of Heth. If Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth such as these which are of the daughters of the Land what good shall my life do me Better be out of the world than see my sons miscarry These two sights to see children suffering or to see them sinning are a pain not only to the eyes but to the hearts of parents But to see them First Prosperous in their way Secondly Pious keeping the way of the Lord to have and see such children and childrens Children to the third and fourth generation how delightful is this The Apostle John professed 3 Epist ver 4. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth He means his spiritual children those whom he had converted to the faith and begotten to Christ in the ministery of the Word O what a joy was it to that holy Apostles heart to see them walk answerably to the profession of the Gospel and his expectation Now as that was so great a joy to him that he had no greater so 't is an unspeakable joy when godly parents see their natural children spiritual and walking in the truth To see children new born to see them gracious and to see them prosperous also what a blessed sight is this And this was the sight doubtless which Job had he saw his children His sons and his sons sons to the fourth generation His blessedness as to all without him in this life was at the highest when he saw the prosperity of his children both in soul and body Thus Job was blessed every way he was blessed with riches blessed with long life blessed in the multiplication of his family he was blessed also in his death as appeareth in the next and last words of this Chapter and Book Vers 17. So Job died being old and full of days As Solomon said Eccles 12.13 Hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his commandements So I may say now Hear the conclusion of all men To fear God and keep his commandements is the consumating end of our lives but to dye is the consuming end of all our lives and to a good man 't is an entrance into eternal life Such and so Job died The Lord having spoken of his life is not silent about his death The story the holy story brings Job to his grave and that could not but be a blessed death which was the close of a gracious life So Job died Death is the separation of the soul from the body 't is the sleep of the body in the grave and thâ— rest of their souls in heaven who dye in the Lord. There is no difficulty in these words take a note or two from them First Death takes all sooner or latter Job lived a long time but he did not out-live death Mors ultima clausula vitae Mors ultima linea rerum he enjoyed an hundred and forty years prosperity in this world yet he left the world He lived long yet a day came when he could not live a day longer 'T is said of all the long livers Gen. 5. They died Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years and he died Seth lived nine hundred and twelve years and he died Methuselah the longest liver in this world lived nine hundred sixty and nine years and he died Here Job lived an hundred and forty and so he dyed David put the question of all men Psal 89.48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see death How great or how good how rich or how wise how strong or how valiant soever any man living is he must dye How long soever any man hath lived in this world he must dye for the world must dye there must be a dissolution of all things and therefore a dissolution of all men Psal 82.6 7. I said ye are gods but ye shall dye like men Kings and Princes who have the priviledge to be called gods have not the priviledge of God not to dye like men This is a common theam I intend not to stay upon it only let me tell you death will overtake us all sooner or later upon a double account First Because it is appointed Secondly Because it is deserved It is appointed unto men once to dye Heb. 9.27 and all men have deserved to dye to dye eternally and therefore much more to dye naturally Rom. 5.12 As by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death past upon all men for that all have sinned Now seing the condition of all men is a dying condition receive these four cautions First Prepare for death There is no avoiding it at the long run therefore be ready to entertain it at last and because we may dye at any time be preparing for death at all times How miserable are they who are so old that they cannot live and yet so unprepared that they are afraid to dye Job died and we must If so Is it not our wisdome to prepare for death Secondly Submit quietly to the arrest of death There is no striving with the decrees of God Our death is under a divine appointment Eccles 8.8 There is no discharge in that war no priviledge to be pleaded no exemption no prescription Your strength cannot stand against the assaults of death your prudence and policy cannot find any way of escape from it nor can your piety or godliness deliver you out of the hands of natural death As there is no work nor devise nor knowledge in the grave whither we are going Eccles 9.10 so there is no knowledg no device no wisdom can keep us from going into the grave no not our graces Grace is as salt to the soul preserving it from moral corruption for ever But it cannot keep the body from natural corruption in this world Mors est nobis nimis domestica utpote quam in viscaribus nostris circumserimâ— Plutarch in Consol ad Apoll. because our graces in this world are mingled with corruption Death is domestical to us that is we have the seed of it within our selves we carry it daily in our bowels and in our bosomes therefore submit quietly to it for there is no avoiding it Thirdly Seing all must dye get that removed which is the troubler of a death-bed and the sting of death get that removed which makes death bitter get that removed which makes death the King of terrours so terrible that is sin This should be our study all the days of our life to get rid of sin to be dying to sin daily because we must dye at last and may dye for all that we know or can assure our selves any day we live 1 Cor. 13.56 The sting of death is sin Whensoever or in what way soever we dye it will be well with us if the sting of death be first pulled out and whensoever we dye after never so long a life it will be miserable if we dye in our sins as Christ told the Jews in
had received the Lord Jesus Christ There are two things which we should be very much in remembering First Our duty Eccles 12.1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth Secondly Our danger or take both together what danger duty may engage us in else when danger comes we shall soon forsake our duty Many take up a profession of Christ who never thought of the danger of the tryals afflictions and temptations which might befall them for his sake they remembred not the battle and so have either presently been overcome and fallen in it or have unworthily forsaken their colours and run from it Secondly Note It is best not to do or forbear to do that which we cannot but see if we have our eyes in our heads will be dangerous to us in the doing We are not always to forbear the doing of those things that will be dangerous to our outward man for so the best things may be but those things that will be dangerous to our bodies and souls too we must always for bear to do in all such cases it is our duty to remember the battle and do no more Will any wise man engage in danger which can produce no profit There are some things which we are to do and do again though our danger be never so great yea though we lose our lives in doing them But there are many things we may not do if we fore-see danger The Apostle Paul Acts 27.9 10. being at sea said I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage not only to the lading of the ship but to our lives also therefore he tells them ver 21. Sirs ye should have harkened to me and not have loosed from Crete and to have gained this harm and loss that had been their wisdom when they were warned of the danger not to have gone on When there is danger to our bodies only and we see no benefit that may countervail the danger 't is folly to proceed I may urge this point specially in case of sin Take heed of doing any thing that is evil remember the battle that sin will bring you to Sin will bring you to a terrible battle to such a battle as no man can stand in or escape Sin brings to a battle infinitely more dangerous than that with Leviathan Sin provokes God to battle and when God is angry we may more safely contend with ten thousand Leviathans than with him When you are tempted to put your hand to sin O remember the battle remember the battle Thou possibly wilt have a sore battle in thy own conscience and that 's a dreadful Leviathan but that 's not all remember the battle with God who is greater than conscience you must come to judgment remember the battle of that day or that day of Battle with impenitent and hardned sinners and sin no more give it over as you love your lives as you love your precious souls and the everlasting peace or welfare of them You cannot sin without a great deal of danger even the danger of eternal wrath and death Thus I have touched at some things from this third part of the description of Leviathan He hath hitherto been set before us First In the huge bulk and bigness of his body Secondly In the stoutness of his spirit he will neither make supplications nor enter covenant he will neither serve you nor sport with you both which Behemoth the Elephant will do Thirdly In the difficulty and danger of taking him So much danger is in it that if you lay your hand on him it were best to remember the battle and do no more Yet the Lord speaks more concerning the danger of medling with Leviathan in the ninth verse throughout and in the former part of the tenth Vers 9. Behold the hope of him is in vain As if the Lord had said if none of these means can take Leviathan then the hope of him that goes about to take him is lost and frustrate if by these means he cannot be taken then there is no means to take him for he cannot be taken by any means The hope Of him That is of him that goes about to catch Leviathan In order of speech it should have been said thy hope will bâ— in vain Dicendum sucrat spes tua sed in genere dicere voli erit c. Merc. for God was speaking before to Job yet he doth not say thy hope but the hope of him that is the hope of any man will be in vain as if he had said not only shalt thou labour in vain to graple with this sea-monster Leviathan but all men else whosoever they are that attempt or go about to take him The hope of him is In vain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mantitas reipsa vel verbis The Hebrew is the hope of him lyeth It is usual both in the Hebrew and Latine tongue when our hopes and endeavours fail or are frustrate to say they lye or deceive us and the reason is because such a man promised himself great things and had confident expectations without success Thus 't is said Hab. 3.17 Although the labour of the Olive shall fail we put in the Margin lye The Husband-man having bestowed much labour upon the Olive and looking for much fruit may be deceived and so all that labour bestowed in dressing and looking to the Olive-tree failing and being lost the labour of the Olive or the pains taken about the Olive-tree is said to lye The hope of him shall be in vain or lye Our hope is said to be in vain three ways First When we hope for much and get but little according â—o that of the Prophet convincing the Jews of their neglect in building the Temple Hag. 1.9 Ye looked for much and behold it came to little ye hoped for a plentiful harvest ye thought to have had a great crop but it went very close together ye looked for cart-loads but had scarcely handfuls So some expound or give the meaning of that Prophesie Isa 49. 