when the burthen of dept was taken off from us it was charged on Christ He did not take or lift the burthen of sin from us and throw it by but he bare it himself nothing but this could compleate the work of pardon therfore it was also prophecied Isa 53. 4. Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows And 1 Pet. 2. 22. who his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree that is in his humanity or humane nature while he dwelt with us in the body Body is not here opposed to Soul but includes it as sometime the whole work is laid upon the soul of Christ not excluding his body Isa 53. 10. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin By the whole man this offering was made and the whole man bare our sins on the tree That passage Mat.
8. 17. where the first prophecie of Isaiah is quoted is very emphatical when Christ had heal'd many of their outward distempers this reason is added That it might be fufilled which is written sc Isa 53. 9. himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses Now Christ took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses when he took and bare our sins when he took sin he took that which was the necessary fruit of sin our sicknesses and our sorrows For as in Scripture Christ is said to be made sin for us that is with the sin he bare those affiictions and sorrows which are the consequents of sin so here when it is said He bare our sorrows and our sicknesses it takes in the bearing of those sins which procured and produced those sorrows The Greek words used by the Evangelist are ful with this sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assumpsit sccum atque recepit quasi ad se transtulit He took them to him he received them upon himself he as it were translated them from poor sinful man to his owne body The word also imports his taking our sins and sicknesses upon him as a vesture or a garment and so wrapping himself in them We know our sins by nature cloath us as a garment ours is not only a burden but a cloathing of sin and filthiness Take away his filthy garments saith the Lord concerning Joshua the high-Priest then follows and unto him I said I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee and I will cloath thee with change of raiment Man saw not his own nakedness till he was cloathed with sinne Gen. 2. Christ to answer that cloaths and wraps himself with our sins as we our selves were wrapped about and cloathed with them he cloaths himself with our sorrows as we our selves were cloathed with sorrow In which sence among others Christ may be called a man of sorrows as we may call a man cloathed with raggs a man of raggs and a man cloathed with silke a man of silkes The second word of the Evangelist Mat. 18. 17. signifies to bear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Porter bears a great burthen Christ took up that burthen onder which all the Angels in heaven would have sunk he took it up like a mighty Sampson and carried it out for us The scape-Goate was a type of this Levit. 6. 22. And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited or a land cut off and separated from other lands and people figuring hereby the total abolishing of our sins which being carried into a land where no man dwels shall be as lost and gone for ever not to be found when they shall be sought for who can find that which is where no man ever was pardon'd sin is carried and as it were hid out of the sight both of God and man for it is not and that which is not is not according to man to be seen In allusion to all which Christ Jo. 1. 29. is pointed at by the Baptist with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold the Lumb of God that takes away the sins of the world he takes sin off from the world upon himself and carries it away no man knows whither That for the first word pardon why doest thou not pardon my sin The second word is rendred by our Translatours Take away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est 1. simpliciter praeterire 2. interire perire evanescere mori why doest thou not take away mine iniquity Others thus Why doest thou not cause mine iniquity to pass away Or Why doest thou not put away mine iniquity So we rranslate 2 Sam. 12. 13. where assoon as David confest his sin saying I have sinned Nathan answers and the Lord hath put away thy sin he hath made it to pass away The word signifies first simply to pass away or to pass by Secondly to die perish or vanish away that which passes by us is vanished as to us So the word is taken Psal 37. 36. where David speaking of the flourishing estate of wicked men saith I have seen the wicked in great prosperity flourishing as a greene bay tree yet he past away and loe he was not A man unpardoned sees or should see his sins growing up as a mighty tree sin unpardoned flourishes like a green bay-tree it roots in the soul and guilt nourishes it but when pardon comes sin passes away and it is not because that which gave it sap is not Further this word which is very considerable is applied to Quando dicitur de mandato pacto juramento significat transgredi violare peecare the committing of sin as well as to the pardoning of sin For when it is joyned with those words The Commandements of God the Statutes of God the Word of God or the like it signifies to violate to break the bounds to transgress for in sinning a man passes by the Word and Commandement of God the precepts which God hath given and the charge God hath laid upon him he goeth away from all when man sins he passeth by the Commandment of God and when God pardons he passeth by the sin of man or he causeth his sins to pass away So that this word Take away put away or cause to passe Transire facis e. i. impunitum retir quis condonas notes the removing of sin both in the guilt and punishment When sin is past by all the punishments due to sin are passed by the sinner shall never be toucht or feel the weight of Gods little finger in judgement when God comes with his revenges he passes such by as in that plague of Egypt the slaying of the first born which was therefore called the Lords Passeover in memorial whereof that great ordinance was appointed the Jews of keeping the Passeover and eating the Pascal Lambe Exod. 12. 