4th and 6th compared It is a Prophesie of Christ at the 4th verse Christ saith I have laboured in vain I have spent my strength for nought and in vain Why did Christ say he had laboured in vain He tells us the reason at the 6th verse And he said that is the Lord said to him It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the Tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayst be my salvation unto the end of the earth Christ looked upon his labour as labour in vain if he had died to redeem the Jews only and therefore saith God I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayst be my salvation to the end of the earth and then I hope thou wilt not think thy labour in vain Now when the Lord had granted Jesus Christ that
Testament was Repent ye for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand Mat. 3.2 And the end or design of the first Sacrament or seal of the Gospel-covenant is expressed to be repentance Mat. 3.11 I baptize you with water unto repentance yea the first word of the first Sermon upon record which Christ himself preached in person was Repent Mat. 4.17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say repent This also was the substance of the Apostles Sermons when first sent forth by Christ to preach the Gospel Mark 6.12 They went out and preached that men should repent The first word of counsel which the Apostle Peter gave to the Jews crying out men and brethren what shall we do was Repent Acts 2.38 And the Apostle Paul saith that the whole of his work in preaching the Gospel was his testifying both to Jews and Gentiles repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ Act. 20.21 'T is through the Gospel only that repentance is possible And this appears two wayes First Because we have not a liberty to repent or we are not admitted to repent but by the Gospel We find no place for repentance in the Law strictly taken or as opposed to the Gospel The Law speaks thus Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the Law to do them Where we see First the Law requires personal obedience every one must do for himself Secondly The Law requires perpetual obedience every one that continueth not doing Thirdly The Law requires universal obedience every one that continueth not in all things If any one continue not at all times in all things saith the Law or if he fail but once in any one thing he is gone for ever he is cursed The Law doth not say if a man continue not to do all let him repent that admits no second thoughts but claps the curse presently upon the offender If Adam as soon as he had eaten of the forbidden tree had bewailed his sin and said I repent no favour could have been shewed him while under the Law Secondly Under the Law there is no ability given for repentance All the promises of a broken heart and of godly sorrow are appendants of the Gospel This spiritual curse which falls upon the soul sinning under the Law is impenitency for sin Death in sin is the punishment of sin and therefore when Adam had sinned he never gave the least intimation of nor shewed the least inclination to repentance all he did was to hide himself from God among the trees of the garden and to hide his sin from God as well as he could by vain excuses he had not a heart to mourn for his sin nor a tongue to confess it till the Promise came and the Gospel was published and then though his repentance be not mentioned yet doubtless he repented And hence the Apostle concludes Apostates from the profession which they once made of Christ under an utter impossibily of repentance Heb. 6.4 5 6. And the reason why the fallen Angels never repented was because they had no Mediator nor did Jesus Christ take their nature on him Heb. 2.16 Thus far of the first thing in the description of repentance the general nature of it 't is a grace of the Gospel Secondly Consider the seat or subject of it where 't is wrought the heart of a sinner Repentance is heart-work or it is a work upon the heart There repentance began in those converts Act. 2.37 whom the Apostle Peter advised to a thorough work of repentance vers 38. The promise of repentance runs in this tenour I will take away saith the Lord Ezek. 36.26 the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you an heart of flesh When David said Psal 51.17 A broken and contrite heart he means only a repenting heart O God thou wilt not despise As faith is wrought in the heart and with the heart man believeth Rom. 10.10 so repentance is wrought in the heart and with the heart man repenteth Neither a weeping eye nor a confessing tongue nor in case of wrong done to man a restoring hand will be taken for repentance without a broken heart Thirdly Consider the means by which saving repentance or repentance to salvation is wrought 1st the Word 2ly the Spirit The Word of God is the usual the ordinary instrument in the hand that is in the power of the Spirit of God working repentance in the heart of man The word of a Philosopher with all his reasonings the word of an Orator with all his flourishings cannot do it only the Word of God spoken in plainness and simplicity hath strength and efficacy to do it The Word is compared to a fire which melts the hardest heart 't is also in the same place Jer. 23.29 compared to a hammer which breaketh the rock in pieces The Word passing through the ear pierceth the heart Acts 2.27 Now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart And when even the devils Devotionists they that used curious arts burnt their books Acts 19.19 it is said vers 20. so mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed The word of God cloathed with the Spirit hath as to this matter a fourfold operation First to awaken a drowsie soul Eph. 5.14 Secondly to enlighten a dark soul Acts 26.18 Thirdly to convince a gain-saying soul Fourthly to convert a wandring soul Acts 26.18 1 Thes 1.9 Till the soul is awakened it cannot be enlightned till it is enlightned it cannot be convinced till it is convinced it cannot be converted and until it is all this it hath not truly repented For Fourthly as was said in the description first laid down the effect of true repentance is the turning of the whole man from all sin to God All the members of the body the hand the foot the eyes the ears the tongue are turned all the faculties of the soul the understanding will affections are turned from all sin First of what kind soever whether of omission or commission against God neighbour self Secondly of what degree soever little as well as great appearances of evil as well as apparent evils Further as in repentance there is a turning from sin so unto God in the sincere obedience of his whole will We read in Scripture First of Gods returning to us Secondly of our returning to God both are acts of repentance When God returns to us he repents of the evil of trouble brought or threatned to be brought upon us and when we return to God that 's a fruit of our repentance for the evil of sin committed against him Unless our repentance bring us neerer to God we as we say are never the neer for our repentance that is our repentance is not good nor shall we have any good by it The Prophet found Israels repentance defective in this Hos 7.16 They return but not to the most high Some in repenting return only to self
the highest threat I go away and ye shall dye in your sins John 8.21 They that dye in their sins dye a double death at once a temporal and an eternal death together And to those who have got the sting of death pulled out that is the guilt of sin removed and washed off by the blood of Christ I would Fourthly Take this caution If you would have death easie to you dye more and more to sin daily Some who are dead to sin may find much life of sin remaining in them and they who have much of the life of sin in them will never dye easily they will find strong bands in their death which in another sense some wicked men find not Psal 73.4 While either sin or self or the world are lively in us death will be greivous to us Therefore let them who are dead to sin never think themselves dead enough to it while they live they who are most dead to sin and the world have the sweetest and most comfortable passage out of the world So Job dyed Being old It must needs be that Job was an old man when he had lived an hundred and forty years after all his changes before this change came Why then is it added he died being old or being an old man Surely to teach us this lesson Old age and death cannot be far asunder 'T is a truth young men and death are not very far asunder youth and death are at no great distance but when we see an old man we may conclude that death and he are very near neighbours While we see an old man with his staff in his hand we may say he carrieth a rapper in his hand by which at every step he knocks at the door of the grave There is no man not the youngest man that can reckon certainly upon one day beyond what he hath and therefore Solomon admonisheth us Prov. 27.1 Beast not of to-morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth And the Apostle James checks those who would reckon upon a day he tells them upon the matter That they reckon without their hoast James 4.13 Go to now ye that say to day or to-morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain And then at the 14th verse Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow for saith he What is your life it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away They that are youngest have not a day nor an hour in their power to reckon upon what then have they that are old We may say of them They are even past their reckoning A woman near her time will sometimes say she hath but a day to reckon and some will say they have never a day to reckon old men may say so they have not a day to reckon Young men may dye old men must dye Then let old men be much in the meditation