13 14. In this sense the word is used Amos 7. 8. when God was resolved to punish and charge the sins of that people upon them he saith Behold I will set a plumbe-line in the middest of my people Israel and what follows I will not again pass by them any more God came before once and again armed to destroy them but when he came he past by them he put up his sword he unbent his bow he stopped up the vials of his wrath when a cloud of blood and judgements hung over their heads he sent a breath of mercy and caused it to pass over them but now saith he I will not again pass by them any more that is I will surely punish them so the next words interpret the high places of Isaac shall be dissolate and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid wast Some translate that in Amos I will not any more dissemble Verbum Ebraicum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quoties in scripturis sanctis ex persona Dei ponitur pro poena accipiendum est ut ncquâ—quam apud eos maneat sed pertranseat Hieron in
Amos 5. Non ultra dissimulabo ei scelera tua Pang Merc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your wickedness or your sin and that carries a fair sense for when a man pardons or will not punish an offence he seemes to take no notice of it for that properly is to dissemble a thing as simulation is to pretend that which is not so dissimulation is to take no notice or not to hold forth that which is God passeth by and dissembles the sins of men in a gracious way when he will not observe or look upon them to question or punish them The Greek word Matth. 26. 39. answereth this Hebrew where our Lord Christ ptayeth earnestly about the removal of the cup Father saith he if it be possible let this cup pass away from me In the same sense that sin is said to pass away the cup of Gods displeasure and wrath passes also away when sin is pardoned therefore Christ prayed thrice that the cup might pass away from him that he might not be dealt with as a sinner but that there might be a course found out to spare him and save the glory of his fathers justice Yet he submits not my will but thy will be done if it must not passe away I am contented it should not passe Thus far we have seen what is meant by pardoning and taking away A word upon those two terms transgression and iniquity which are the objects on which pardoning mercy workes Why doest thou not pardon my transgression and put away mine iniquity Trangression and iniquity are words of great significancy for in them all manner of sins especially sins of a greater stature are comprehended The former transgression notes a violation of the Commands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propriè rebellio peccatum ex superbia Non simplex qualiscunque sed malitiosa temeraria transgressio of God with a high hand or a rebellion of the mind when pride of spirit shews it self very much There is a spice of pride in every sin Because of pride saith Solomon cometh contention all the contentions we maintain against the word and will of God rise from the pride of our own hearts because we cannot submit to the will of God but in some sins pride holds up her head more proudly Such sins this word notes it is not simply any sin but sin very proudly and rebelliously committed The latter word Iniquity imports the crookedness and inequality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Incurvationem declinationem à recta via ad animum translata significat per versitatem melitiam Curvi mores of a thing when it turns this way or that way and extends not in a straite and right line Hence it is applyed to the vitiosity and perverseness to the crookedness and inequality of mans nature Our nature is a crooked peece and that makes all the crookedness in our lives The Latines speak so in a moral sence they call ill manners and ill manner'd men crooked men and crooked manners David Psal 51. 5. bewaileth his birth sin under this notion I was born in iniquity And he that was first borne in the world applied this word to himself saying my iniquity the Peccata denotat quae fiunt ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 destinata malitia seu proposito cum sc mens videt quod aequū est tamen indulgens cupiditatibus sequitur deteriora Moller in Psal 106 6. perverseness the crookedness of my waies is greater than can be forgiven or made straight Gen. 4. 13. So that this word also take it strictly implies more than a bare act of sin arising from infirmity weakness or inanimad vertency it rather notes those sins which are committed from a crooked purpose from an ill or false bent of the heart when the mind sees that which is right and good just and straite and yet turns to crooked paths and follows that which is perverse and worse Take one thing further This word in Scripture signifies not only the act of such sins but secondly the punishment of them Psal 31. 10. Gen. 19. 15. And thirdly it is put for the means of expiation or pardon Hos 4. 