of death let them be often looking into their graves their gray hairs that do so are found in the way of wisdom Job dyed being old There was no longer staying for him in this world Once more Job dyed being old And full of days There is a twofold fullness First A fullness of satiety Secondly A fullness of satisfaction They are full in a way of satiety who loath that which they are filled with 't is burthensome to thâ—m They are full in a way of satisfaction who having enough are pleased and desire no more Some expound this Text of Job in the former sence he was full of days that is he had a fullness of satiety upon him he had lived so long that his life was a burden to him he had lived till he was weary of living his life was tedious and grievous to him It is said Revel 9.6 In those days shall men seek death and shall not find it and shall desire to dye and death shall flee from them That which most flee from some pursue and it fleeth from them None are so unfit to dye as they who upon the account spoken of in that Text seek death and desire to dye I do not conceive that Job was full of days in the former notion as the stomack may be full of meat and loath it or be burthened with it but as having had enough of it though well liked to the last morsel And I am sure he was not full of days when he dyed in the latter notion as one wearied with the troubles of his life for all his latter days were a blessing to him and he blessed in them all His last days in this world being his best days of worldly enjoyment he could have no reason upon any worldly account to desire a departure out of the world I grant a good man though he hath not lived many days may be full of days even to weariness by reason of his temptations corruptions and sins of which kind of weariness the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 5.2 In this earthly house of the body we grown earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven And upon this account possibly Job himself might be weary of his life and desire the death of his body that he might be delivered from the body of that death But Jobs worldly life was as sweet as it was long he was as full of blessings as he was of days and therefore doubtless he was only satisfied with living not tired with it He did not loath his natural life nor did he hunger after a longer life in this world he hungred after eternity not time He did not hunger after a longer life as they do who have their portion in this life how long soever they have lived A worldly man is never satisfied with living in the world he never hath his belly full of living here while he sees he may as Job might fill his belly with the good things of this life But as Job had lived very long and very well on earth so he knew there was a better life to be had in heaven and therefore was full of days both as having had many and as having no desire after more on earth As he was not which David deprecated Psal 102.24 taken away in the midst of his days so he was willing to come to the end of his days and for that reason might well be said to dye being old and full of days Secondly These words so Job died being old and full of days may note as his willingness to dye so the easiness of his death he was come to a full ripeness for death Fruit that is fully ripe is soon gathered and sometimes drops off alone from the tree Job was every way ripe for death his body was ripe he was full of days his soul was ripe he was full of grace surely then his was a spontaneous death a very sweet way of dying His natural strength was not much being old
without them but a foundation is of absolute necessity there cannot be continuing house without a foundation Fourthly The foundation is the support of the whole building that bears and upholds all the rest But some may say What are the foundations of the Earth I answer A foundation may be taken either properly or metaphorically formally or allusively The foundations of the Earth are not formal but metaphorical foundations 'T is a speech borrowed from men who must have a proper foundation for their buildings The Earth is not laid upon any formal but it hath a vertual foundation The Scripture saith sometimes that the Earth is founded upon the seas and established upon the floods Psal 24.2 yet in a proper sense the Sea is not the foundation of the Earth It 's said also Job 26.7 He hangeth the Earth upon nothing The whole bulk of Sea and Earth together are one Globe one Building formed and compacted together But the Earth may be said to have foundations and that God hath laid the foundations of it for this reason Because the Earth is set fast and firm it is like a house that hath foundations not only a foundation but foundations it stands most firm A house builded upon a rock Matth. 7.25 stands fast and immoveably in all weathers because built upon a sure foundation A house builded upon the sands falls it hath no sure foundation The Earth is made firm strong and sure as those houses or buildings that are raised upon rocks and is therefore said to have foundations Why is Heaven or the state of glory called a City having foundations Heb. 11.10 but because the state of glory or that glorious City is a firm state or as it is called in another place Chap. 13.14 a continuing City A City which shall it self continue for ever and whose Citizens without succession continue for ever Now though the Earth be but a moveable tent or weak cottage in comparison of Heaven or our heavenly state yet God in his infinite Wisdom and Power hath formed and established it so firmly for the habitation of man and all inferiour creatures upon its own center that the Lord may truly be said to have built it upon foundations or to have appointed foundations for it as 't is often expressed elsewhere Psal 102.25 Psal 104.5 Prov. 8.29 as well as here Where wast thou When I laid the foundations of the Earth The form of the words is considerable in opposition to that opinion of some of the Ancients Aquin. in loc who attributed the site of the Earth and of the other Elements not to any divine supernatural Power of the Maker but to the very Nature of the Earth or the necessity of the Matter according to which heavy things tend downward and light things rise high so according to that opinion the Earth being a heavy body falleth lowest or took its place of its self Now that this opinion may be consuted and shut out of doors the Lord compares his making of the World to the building of a house which is ordered according to the reason of the builder so that though it be a truth in Nature that heavy things fall lowest yet we are to ascribe all to the Wisdom of God the Disposer of them who hath done all things according to the pleasure of his own Will and that with such admirable contrivance that man is not able to comprehend it as the last words of the verse intimate Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the Earth Declare if thou hast understanding But before I pass to those words in the latter part of the verse I shall gather up some observations from this former part of it Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth c. Hence Note First The time of man upon Earth compared with the Eternity of God is nothing Where wast thou David Psal 39.4 prayed that God would teach him how frail he was as to the duration of his life and he adds in the next verse Mine age is nothing before thee The age of man is nothing before God if we consider it as to its beginning or if we consider it as to its ending When began the age of the most aged man Are not all men of yesterday God had an eternity of Being before man was upon the face of the earth And what 's the age of man as to its continuance As it began but yesterday that is a very little while ago or but the day past so it may end to morrow that is within a few dayes to come yea possibly before the next day or the morrow cometh Boast not of to morrow Prov. 27.1 both because thou knowest not what a day may bring forth nor whether as to thee a to morrow shall be brought forth Death sweeps men suddenly from the face of the earth only the Lord alwayes is and is alwayes the same All things change but God is not changed He is himself and his years fails not Then what 's mans age compared to God Note Secondly God is the first Being Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth God alone was before all things yet he was not at all alone Anteomnia erat deus solus ipse sibi mundus locus tempus omnia Tertul. adversus Praxeam cap. 5. For as one of the Ancients saith He was to himself a world place and time and all things Thirdly God is an Eternal Being It 's possible for one to be first and not to be eternal One man may have a Being before another and not have a Being from eternity but God had an eternal Being before the world had a Being or man any Being in the world There are Things of three sorts First Such as have had a beginning and shall have an end and be no more Thus it is with all meer sensitive Creatures the Beasts of the Earth and Fowls of the Ayre they perish there 's an end of their being when they die or come to the end of their lives Secondly There are other things which have had a beginning yet shall have no end As Spirits Angels good or bad and the souls of men yea the bodies of men though they are subject to and are cut off by death yet they shall return again and having been sown in corruption shall be raised in incorruption and be clothed with immortality which is a piece of Eternity Thirdly There is a Being which is without beginning and without ending and that is Gods Being only or the Being of God who thus exprest himself to Moses I am and I am that I am Exod. 3.14 That word takes in all Time past present and to come yea past present and to come are all one in Gods Being Psal 90.1 Thou hast been our habitation from generation to generation That is We thy people have alwayes or in all revolutions of time dwelt or sheltered our selves in thee and then at the second