8. They eat up the sin of my people and they set their heart on their iniquity But how did the Priests eat up the sin and set their hearts on the iniquity of the people Sin can make us but a hungry banquet The text bears variety of interpretations But to the point in hand sin is here put for the sacrifices offered up for sin out of divers of which the Priests had a portion for themselves to eat so that the Prophet here describes the horrible prophaneness of those degenerate Priests who set their hearts upon the sacrifices because themselves were fed by them not because the people came to seek the favour of God and make their peace by them when they had sinned As Physitians may be said to eat the diseases of the people and set their hearts upon their sicknesses when they because their own gain is in it are pleased to hear of spreading sicknesses c. Or as Lawyers eat the contentions and quarrels of the people when they are glad to hear of Suits c. because they grow rich by it So those base-spirited Priests were said to eat the sins of the People and set their hearts on their iniquities because they were glad to have of a multitude of sacrifices their provisions being inlarg'd by them So that then iniquity is the sacrifice for iniquity in which sense also Christ is said to be made sin for us namely a sacrifice for sin 1 Cor. 5. 21. From the words thus opened we may observe First to whom Job addresseth himself for pardon is it not unto God And why doest not thou pardon my transgression God onely can pardon sin Pardon is his act his proper and peculiar act he can do it and none can but he We read it among his royal Titles Exod. 34. 7. the Name of God is proclaimed in this stile The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gratious long suffering and abundant in goodness and in truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression an sin Pardoning sin is put the last of those seven attributes in which the Lord manifested himself to Moses as being that wherein all the former are summ'd up and into which they conveigh their several blessings to make man compleatly blessed or to shew that none can be a pardoner of sin but he who is vested with all those foregoing glorious titles and therefore none but God alone Hence the Prophet Micah chap. 7. ver 18. puts the question and challenges all the world Who is a God like unto thee pardoning iniquity Shew me one if you can there is no sin-pardoning God besides thee Who is a God like unto thee pardoning As if the Prophet had said some will be or have been offering at this work but they all have been or will be found
and I look for somewhat but it is in vain I cannot enjoy it So the word is used Psal 78. 33. where the Psalmist describes the sinful distempers of the people of Israel and Gods anger towards them They beleeved not his word c. What then Therefore their dayes did he consume in vanity and their years in trouble The dayes of all men are consumed in vanity as we said before but here was somewhat more judicial and poenal It is a sore judgment to consume our dayes in vanity as that people did As soon as they came out of Egypt they were in a fair way to Canaan but God leads them about by the wildernesse and there lets them wander out forty years expecting and waiting for Canaan but no Canaan came or they came not to Canaan this was the spending of their yeares in vanity because they were travelling to their desired rest but enjoyed it not they went toyling up and down the wildernesse as in a maze finding no way out but at the door of the grave their carkasses fell in the wildernesse thus their dayes were consumed in vanity So saith Job I possess months of vanity that is months wherein I am tired out in continual troubles and they are fruitlesse issuelesse troubles I have no sensible benefit by them I see no end of them my hopes are frustrate and put far off from me And are not these months of vanity Observe hence first Troubles will prevail upon us whether we will or no. I am made to possess c. As if Job had said I would fain have got over these months of vanity or worn them out but whether I will or no I am made to possesse them The bands of affliction are too strong for the creature to break when the Lord sends trouble he will make a man possesse it how displeasing soever it is It is best for us to submit where we cannot remedy and to yeeld quietly to that which we cannot avoid Secondly Observe Troubles come to us as our natural inheritance I am made to possess months of vanity they are as mine inheritance and I would wave my right but I cannot There are two parts of our natural patrimony sin and sorrow both these descend to us and we are made to possess them till we come to our purchased inheritance reserved in Heaven for us Observe thirdly That though every mans life have vanity in it yet some men have more that is more troubles and trials more disquietments and disappointments The common condition of all men in their best estate is that they are altogether vanity but the vanity of some men is more vaine their afflictions more afflicting their troubles more troublesome and their sicknesse more sick than their brethren Job speakes as if he had spoil'd all the world of this inheritance and had engross'd all vanity to himself I am made to possesse moneths of vanity That vanity which is the portion of all men seemes sometimes to be the portion of one man alone I am the man that hath seen affliction saith the Prophet Jeremie Noctes plâ—nae vigilijs anxietatibus Noctes laboris i. e. laboriosas Menses babco omni solatio vacuos ut nec iâ— noctibus quidem liceat mihi quiesce e. Allusie ad servi merceuarij nocturnam quierem Pined Lam. 3. 