about to frame and O how many how exceeding many or innumerable are they yet God saw not onely some or many but every one of them It was said by one of the Ancients upon this place Profundum mâ—ris deuâ— ingreditâ—r quâ—ndo visitare mentes etiam pressâ—â— sceleribus non dedignatur Greg. l. 29. c. 7 God goes to the depth of the sea as often as he goeth into the depth of mans heart and beholds what is there And there â—e beholds not onely the great but small beasts as the Psalmist calls the fish of the sea that is not onely great but small lusts and foolish imaginations the huge multitudes and shoals of vain thoughts which swim and play in that wide sea of mans heart are distinctly seen and as distinctly judged as if but one were there Thirdly From the scope of this place note That seeing we cannot search into the depth of the sea it should stay our curiosity in searching into and stay us from discontent when we cannot find the depth of Gods Counsels concerning us and of his Providences towards us There is a dutiful search into the Works of God David speaks of it Psal 111.2 The works of the Lord are great sought out of all those that have pleasure in them They are sought out that is they who have pleasure in them do and will endeavour soberly to search them out as much as may be but let all take heed of searching them wantonly or presumptuously that is either to satisfie their curiosity or with an opinion that they can reach the depth of them The Lord would have us satisfie our selves in the ignorance or rather nescience of those natural things which he hath not made known to us Surely then which is as hath been said the scope of this Chapter we should be satisfied though we in some cases know not nor can perceive the reason of Gods providential dealings either towaâ—ds particular persons and families or his Church in general Will any wise or sober man vex and disquiet himself will he be angry and pettish because he knows not all the secrets of the earâ—h and sea as some say Aristotle the Philosopher was to death and drowning because he could not find out the reason why the sea in one place ebbed and slowed seven times in one day Why then should we be impatient because the reason of Gods proceedings with the sons of men or of the strange ebbings and slowings of things in the sea of this world is secreted and hidden fâ—om us And therefore when we are not able to enter into the springs of this sea nor to walk in the search of this depth let it not trouble us but humble us as it did Job to whom the Lord put these questions and proceeded to put more and more hard questions if harder can be in the next words Vers 17. Have the gates of death been opened or revealed unto thee Or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death Here is another strange question Who among the living hath had the gates of death opened to him Oâ— hath viewed the doors of the shadow of death We read often in Scripture of the gates of death Psal 9.13 Num illius profunda quae verè dixirim mortis regiam c. rimatus es Bez. Psal 107.18 and which is all one of the gates of the grave Isa 38.10 but who knows what these gates are yet we may say something towards the clearing of this question A gate in strict sense is that by which we are admitted into any place and so the gates of death are That whatsoever it is by which we enter into death or go into the black hall of the grave Again The gates of death are any great and eminent danger Then we may be said to be at the gates of death when our lives are in great hazard to be lost either by the violence of enemies or by any violent sickness In the former sense David spake in way of supplication Psal 9.13 Have mercy on me O Lord consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me thou that liftest me up from the gates of death that is from deadly danger In the latter he spake by way of narration in his elegant description of the sick Psal 107.18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat and they draw near unto the gates of death that is they are ready to die or sick unto death And thus said King Hezekiah upon his sick-bed and as he thought a little before upon his death-bed Isa 38.10 I shall go to the gates of the grave I am deprived of the residue of my years that is of those years which I might have reckoned upon as mine according to the common account of mans life or the usual course of nature These are the more general gates of death and about these all agree But there are several opinions what should be specially intended by the gates of death in this place Portae mortis sunt causae corruptionis quantum advirtutes corporum â—â—lestium Aquin. in loc First One riseth very high saying that by the gates of death we are to understand the visible heavens because the heavenly bodies send down sometimes malignant influences which have a mighty power to corrupt the bodies of men here below so causing death to carry them away Thus he imagins death issuing out of the clouds as out of opened gates upon men on earth But that 's a far fetcht interpretation Secondly Oâ—hers go to the utmost contrary point and say by the gates of death we are to understand Hell The Papists give a description of several receptacles for souls departed under the earth they make at least three distinctions First Limbus Patrum The place where they affiâ—m the souls of the Fathers were before Christ came in the flesh and had accomplished the work of our redemption here on earth Secondly Purgatory the place where the souls of all that die not in mortal sin as they distinguish are reserved to be purged by temporary punishments before they can get to heaven Thirdly The lowest of all is that which we call Hell the place of the damned whither all go say they and we too who die in sin without repentance This place of torment some take for the gates of death But seeing the Lord is here speaking of natural things not of moral actions not of the consequents of them rewards and punishments therefore though we may truly call Hell the gates or power of death yet that notion as well as the former is altogether heterogeneal in this Text. Thirdly Several expound the gates of death in connection with the former verse for the depth or bottom of the sea where many dead carcases lie rotting all such as are cast away by shipwracks or die at sea being usually thrown into the deep and therefore at last the sea shall give up her dead as well as the earth Fourthly The gates of death
signifie say others nothing else but the grave or those lower parts of the earth in which mens bodies deceased are buried and laid up to rest till the resurrection When we that are earth in our constitution Per portas mortis intâ—lliguntur loca subterraneana eò quòd ibimortui se peliuntur Pisc Dicuntur portae mortis i. e. mortuorum go out of the world by dissolution our return is into the earth into the lower parts of the earth we sleep in the dust According to this sense it is as if the Lord had said Hast thou seen the state of the dead or how it fares with them that are gone to their graves Hast thou visited the courts and palaces of the King of terrors Thus the gates of death are the gates of the dead Fifthly We may understand by the gates of death in general An nosti quae fiunt in visceribus terrae Vatabl. whatsoever is most remote and farthest off from our sight and view As if the Lord who said before Hast thou entred into the springs of the sea had said here Hast thou entred into the bowels or deepest abysses of the earth which are dark and uncomfortable as the grave or like the very gates of death Knowest thou or canst thou tell me what is done or how things go there Portae mortis umbrae mortis sunt ea loca ad quae vivus non penetrat quae nulla lux â—â—radiat c. Coc. Or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death These words are of a like intendment with the former The gates of death and the doors of the shadow of death are the same thing under a little difference of expression What the shadow of death is hath been shewed chap. 3.5 as alâ—o câ—â—p 10.21 thither I refer the Reader Hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death Surely thou hast not Thou neither desirest nor darest visit the doors leading to those dismal shadows which no light can pierce or where as Job spake chap. 10.21 The light is as darkness The scope of both the queries in this verse is the same also with those in the former even to repulse Jobs curiosity in searching into the secrets of God or to convince him that God had secrets which were no more opened to him than the gates of death and which he could see no more than the doors of the shadow of death Hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death Taking death in a proper sense Note Fiâ—st Bodyly death hath gates and doors passages and entrances into it Deadly sicknesses and extream dangers are as was shewed in opening the words those gates and doors Many have been brought to those gates and have been stepping into those shadows who yet have been recalled and brought back again as David and Hezekiah were and as the Apostle Paul was who had the sentence of death in himself yet was delivered trusting in him who raiseth the dead 2 Cor. 1.9 10. And therefore in all such cases whenever we are brought to the gates of death and to the doors of the shadow of death let us have recourse to the living God to that God to whom belong the issues from death Psal 68.20 He that is our God is the God of salvation of eternal salvation and of temporal salvation of salvation from death by sickness and of salvation from death by danger and trouble our God is the God of salvation to him belong the issues from death As God openeth the gates of death to let man in so he can open the gates of death to let man out As there is a gate to go in unto so there is a gate to go out from or an out-gate from death As the ways to so the issues from death belong to God Davids heart was full of this when having said Psal 141.7 Our bones are scattered at the graves mouth as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth that is we are ready to be cut in pieces and perish by our enemies having I say said this he presently adds vers 8 9. But mine eyes are unto thee O God the Lord in thee is my trust leave not my soul destitute keep me from the snare which they have laid for me c. It is the royal priviledge of Jesus Christ to be key-keeper of the grave Rev. 1.18 I have the keys of hell and of death that is I have power to deliver over to and to deliver or keep from both hell and death The keys are an emblem of power and authority Stewards have the keys He that hath the keys of death can deliver from death Secondly Taking death properly note No living man knoweth how or in what way he shall die The gates of death are not revealed to any man he hath no certainty by what means he shall passe out of this world to the grave he cannot tell through what gate he shall go whether through the gate of a natural death or of a violent death as Christ spake to Peter John 21.18 When thou wast young thou girdest thy self and wentest whether thou wouldest but when thou shalt be old another shall gird thee and carry thee whether thou wouldst not this spake he signifying by what death he should glorifie God Peter did not know what death he should die whether a natural or a violent death till Christ signified it to him And if man knoweth not at what kind of gate he shall enter the house of death that is whether by sickness or violence then much less doth he know the particular sicknesse or violence by which as a gate he must pass into the house of death these things the Lord keeps in his own hand And seeing we know not these gates of death we should alwayes pray that we may know the path of life Psal 16.11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life was Davids assurance as a type of Christ And though Christ should not shew any man the gate of his own temporal death yet he sheweth every godly man the path of eternal life and that 's enough for us Thirdly Note God onely knoweth when how and in what way we shall die as also what the state and condition of the dead is Death is the darkest and obscurest thing in the world The grave is a gloomy place and filled not only with natural but metaphorical darkness yet all is light to God he knows the gates of death and the state of the dead Prov. 15.11 The grave and destruction are before the Lord how much more the hearts of the children of men Fourthly Taking the gates of death generally for any secret or hidden thing Note Man knoweth no more than God revealeth to him When God puts the question Have the gates of death been opened or revealed to thee it is as if he had said thou canst not know them unless they are opened to thee And who can open them if I my self do not As all the