1. why is that such a strange sight who hath not seen affliction True but Ieremy had seen more then most and therefore he speakes as if he only had seen affliction I am the man And we arisome nights are appointed to me Wearisome nights Or nights of labour and wearinesse As if Iob had said though the servant be wearied all day yet the night is not wearisome to him he rests at night but I am wearied in the day and wearied in the night wearisome nights are appointed to me the night which is given unto others for rest is measured out to me in watchings and in sorrowes And this is a great aggravation of his sad condition it is said before that he had moneths of vanity yet it might be supposed his nights were comfortable intervals of refreshing As a man may say I have had seven years of hard labour yet it is supposed he rested all the nights of those years so when Iob saith I had moneths of vanity it might be conceived he had at least sometimes a good night therefore he adds wearisome nights are appointed to me I speake not after the rate of ordinary men whose moneths labour is a moneth of dayes my labouring moneths include the night also A strong healthy man goeth sorth to his labour and to his work untill the evening Psal 104. 23. But a sick weake man goeth forth to his labour in the evening * Nox aegris maxime infesta est toti sunt in cogitandis malis suis The night is most laborious to sick men then they revolve their troubles and being free from visits of friends they visit their own afflictions and study their own distempers freely Are appointed to me The Hebrew is * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Numeravit supputavit unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mensis quod juxta lunae cursum menses numeramus Non quancumque rationem numerandi de otat sed artificialem Arithmeâ—â—câ—m neque illam quam vocant AdditioneÌ„ sed substractionem Are numbred or reckned to me as if he should say God sets down my nights by tale or by scores It is an arithmaticall word is notes to number by art skil And some observe that it notes Arithmetique in that operation of it which we call substraction or subduction not that which we call addition or multiplication Wearisome nights are numbred or appointed to me in a kind of substraction that is God takes or substracts the night out of the moneths and makes them as wearisome and as troublesome to me as the dayes are And because those things which are thus numbred by way of separation or substraction are usually appointed or appropriated to some speciall Qui in hac ratione numer andi quaedam subducuntur quasi separantur ideo significat scorsim destinare ad aliquem specialem usum use therefore the word is well translated to appoint or constitute if you see a man separate or substract one thing from another it is an argument that he hath a reason for what he doth and intends it to some extraordinary purpose The word is so taken here to note a speciall end to which these nights being substracted from the rest of his time were appointed namely they were to be as Jobs pay and reward He was troubled all day and if he looked for his reward or comfort in the evening this was given him A night as wearisome as his day or he had an ill nights rest given for his hard dayes labour The Prophet gives us the word in such a sence Isa 56. 11 12. He tels the Jewes their sin in the former
words Ye furnish a drink offering to that number Some understand his meaning to be a reproofe of that wicked and superstitious custome wherein the Jewes it seems did sympolize with the heathens who were wont to drink to their Idols by number to such an Idol they would drink so many cups and that was called a drink offering to that number Now saith God because you have done thus namely furnished a drink offering to that number therefore I will number you to the sword or therefore I will appoint you to the sword I will substract and take you out and you shall be the men separated for the sword to deal with and destroy I will number you to the sword that shall drink your bloud because you have been so accurate in wickednesse to drink by number The word is applied to Christ Isa 53. 12. He was numbred amongst the transgressors that is he was taken aside and separated from the innocent and ranked amongst transgressors which notes him appointed or set apart to that end that so he might be the Saviour of transgressors and a deliverer of the wicked from their sins In Daniel 1. ver 10. when those children of the Hebrewes desired to be spared from eating the Kings diet I dare not doe it saith the steward for I feare my Lord the King who hath appointed your meate and your drink as if it should be said he hath numbred out to you so many dishes of meat he hath numbred out to you so many flagons of wine he hath substracted such a proportion and appointed it to you and I dare not alter it And in the Prophesie of Jonah chap. 1. ver 17. it is said God prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah so we translate the Hebrew is God numbred a great fish to swallow up Jonah that is God did separate or substanct a fish from all the rest of the fishes of the sea for that end and purpose to swallow up Ionah From all which instances it is clear that the word notes an appointment by way of design or the drawing of a thing to some speciall use and service When a Party is drawn out of the body of an Army they are numbred or appointed to some design such a meaning is in Iobs words these nights are substracted or drawn out and then appointed to be my reward and wages The summe of all is Iob comparing his estate with that of hirelings servants and souldiers finds his far worse than theirs they have rest in the night at least some nights they rest but he had none Observe here the law of nature Night is the time of rest Sleepe is the parenthesis of our troubles it puts a stop to our sorrowes and gives intermission to our labours Observe secondly That the troubles of every night and how many troublesome nights any one shall have are determined by God himselfe I have wearisome nights saith Iob but they come not by accident they are appointed and exactly