His largeness of heart though like the sand of the sea will be but narrowness of heart compared with the enlargements which Saints shall have there Glorified Saints shall be in natural things exact Philosophers able to answer all the questions here put to Job In spiritual things they shall be exact Divines all dark Scriptures shall be clear to them Châ—ist will be their Comment all daâ—k questions will be clear to them Christ will be their light Those perplexed Cases and fatal Controversies which have troubled the peace of the Church and have occasioned the calling together of some hundreds of the ablest Scholars to debate and determine them shall at one view be understood shall have all their knots untied and their difficulties removed by the meanest if among them there shall be found any meaner than others of glorified understandings What sweetness the soul shall feel at this revelation of all knowledge a little knowledge will serve to judge For then not only to this challenge which the Lord made to Job about those special matters the gates of death and the breadth of the earth but also to any other Declare if thou knowest it all Every soul will readily and confidently answer Lord in thy light I know it all JOB Chap. 38. Vers 19 20 21. 19. Where is the way where light dwelleth and as for darkness where is the place thereof 20. That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof 21. Knowest thou it because thou wast then born Or because the number of thy days is great THe Lord having posed Job in the former Context about the depth of the Sea the darkness of Death and the vastness of the Earth here calleth him to an account about the light of the Sun and the darkness of the Air in these three verses As if he had said If thou knowest the breadth of the whole earth about which I enquired last of thee then tell me in what part of the earth doth the light dwell and where is the place of darkness Vers 19. Where is the way where light dwelleth The Septuagint translate In what land doth light dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In qua terra Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vbi via in quae habitat scil â—post viae itineris spatium emensum Or where is the land of light We say Where is the way The Hebrew word notes a trodden beaten way or as we speak a high-way Where is the way where light dwelleth That is whither light retireth and doth as it were betake it self in the night when it hath gone its journey and is past thy Horizon For every one knows where light dwells while the Sun is up with us and shines upon us But what becomes of it or whither it goes when 't is gone from us that 's a question and here say some the question The word which we translate dwelleth implieth a retirement Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est ad quietem noctem traducendam alicubicommorari a rest after long labour and travel Where is the way where light-dwelleth and as for darkness where is the place of it Here are two gâ—eat contraâ—ies which cannot agree nor dwell together in any one subject yet met together in this Text Light and darkness and there is some yea not a little darkness in this question about the light We need a great measure of Divine Light to answer this question about the Light Where is the way where light dwelleth Tell me O Job if thou canst where light lodgeth where it reposeth it self when the Sun is gone down and departed out of thy sight Tell me what way leadeth to the lodging of light The words as Interpreters give it have in them a poetâ—cal tincture as if the Sun setting retired to his chamber as we do when the light and business of the day is ended David speaks of the Sun as a Bridegroom coming out of his chamber Psal 19.5 And when his race as to us is run every day he hath a chamber ready for him not that the Sun doth at all end its motion or sit down to rest but because it seems to rest when it goeth down to us As if the Lord had said Hast thou travelled to the place of the Suns rising and setting Where is the way where the light dwelleth There may be a threefold answer given to these questions as light is taken properly for the natural light the light of the day caused by the Suns approach and as darkness is taken properly for natural darkness caused by the with-drawing of the Sun First Some because the word dwelleth notes a stay or an abode for such is a dwelling place answer the question geographically and say light dwelleth under the Poles There are two poles of the earth the Northern and the Southern under both which interchangeably light and darkness abide six moneths together and because of the long stay and abode of light and darkness there Geographers reckon and conclude the dwelling of light and the place of darkness to be there and that therefore the Sun hath two dwelling houses one in the North the other in the South Secondly When Astronomers answer these questions Where is the way where light dwelleth and where is the place of darkness They say The East is the place of light and the West the dwelling of darkness And the reason given is this Because the Sun riseth in the East and goes down in the West leaving the World Forvide Titan obitus pariter tecum Alcides vid it Ortus novitque tuas utrasque domos Sen. in Herc. Act. 4. Alludere videtur ad signorum Zodiaci spatia per quae Sol cursum suum perragit quae ab astrologis Mansiones vel Domus solent appellari Itáque Zona illa sive fascia Zodiaci in cujus medio protenditur eccliptica est via solis qui in tot habitare domus dicitur quot in illa sunt signa Bold that half of the World upon which it shined in the day over-shadowed with darkness It is by the access and recess by the rising and setting of the Sun that we enjoy light or are wrapped up in darkness And so East and West are called by the ancient Poets the houses or dwellings of the Sun Astronomers have found out according to their doctrine twelve houses or dwelling places of the Sun they imagine a girdle or bond passing quite through the heavens which they call the Zodiack and there a line which they call the Ecliptick in which the Sun moveth or which is the way of the light and in this line they place the twelve signs the first of which the Sun entreth the first moneth of the year and is called Aries the second Taurus the third Gemini c. These are onely fictions by which they represent the gradual motions of the Sun in the several seasons of the year and
generation lying upon his death-bed a friend asked him whether the light shining into the room did not offend him he answâ—red Hic sat lucis Oecolampadius putting his hand upon his heart Here I have light enough The heart of a godly man is the house of spiritual light there he hath and holds the light of divine knowledge about the things of the Gospel and the light of divine comfort arising from that knowledge It is also reported of Mr. Deering our Countrey-man that in his last sickness and towards his end being set upright in his bed for his ease a friend requested him that he would speak something for the edification and comfort of those about him Whereupon the Sun shining in his face he took occasion to speak thus There is but one Sun in the world and there is but one Sun of righteousness which graciously shineth upon me speaking further he concluded thus I bless God I have so much light of joy and comfort in my soul that were it put to my wish or choice I had rather a thousand times die than live As the hearts of these worthies were the dwelling place of light so is the heart of every godly person in his measure and degree the light of knowledge and of joy abide there The Apostle saith 2 Cor. 4.6 God who commanded light to shine out of darkness hath shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ And where that shine of God gives the light of knowledge the light of comfort cannot be withheld unless it be for a season that the soul may rejoyce the more in the end and at last without end For Lastly There is an eternal light the light of Glory and that hath a certain dwelling place that light dwelleth alwayes in heaven and the Saints at rest in heaven dwell alwayes in that light Eternal glory is called the inheritance of the saints in light Col. 1.12 Again Spiritual darkness hath its place and we should labour to know the place of that darkness to avoid it Ignorance is spiritual darkness and that dwells in the heart of every man by nature All that continue in that sad condition have their understanding darkened through the ignorance that is in them Eph. 4.18 and they who now are in the light were once in the dark yea they were darkness Eph. 5.8 Let it also be remembred in whomsoever this darkness of sin and ignorance abides they must abide under the darkness of wrath and judgement for ever The place where that darkness dwells is hell and there outer darkness as 't is often called in the Gospel dwells even such darkness as wherein the damned are not onely out of the possession of the least ray or glimmering of light but without any hope or expectation of it Hell is quite beyond the bound or boundaries of light there 's darkness and thick darkness nothing but darkness Thus we see light and darkness have their places natural light and darkness have theirs and so have spiritual and eternal light and darkness Secondly From the scope of these two verses Observe It is God who disposeth and ordereth light and darkness The question was put to Job whether he had disposed of them but he could not assume to himself that he had taken or laid the light to the bound thereof or knew the paths to the house thereof Light and darkness are at the dispose and under the command of God alone And as the work or power of God is wonderful in the dispose of natural light and darkness so 't is much more wonness in the dispose of civil spiritual and eternal light and darkderful these the Lord taketh to their bound and knoweth the paths to their house I form light and create darkness saith the Lord Isa 45.7 What light and darkness doth the Lord there speak of Surely of civil light and darkness as the next words import I make peace and create evil I make and create them I also direct and appoint them whither to go whether to a Nation or to a man only whether to this or that man or Nation Darkness is of me as truly as light And that not only civil but spiritual and eternal light and darkness are at Gods dispose is as evident from the Scriptures of truth Some lands may be called lands of light like Goshen others like Egypt under that three days plague may be called lands of darkness Of such lands that complaint is made Psal 74.20 The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty All places of the earth full of ignorance not knowing God of atheisme not acknowledging God of idolatry worshipping false gods or the true God â—alsly may be called lands of darkness or the dark places of the earth Now as the Lord maketh one land a place of spiritual light so he leaveth another to be a place of darkness And he often maketh changes from darkness to light that 's mercy and from light to darkness that 's wrath in the same lands Some lands which had sate in darkness for ages and generations the Lord hath visited with Gospel light and some lands which for ages and generations had that light are now laid in darkness How sad a witness of this are the anciently famous seats of the Asian and African Churches now under Mahometan power And further as the Lord disposeth that outward spiritual light and darkness giving the knowledge of the Gospel to or taking it away from Nations as he pleaseth so he dispoâ—eth inward light or darkness to every soul Some gracious souls walk in the light of Gods countenance and under the sweet shinings of his face every day others who also as the Prophet speaks Isa 50.10 Fear the Lord and obey the voice of his servants walk in darkness and see no light Now whence cometh this difference Is it not of the Lord who hath the command of our joys and of our sorrows and who appoints this kind of light and darkness their several and special places according to the soveraignty of his own Will From all that hath been said we may draw down this conclusion which the Lord did chiefly aim at in dealing with Job That we are to own and acknowledge the hand of God in every condition be it light or be it darkness be it joy or be it sorrow 't is all of God There is nothing which concerns either the comfort or trouble of man but comes forth from God and is ordered by him like as in all ages and revolutions of time light and darkness have held their course and kept their place according to his institution and direction Job was in darkness both as to his outward and inward estate his body was pained his soul was grieved anguish â—â—llâ—d 〈◊〉 spirit and God would have him see know and acknowledge his hand in all As if he had said Thou canst no more dispose the peace
or trouble the light or darkness of thy condition than thou canst dispose of light or darkness in the air All our changes from darkness to light from light to darkness proceed from the unchangeable God And as light and darkness have their constant turns in the air so they have very frequent turns in the life of every man Therefore they who when God causeth darkness to cover and compass them about do not acquiesce and rest in his good pleasure but murmur and are tumultuous these I say do as if they would take upon them to order the course of light and darkness in the world these do no otherwise than as if at midnight they should call for day or at mid-day for night Discomposed souls are like sick bodies they who are sick or ill at ease cannot bear either night or day in the day they desire night and in the night day so it is with them of sickly souls Such are often heard saying in the morning Would God it were evening and in the evening Would God it were morning Nothing pleaseth them Did we acknowledge the hand of God in making it night we should sit down quietly in our darkest night as to impatience even while we are most earnestly praying for the return of morning light Impatience was in a great measure Jobs failing though he had a great measure of patience He made as we say an ado in the night of his trouble as if he would have made it day when God had made it night and darkness with him O remember the way of light and the place of darkness the bounds and paths of both are in the hand or at the command of God Thirdly In that the Lord put this among his own great works and takes it out of the hand of Job or of any other creature to order light and darkness Note The work of God in ordering light and darkness is wonderful And we cannot but be convinced that it is so if we consider First The constant succession of day and night in all places As sure as the day cometh the night will come and as sure as the night is come day is coming There is an unchangeable change between light and darkness they milâ—â—or a moment in their comings or returnings Secondly If we consider light and darkness as to their increase or decrease in any place thus Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge Pâ—al 19.2 which some think was a well known Adage or Proverbial Speech among the Jews importing the power of God over and his guidance of them both God brings the light to the bound of it to day at this hour or minute of the hour to morrow at that There is a constant inconstancy an uneven evenness between light and darkness upon the face of the earth We never have light or darkness twice of the same length in the same place and season yet they ever keep their place and season all the world over where you had them the last year upon such a day there you may have them this without a moments variation though they have varied their course many moments every day since Thus exactly doth the Lord take or lead the light to it s bound and knows the paths to the house thereof And as there is a great glory coming to God in ordering light and darkness as to the outward face of things so there is a greater as to the inward state of his people their soul-state And though the Lord doth not keep such a constant course in that yet he observeth a rule in all the revolutions of it We have sometimes light and sometimes darkness in our souls Now the light of comfort increaseth towards us and anon the night of sorrow darkeneth upon us Our souls meet often with these turns and changes Let us adore the wisdom and submit to the holy will of God in all For though soul-light be alwayes desirable as well as comfortable yet soul-darkness may sometimes be useful and this use it hath as often as it comes even to try how we can trust God in the dark as also to let the world know that we are resolved through grace to keep close to the light of commandements how long soever we are kept from or are at a loss for the light of promises Lastly We may consider from this Text that as light hath its special houses or dwellings so it hath a special way to its dwelling chalked out as it were and appointed by God And is there not a way a path to spiritual to eternal light The way to these lights is Christ He is the Way the Truth and the Life John 14.6 He is the true the onely way to life to spiritual life and light yea he is the way to eternal light and life Holiness and faith in Christ are the passing way to this light but Christ himself is the way procuring light Without faith it is impossible to please God and without holiness no man can see God Christ is the meriting way faith and holiness are the qualifying way leading us to the house and dwelling of this light As sin and unbelief or the sin of Unbelief is the way leading to eternal darkness O how many go this way to the generation of their fathers where they shall never see light Psal 49.19 so faith and holiness or holy Faith is the way the path to everlasting light and life Thus much of the enquiry made about the way and path of light and darkness which as they are literally to be understood of natural light and darkness so by them God led Job and in him us to consider his disposure of all sorts of light and darkness Now That Job might be convinced of his own ignorance in and insufficiency for an answer to these questions God calls him to consider the late beginning and shortness of his life knowledge being gathered up by experience and length of days affording both time and opportunity for the gathering up of experiences Job was but of yesterday in comparison of the day wherein the interchanges of light and darkness were appointed and therefore should it be supposed that days could teach him how these things came to pass yet he could not but be much unprepared for a ready and satisfying answer to these questions Vers 21. Knowest thou it because thou wast then born Or because the number of thy days is great The question still proceeds about the natural light and darkness Knowest thou it That is what I last put to thee If thou knowest it how camest thou by thy knowledge Knowest thou it Because thou wast then born The Tygurine Translation renders the words thus Habesnè cognitum tempus quo nasceboris Tygur Dost thou know the time when thou wast born As if the Lord had argued thus with Job Thou dost not know the hour of thy own Nativity or when thou wast brought forth how much less the way or manner either of