numbred to me It is matter of great comfort to remember that God is thus accurate about our sorrows He gives his people a cup of sorrow he appointeth how many drops shall be in their cup all the world cannot put in one drop beyond his measure He appointeth out our trouble for the kind and for the degree and for the time or continuance of it how many wearisome nights how long every night shall be are all calculated and set down in the kalender of his heavenly counsels I shall adde but a word of the next verse which is onely the description of a wearisome night Iob having said that wearisome nights were appointed or numbred out to him now resolves us what he meanes by a wearisome night or when he accounts a night wearisome Verse 4. When I lie down I say when shall I arise and the night be gone And I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day This is a wearisome night and it is a most exact description of a wearisome night when a man as soone as he goeth to bed desires to rise as soone as it is night enquires for day this man hath a weary time of it When shall I arise and the night be gone Mr Broughton translates the duskie time be gone The word signifies evening and the verbe to mingle or to mix because the evening is a time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Miscuit advesperascit inde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vespera tempus illâ—d cum tenebrae miscentur luci wherein there is a mixture as it were of light and darknesse Evening is light and darknesse mingled hence we call it twilight And though all the night be in this sence mixed because in nature there is no pure darknesse yet in the evening this mixture is more discernable therefore it is rather appliable to the former part of the night because afterward the light is more fully overcome and conquered When shall the night be gone The Hebrew is when shall the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mensuravit binc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mensuram quantitatis continuae denotot sicut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 discretae night be measured out There is an elegancy in that it signifies to measure a thing as we measure cloth by a yard or as ground is measured by a rod or pole it signifies likewise to measure time to tell count and observe the houres As if Iob had said of himself as many times sick men doe I lie a bed all night and tell the clock The clock is the measure of the night now saith he when shall the night be measured out As if he had with sorrow counted the tedious houres oh when will this time be measured out what a long night is this As come to a sick man in a morning and you shall have him say what a long tedious night was this as long as two or three nights He adds yet another part of the description I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day He lay measuring the night and was unquiet all the while full of tossings to and fro The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saturatus word signifies to be filled with meat and drinke I have my fill of troubles my fill of torture I have unquietnesse enough as much as I can hold of sorrow Tossings to and fro The word is understood by some of inward tossings I am full of tossings to and fro that is I have great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 motus remotus-elorgatus Ceterem agitationem denotat Saturatus sum vâ—gis cogitationibus Rab. Lev agitations in my heart my thoughts are very unsetled One of the Rabbines to that sence I am full of wandring thoughts thoughts will tosse up and downe forward and backward A mans thoughts will tosse him from one end of the world unto the other while he is a prisoner in his bed They tosse him from businesse
care for Oxen God doth care for Oxen The Apostle having shewed the goodnesse of God to beasts providing by a law that they should not be muzled presently he questions Doth God take care for Oxen As if he had said surely there is some what more in it or saith he it altogether for our sakes Not altogether doubtlesse God had regard to Oxen But for our sakes no doubt it was written that is chiefly for our sakes That he which ploweth should plow in hope and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope So when Christ speaks of the Lillies Mat. 6. If God so cloath the Lillies of the field how much more will he cloath you You shall have the strength of his care to provide for you to feed and cloath you thus God sets his heart upon man he lookes to his people as to his houshold to his charge he will see they shall have all things needfull for them And so not laying to heart which is the contrary signifies carelesnesse Isa 47. 7. It is reported of Babylon Thou saidst I shall be a Ladie for ever so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart that is thou didst not regard these things to take care about them And Ezek. 40. 4. the expression is very full where God cals the Prophet to attention and he calleth him all over Behold saith he with thine eyes and heare with thine eares and set thine heart on all that I shall shew thee He wakens the whole man See and see with thine eyes Heare and heare with thine eares and set thine heart upon it the sum of all is be thou very intentive and diligent about this businesse to the utmost Secondly To set the heart notes an act of the affections and desires A man sets his love upon what he sets his heart that 's the meaning of Psalm 62. 10. If riches increase set not your heart upon them That is let not your love your affections your desires close with these things when riches abound let not your desires abound too It is an admirable frame of heart to have narrow scant affections in a large plentifull estate He is the true rich man who loves his riches poorly Set your affections on things that are above Col. 3. 