obeyed This readiness at the call of God David professed from his own experience Psal 27.8 When thou saidst seek ye my face my heart said unto thee thy face Lord will I seek That is as thou hast commanded that I should worship thee so I do or what thou O Lord sayest is my desire thy command is not only the resolution but the request and supplication of my soul We have the like readiness of that holy Prophet Isaiah who after the Angel with a coal from the Altar had touched his lips and cleansed him from his filthiness hearing the Lord enquire for a messenger Whom shall I send presently answered as the lightning in the Text Here am I send me Is 6.8 Lord I am ready to go whithersoever thou wilt send me This should be in some measure is the temper of all believers though they may have to their sorrow find many reluctancies and stops yet this is in the heart of every true believer to be ready at the call of God to say Here I am When the Apostle Paul had a call to preach the gospel of Christ which once he persecuted Immediately saith he Gal. 1.16 I conferred not with flesh and blood he made no delayes much less any excuses least of all any dâ—nials but was obedient to the heavenly Vision As soon as he had that vision and call from God to go and preach the Gospel he never stood reasoning and conferring with flesh and blood he put no questions he asked not this or that mans opinion whether it were best for him to go or not neither did he confer with the flesh and blood in his own heart he conferred not with himself he consulted not his own safety nor any carnal interests but did as he was commanded And unless we do thus not only will the ordinary practise of servants to Masters rise up in judgement against us Mat. 8.9 I am a man under authority said the Centurion having soldiers under me I have a superior officer and I have inferior soldiers and I say to one go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh Such is or ought to be the carriage of soldiers and servants towards their Superiors Now I say unless we readily obey the voice of God not only will the daily practise of servants but the practise if I may so speak of the lightnings from the clouds will rise up in judgement against us and condemn us Shall a servant say Here I am at the call of man Shall the lightning say here I am at the call of God and shall not man say so at Gods call Shall men put questions to Gods commands Shall they query Will the world bear it if I do this or will this stand with my ease and profit with my credit or commodity when God requires it If any do so the lightning may flash in the face of their consciences and not only blast them as stubborn and disobedient but brand them for foolish and unwise or at least for want of wisdom about which the question is put to Job in the next verse Vers 36. Who hath put wisdom into the inward parts and who hath given understanding to the heart Some Interpreters conceive that at this verse the Lord enters discourse with or begins to question Job concerning living creatures and beginning here with man the chiefest of visible living creatures he proceeds to inferior living creatures the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the air as followeth in the 39th Chapter Yet the very next verse offers a great objection against this opinion for there return is made to the former matter the works of nature Vers 37. Who can number the clouds in wâ—sâ—om or who can stay the bottles of heaven And therefore I rather conceive that this 36th verse is to be joyned with the two former already opened as if here the Lord would convince man that as he hath not power sufficient to command so not wisdom enough to dispose either of the Rain or of the Lightnings under which by a Synechdoche all other creatures may be comprehended As if God had said Whatever wisdom man hath is of my putting into him now I have not given him wisdom enough nor taught him how to order and dispose the clouds and lightnings and if I have not given him wisdom for these things whence should he have it So then according to this way of interpâ—etation the 37th verse which followeth gives a reason why man cannot attain to this priviledge the government of the clouds the disposal of rain and lightnings even because God hath not given him any such wisdom All the wisdom which man hath is the gift of God but God hath not given man wisdom to order the clouds and lightnings therefore he hath no such wisdom Who hath pâ—t wisdom into the inward parts Wiâ—â—â—â— may be taken either generally for knowledge which is the 〈◊〉 of the mind and may be called speculative knowledgâ—◠〈◊〉 pâ—â—ticularly for prudence which is practical knowledge in the duâ— ordering and manage of things before us Who hath puâ— wâ—sâ—â—◠〈◊〉 either sort Into the inward parts The word which we translate inward parts signifies sometimes the Reins and sometimes the Heart The Chaldee paraphrase renders Who hath put wisdom into the heart The matter is not much to which of them we determine it for though the heart in Scripture is usually put for the seat of wisdom and the Reins for the seat of the affections yet David saith My reins instruct me in the night season Psal 16.7 To instruct or teach is properly the work of wisdom The word is well rendred by us the inward parts for that takes in all wisdom lyeth within Psal 51.6 Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom The inward parts in the foâ—mer part of that verse and the hidden part in the latter are the same by both or either he means his soul in all the faculties or operations of it And indeed neither the Reins not the Heart nor any nor all the members of the body are properly oâ— strictly wisdoms seat Wisdom is lodged in the soul in the man of man as some call it and therefore that must needs be intended here Sapientia non tantum in cordeâ—sed in renibus aliquo modo posita est ie Quòd omnis hominis affectus à divina quadam sapientia irradietur Coc. Renes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocantur ut quidam volent quia sunt oblitae adipe Drus. but because Naturalists speak of wisdom as lodged and exercised in bodily parts some placing it in the heart some in the head others in the reins therefore we may well place it as our Translation expresseth it in the inward parts The original word strictly imports that which is covered over the root is rendred to cover and Grammarians give this reason of it because the reins and
by a curse from God Thus he turns a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of those that dwell therein Psal 107.34 Now as some lands are made barren besides the general curse which befel all lands upon the fall of man into sin by some special curse for special causes so 't is meerly an act of Divine Soveraignty that some lands as to their very soil and constitution are barren while others are fruitful Fourthly Consider where do these Asses dwell 't is in a barren land Hence note They that do little work deserve but little reward a barren land may serve them who refuse service As every land the best land is barren and unprofitable to them who will not take pains to improve it so 't is pity they should dwell in a fruitful land who will not take pains in it Fifthly Note There it no place so bad or barren but it hath its use God hath use for barren wildernesses as well as for the richest pastures Sixthly The wilde Ass living according to nature is satisfied with a barren Land Hence note Nature is content with a little They have alwayes enough who desire no more A cottage is as good as a Palace and a barren Land as good as a fruitful one to a contented mind Yet I cannot approve either their principle or practice who have a kind of ambition possibly they call it self-denial and reckon it a high piece of their Religion to dwell as the wilde Ass in the wilderness such are those popish votaries called Hermites from the wilderness where they dwell These in devotion such as it is make the wilderness their house and the barren Land their dwelling that they may be free from the cares and temptations of this world these retire themselves utterly from converse with man that they may more freely converse with God an excellent end but that way to it is no where commanded by God Let such remember that God hath not appointed the wilderness and desert places for mans dwelling but for the dwelling of wilde beasts Qâ—id prâ—dest solitudo corporis si defuerit solitudo cordis Greg. lib. 30. cap. 23. Let them also remember that they who have the wilderness for their house may yet have the City in their hearts It was said by one of the Ancients concerning such retirements What doth it advantage us to have a solitary place for our bodies whilst our souls are in the thickest throâ—gs of the world There are only two cases wherein men should desire such solitary places First In case of persecution to get out of the hands and reach of cruel men Thus David desired the wilderness Psal 55.3 4 5 6. Because of the voice of the enemy because of the oppression of the wicked for they cast iniquity upon me and in wrath they hate me my heart is sore pained within me and the terrors of death are fallen upon me c. And what followeth O that I had wings like a dove for then would I flie away and be at rest Lo then would I wander afar off and remain in the wilderness It is better to be in the wilderness among savage beasts than to live among beastly savage men The Apostle Heb. 11.38 tells us the reason why many worthy ones of the Jewish Church of whom the world was not worthy inhabited the wilderness They were stoned and sawn asunder and were slain with the sword c. And what then then they who remained alive to avoid those extremities avoided the society of men and wandred in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth In such a hot day we may chuse the shadow of a desolate wilderneâ—s rather than a City to dwell in And thus it is said Rev. 12.13 14. When the Dragon that is Heathenish Rome persecuted the woman that is the Church which brought forth the man-child then to the woman were given two wings of a great Eagle that is sufficient means strength and opportunity to make her escape that she might flee into the wilderness which as it hath been often verified in a metaphorical sense Professors then lying close and retired in their several places so it hath been true in the letter the Church hath sled into the wilderness for safety and hath there been preserved from the face of the Serpent Secondly We may desire such retirements to and a dwelling in solitary places in case of the extream wickedness of those among whom we dwell though they break not out into open persecution yet their evil conversation makes their society in t llerable This caused the Prophet Jeremiah to cry out Chap. 9.2 O that I had a place in the wilderness that I might leave my people and go from them why for they be all adulterers an assembly of treacherous men For as it is better to dwell in the corner of the house top than with a brawling woman in a wilde house Prov. 21.9 so it is better to get into a corner or into a wilderness than to live in a City or in the fairest Palaces among men of wicked and ungodly spirits such as vexed Lot in Sodom 2 Pet. 2.8 In these two cases we may imitate the wilde Ass and dwell in the wilderness but for any to make it their choice let them consider where they have a rule for it Man is a sociable creature and ought to be helpful and useful to others and not wholly to confine himself to himself as they do who are and are called Anchorets and Hermites To serve our Country and to observe the Law of Nations for the common good of mankind is better than upon any pretence of devotion or converse with God to seclude our selves totally from the company and converse of men And seeing God hath made us for the good of humane society it is inhumane voluntarily and electively to disjoyn and exempt our selves from the Laws of society Aristotle said concerning decliners of society He that affects solitude Deus sit aut bellua oportet qui posset in solitudine vivere Aristot is either a God or a beast hâ— either lives above man as God doth or below man as beasts do The Reader will easily pardon me this short diversion against unnecessitated solitude thus occasioned by the solitary dwelling of the wilde Ass in the wilderness and barren Land And I have the rather touch it because I find the wits of some running somewhat wild in the Allegory of the wild Ass in the Text as if he were a very fitting resemblance of a contemplative man I grant a godly man should be and the more godly any man is the more he will be I am sure the more he would or desires to be free from the thoughts and loosed from the bands both of love to and cares about the things of this life that he may be the more in the meditation of and preparation for a better life In those meditations he retires from the throng of