2. Thirdly To set the heart notes high esteeme and account this is more than bare love and affection 2 Sam. 18. 3. when a counsell of warre was held by Davids Commanders about going out to battell against Absolom they all vote against Davids person all undertaking upon this ground they will not care for us they will not set their hearts upon us or value us their hearts are set upon thee thou art the prize they looke for and therefore the heate of the battell will be against thee Againe 1 Sam. 4. 20. When the wife of Phineas was delivered of a son a son is the womans joy and glory yet the text saith when the women that stood by told her that a son was borne she answered not neither did she regard it she did not set her heart upon it because the glory was departed from Israel In either of these sences the Lord sets his heart upon man he greatly loves man The love of God to man is the spring of mercy to man yea love is the spring of love love acted springs from a decree of love Deut. 7. 7. The Lord thy God did not set his love upon you c. because ye were more in number then any other people but because the Lord loved you Love also led in that highest work of mercy the giving of Christ God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son Josh 3. 16. As love is the spring and root of all the reall duty which mans performes to God and is therefore called the fulfilling of the law Our love fulfilleth the will of God so the love of God is the root of all that good we receive his love fulfilleth our will that is whatsoever we will or ask according to the will of God the love of God fulfills it for us Our love fulfills the law of Gods command and Gods love fulfills the law of our wants and lawfull desires His heart is set upon us and then his hand is open to us Further God doth not only love man but his love is great and his esteeme of man very high and he reallizes the greatest love by bestowing the greatest mercy How did God set his heart upon us when he gave his Son who lay in his bosome for us He set his bosome upon us when he gave us his Sonne who came out of his bosome Hence let us see our duty Should not we set our heart upon God when God sets his heart upon us the soveraignty of God cals for our hearts He as Lord may use al that we have or are And there is more than a law of soveraignty why we should give God our hearts God hath given us his heart first he who calleth for our hearts hath first given us his What are our hearts to his heart The love of God infinitely exceeds the love and affection of the creature What were it to God if he had none of our hearts But woe to us if we had not the heart of God This phrase shews us the reason why God calls for our hearts he gves us his own it is but equall among men to love where we are loved to give a heart where we have received one how much more should we love God and give him our hearts when we heare he loves us and sets his heart upon us whose love heart alone is infinitely better then all the loves and hearts of all men and Angels There is yet a fourth consideration about this expression the setting of the heart Setting the heart is applied to the anger and displeasure of God so the phrase is used Job 34. 14. If he set his heart upon man all flesh shall perish together that is if God be resolved to chastise man to bring judgements upon him all flesh shall perish together none shall be able to oppose it As it is the hightest favour to have God set his heart upon us in mercy and love so it is the highest judgement to have God set his heart upon a man in anger and in wrath to set his heart to afflict and punish The Lord answers his own people Jer. 15. 1 2 3. that notwithstanding all the prayers and motions of his beloved favourites in their behalfe his heart could not be towards them Then his heart was strongly set against them or upon them in extreame anger therefore he concludes they that are for the sword to the sword and they that are for destruction to destruction c. If God set his heart to afflict he will afflict and he can doe it And there may be such a sense of the text here What is man that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him that thou shouldest come
so resolved to contest and contend with man who is but dust and ashes The words following though I adhere rather to the former interpretation carry somewhat toward it Verse 18. That thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment Here are two acts more about which the question is put What is man that thou shouldest visit him every morning And what is man that thou shouldest try him every moment That thou shouldest visit him every morning To visit is taken three wayes and they may all be applied to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Visitavit in bonum in malum text To visit is first to afflict to chasten yea to punish the highest judgements in Scripture come under the notion of visitations Exod. 34. 7. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children that is punishing them And in the Prophet Jer. 5. 9. Shall not I visit for this shall not my soule be avenged on such a Nation as this Jer. 48. 44. when God came against Moab with those terrible judgements it is called the yeere of their visitation I will bring upon it even upon Moab the yeere of their visitation And it is a common speech with us when a house hath the plague which is one of the highest stroakes of temporall affliction we use to say such a house is visited Then observe Afflictions are visitations They are called so because then God comes to search our hearts and lives afflictions are Gods searchers and examiners Jerusalem is threatned to be scearcht with candles and that was the time of Jerusalems visitation To search with a candle notes the most accurate searching as the woman when she had lost her groate lighted a candle and sought diligently till she found it she visited every hole to find it out When you see the Lord afflicting then he is visiting he lights a candle to search every corner of your lives And if afflictions be Gods visitations it is time for man to visit himselfe when he is afflicted We should visit our soules when God visits our bodies our estates our families or the Kingdome where we live Woe to those who doe not visit themselves when God visits them The Prophet calls to this duty in a time of saddest visitation Let us search and try our wayes Lam. 3. Yet further If God in affliction visit us let us visit God let us answer his visitation of us with our visitation of him Lord in trouble have they visited thee they powred out a prayer when thy chastning was upon them Isa 26. 16. Would you know what the visiting of God is It is praying unto him They visited thee they powred out a prayer when thy chastning was on them We visit Heaven in our afflictions when we pray much in our afflictions When God visiteth us let us visit him never give over visiting him til he remove his visitation from or sanctifie it to us That 's the first sense Secondly To visit in a good sence signifies to shew mercy and to refresh to deliver and to blesse Ruth 1. 6. Naomi heard how the Lord had visited his people and given them bread Gen. 21. 2. The Lord visited Sarah and she conceived c. Exod. 3. 16. The Lord hath surely visited his people when they were upon dawnings of deliverance out of Egypt That greatest mercy and deliverance that ever the children of men had is thus expressed Luke 1. 68. The Lord hath visited and redeemed his people Mercies are visitations when God comes in kindness and love to do us good he visiteth us And these mercies are called visitations in two respects 1. Because God comes neer to us when he doth us good Mercy is a drawing neere to a soule a drawing neere to a place As when God sends a judgement or afflicts he is said to depart and go away from that place so when he doth us good he comes neere and as it were applies himself in favour to our persons and habitations 2. They are called a visitation because of the freenesse of them A visit is one of the freest things in the world There is no obligation but that of love to make a visit because such a man is my friend and I love him therefore I visit him Hence I say that greatest act of free-grace in redeeming the world is called a visitation because it was as freely done as ever any friend made a visit to see his friend and with infinite more freedome there was no obligation on mans side at all many unkindnesses and neglects there were God in love came to redeeme man Thirdly To visit imports an act of care inspection of tutorage Idiotismus est elegans apud Hebeaeos pro eo quod est diligentissime exactissime rem investigare Bold and direction The Pastors office over the flock is expressed by this act Zech. 10. 3. Acts 15. 36. And the care we ought to have of the fatherlesse and widdows is exprest by visiting of them Pure Religion saith the Apostle James is this to visit the fatherlesse and widdowes in their affliction Jam. 1. 27. and Mat. 26. 34. Christ pronounceth the blessing on them who when he was in prison visited him which was not a bare seeing or asking how do you but it was care of Christ in his imprisonment and helpfullnesse and provision for him in his afflicted members That sence also agrees well with this place What is man that thou shouldest visit him that is that thou shouldest take care have such an inspection over him look so narrowly to and provide for him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Singulis mane quotidie mane mane autem fieri dicitur quod quotidie fit ac diligenter seduloque Drus That thou shouldest visit him every morning Fvery morning The Hebrew is in the mornings And the word here used for morning is considerable There is a two-fold morning which the Jewes distinguished exactly by their watch One morning was that which they accounted from an hour before Sun rising from the very first breaking of the day till the Sun appeared above the Horizon which is about the space of an hour And the word which they use for it is Shachar which signifies to be darkish or blackish because that first morning is somewhat darke And so the a Latini vocant dilucuium quasi diei lucula i. e. parva lux latine word diluculum which is for the first morning is by Crittiques called a little of the day But their other morning was the space of an houre after Sun-rising and the root of that word signifies to seeke or to enquire to enquire diligently And the reason why they expresse the second morning so is because when the Sun is up we may seeke and search about our businesse or go on in our callings and affairs The height of the day they call the b Reliquum diei tempus quasi ob majorem lucis intensionem vocant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ghetsem
not question me upon the least infirmity From the former proverbial exposition Observe first Afflictions are continued upon some without any intermission Iob had not so much whole skin as one might set a pin on nor so much whole time as a man might spit in Every hour brought a wound with it and the renewing of every moment renewed his affliction Observe secondly A short refreshing may be a great mercy Dives in hell desires not a large draught but a drop of water which alas could not have eased him so long as a man is swallowing down his spittle The eternity of pain in hell shall not find so much abatement as that either in time or in degree Every affliction in this life by how much it is with less intermission by so much the more like it is to hell and every comfort by how much the more it is unbroken and without stops by so much it is the more like to Heaven Consider then your mercies who have un-interrupted mercies dayes and years of ease and not pained so long as a man is swallowing down his spittle your mercies are like the glory and the joy of Heaven From the latter proverbial exposition Note That God observes the least the most secret motions of man He tels our steps our wandrings and those not onely corporal but moral and spiritual He knows how many steps our hearts fetch every day and how far they travel Thou hast searched and known me saith David Psal 139. 1 2. and this search is not made in the out-rooms onely but in the inner parlour and closest closets Thou understandest my thoughts and those not onely present or produced but to come and unborn thou knowest them a far off What can scape that eye which a thought cannot And he that sees man swallowing down his spittle how shall not he both hear and see him coffing up and spitting out the rottenness and corruption the filth and flegm of his sinful heart JOB Chap. 7. Vers 20 21. I have sinned what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men why hast thou set me as a mark against thee so that I am a burden to my self And why doest thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquity for now shall I sleep in the dust and thou shalt seek me in the morning but I shall not be JOB having in the former part of this Chapter contested with his friends and expostulated the matter with God now turns himself into another posture even to humble his soul and make confession of his sin He had justified himself against the accusations of men but now he accuses and judges himself in the presence of his God He will a while forget his sorrows and bethink himself of his sins I have sinned what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men The words may be taken two waies 1. As a confession or a prayer 2. As a confession or a grant I shall first open them under the notion of a repenting prayer and confession of sin I have sinned As if he had said Lord if thou holdest me thus long upon the rack of this affliction to gain a confession of me to make me confess here I am ready to do it I do it I have sinned The word signifies to miss the mark we aim at or the way wherein we would walk And so it is put strictly for sins of infirmity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat errare aberrare declinare deflectere a via vel scope when the purpose of a mans heart is like the Archers when he draws his bow to hit the white or like the honest travellers in his journey to keep the right way and yet he miscarries and is drawn aside I have sinned But is this a sufficient confession What! to say only in general I have sinned Did not hard-hearted Pharaoh Ezod 9. 25 False-hearted Saul 1 Sam 15. 24. and Traitor-Judas Matth. 27. 4. make as good a confession as this Every one of these said I have sinned and what doth Job say more It is surely no great cost nor pain to sinful nature to bring up such a confession as this I answer First a general confession may be a sound confession It is one thing not to express particular sins with the circumstances of those sins and another thing purposely to conceale them I grant implicit confession may be as dangerous as implicit faith And to digg in the earth and hide our sins in the Napkin of our excuses is worse than to hide our Talents in the Napkin of our idleness And as it is most dangerous knowingly to conceale sin from God so it is very dangerous to do it through ignorance or inadvertency Some confess sin in general termes only because they know not what their sins are or have quite forgot them As Nebuchadnezzar called the Astrologers and Sorcerers and Chaldeans and told them he had dreamed a dreame but he could not tell what it was For the thing was gone from him Dan. 2. 5. Some such there are who can or will only say They have sinned they have sinned but what they cannot tell or they doe not remember Those things are gone from them That which is written of the learned Bellarmine a great Cardinal and a Champion for Auricular particular Confession of sinne to man seemes very strange That when he lay upon his death-bed and the Priest after the Popish manner came to absolve him he had nothing to confess at last he thought of some sleight extravagancies of his youth which was all he had to say of his owne miscarriages We see a man may de a Schollar in all the knowledg of the world of nature and of Scripture and yet not know his own heart nor be studied or read in himself He that is so in a spiritual notion can never want particular matter in his most innocent daies to confesse before the Lord and to shame himselfe for What though he hath escaped the pollutions of the world and is cleansed from the filthiness of the flesh yet he knowes that still in his flesh there dwels no good thing and that in his spirit there are at least touches of many spiritual filthinesses as pride unbelief c. besides his great deficiencies in every duty and in his love to Jesus Christ which is the ground of all So then in any of these sences to confesse sin only in general is a sinful confession And yet Job made a holy confession here and so did the Publican Luk. 18. when he smote his breast and said onely thus God be merciful to me a sinner For secondly though to speak a general confession be an easie matter and every mans work yet to make a general confession is a hard matter a work beyond man As no man in a spiritual sence can say Iesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12. 3. so no man can say in a Holy manner I have sinned but by