there is oppression Better be sometimes in a starving condition than alwayes in a fearing condition alwayes hearing the cry of the Driver The wild Ass is content to fare hard so he may be free how much more then is he below a man who parts with his true liberty as Esau did with his Birth-right for a morsel of meat or a mess of broth Fourthly Note To be driven and forced is grievous to beasts much more to men The wild Ass regards not the crying of the Driver because he knows the Driver cannot reach him with his cry much less with his whip The tame Ass must regard and attend the cry of the Driver though he hath no will to it whether he will or no. It was said by the Moralists Man would be led not driven perswaded not compelled The disputes have been great what man may do and how far he may go to that matter but I shall not meddle with it any further than to say that when Christ in the Parable said Luke 14.23 Compel them to come in The compulsion there intended is only that of argumentation exhortation and perswasion by his Ministers whose divine Rhetorick in beseeching sinners to come in and to be reconciled unto God hath such a power in it as amounts unto and may be called a compulsion I grant many use their liberty or rather abuse it as an occasion to the flesh and turn it into wantonness these are indeed no better than wild Asses and though they are such as regard not the cry of the Driver yet they need it Thus the Lord hath shewed Job the house and dwelling as also the liberties and priviledges of the wild Ass in the next verse the Lord shews him the food or diet of the wilde Ass Vers 8. The range of the mountains is his pasture and he searcheth after every green thing This verse tells us where the Lord hath made provision for the wild Ass The Range or as some render the search of the mountains is his pasture Investigatio montium est pascuum ejus i. e. quicquid in montibus investigari potest id ei pabuli loco est Bez. that is whatsoever he searcheth and findeth out upon the mountains is his pasture Job speaketh of wicked men Chap. 24.5 after the manner of these wild Asses finding food in the wilderness for themselves and for their children The range of the mountains is his pasture Some interpret it choice things that is the best things or those things that are most savoury to the pallat of that beast those he picks up for his food Mr. Broughton translates Chosen places in the mountains are for his pasture As if it had been said Though he be wilde yet he is prudent he takes not what comes next but he chuseth what is best for him for as it followeth He searcheth after every green thing The word notes a very diligent search after every green thing Green things are his delicacies he lives upon them and delights in them he searcheth after all and feeds upon that which is best for him he looks not that man should fodder him in winter as they do tame and working cattel he looks out his own living and picks up some green thing or other all the year long Hence note Where God gives dwelling he gives feeding God hath made the wilderness and barren places for the wild Ass to dwell in yet there is something for him to feed on Secondly His food is every green thing Whence learn God gives food to all creatures convenient to their nature He gives green things grass to the beasts of the field but he doth not feed man with grass he feedeth man with the finest of the wheat and with honey out of the rock Psal 81.16 And as the Lord provides sutable food for the bodies of men so for their souls he hath spiritual green pastures for them Psal 23.1 2. The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want he maketh me to lye down in green pastures that is in his Word and Ordinances They are green pastures for his people he makes them lie down in the Promises and in the Commandments in the holy Prophecies and Histories of the written word all which are written for our instruction or learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 that is that our faith having the truth of the Word especially in the promises to feed upon our hope may be said to wait for the good of the Word patiently The holy Scriptures I say are the green pastures which the Lord hath provided for the souls of men to feed in and grow fat upon The Scriptures are a bare common a dry heath to unbelievers they find nothing there which is food for them but to believers they are fat pastures and full of such green things as are most sutable to their taste and nourishing to their souls Thus spake the Prophet Isa 49.9 10. Their pastures shall be in all high places they shall not hunger nor thirst neither shall the heat nor the Sun smite them that is they shall have safe passage and sufficient food both for soul and body for their souls especially when delivered out of their soul-prisons or spiritual captivity there spoken or prophecyed of under the Gospel Thirdly Wild Asses seaâ—ch after every green thing they take pains for their living iâ— it be not neer they will travel for it and seek after it Hence note Hunger makes irrational creatures every living creature industrious They who love not labour will yet take some pains at least so much as serves them to get food and keep them alive Those beasts which are most at liberty are in a kind of bondage to their bellies The wild Asses saith the Prophet Jer. 14.6 did stand in the high places they snuffed up the wind like Dragons because there was no grass How will they search after grass who are thus afflicted for want of grass And will not spiritual hunger make us as industrious as natural hunger doth Hungry souls will be seeking after every green thing after every divine precept after very precious promise these are the green things which the soul searcheth for and is satisfied with Naturalists say of the wild Ass that he utterly refuseth to feed upon those things that are dry and dead he must have gâ—een That 's true of every believer he cannot feed upon dead and dry things upon what is chaffy and husky he must have green sappy juicy lively food such hath God provided for him and he will be satisfied with none but such JOB Chap. 39. Vers 9 10 11 12. 9. Will the Vnicorn be willing to serve thee or abide by thy crib 10. Canst thou bind the Vnicorn with his hands in the furrow or will he harrow the valleys after thee 11. Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great or wilt thou leave thy labour with him 12. Wilt thou believe him that he will
we may conceive the Lord at once speaking to and severely reprehending Job in the words which follow Verse 2. Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him Shall he or can he surely he shall not surely he cannot There are several readings of this former part of the verse I shall only name four and then come to the explication of the words as they lie in our Translation Raâ—bi David First The words are rendered thus Is it wisdom or learning to contend with the Almighty This reading puts the latter words first Is it wisdom or instruction or is that man well instructed or well in his wits who contends with the Almighty The sense of that reading is plain and the improvement of it might be very useful for indeed these two are utterly repugnant and contrariant Non est ille eruditus neque bene obsequens divinae disciplinae qui deo castiganti obstreâ—it litem intendit Vatabl. To contend with God and to be wise to contend with God and to shew our selves well taught That man hath not received instruction either by or about divine correction who mutters or quarrels at God correcting him For how wise soever he is in his own eyes he shews himself a very fool at least as to that point or attempt very foolish So then 't is a great truth which this reading holds forth Is it wisdom is it learning to contend with the Almighty Whosoever doth so erres in doing so and will at last both see and feel his errour by sad experiences Secondly thus Should he be instructed who contends with the Almighty This Translation may have a double interpretation First Surely that man deserves not to be instructed but corrected who contends with the Almighty he deserves not to be taught but to be punished Should he be taught that contends with the Almighty Doubtless onely as Gideon taught the men of Succoth Judg. 8.16 with briars and thorns of the wilderness that is with severest chastisements Secondly Should he be instructed that contends with the Almighty That is is a learner a competent match for God is one that needs instruction and teaching fit to take up the bucklers and enter the field of dispute with God He had need to be a Master not a Scholar a Teacher not a Learner that undertakes to deal wiâ—h God That man had need be skilled and well furnished he had nâ—ed be as â—e speak his Crafts-master and all little enough yea all too little who contends with the Almighty Thirdly The word which we render to instruct Numquid contendet cum omnipotente quem ille castigat Lavat signifies also to correct taking it so the Text is thus rendred Shall he contend with the Almighty whom he corrects or Shall a man corrected by or under the correcting hand of the Almighty contend with him Shall any give God words for his blows or expostulate the matter with him No man may with such a spirit say unto God What dost thou whatsoever he suffers nor may any man be displeased with what God doth whatsoever he is pleased to do either with himself or others Lastly which was hinted in the second Doth not contending with the Almighty deserve chastening Certainly it doth or Is not chastening due to contending that is to contenders with God Nonne contentioni cum deo castigatio upple debetur Doubtless it is He that will contend with God though but in words is worthy of no answer nor satisfaction but in blows Every one of these Translations hath a fairness in it as also with the Hebrew Text but I shall insist upon our own reading only and give you some few notes from that Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him There is a twofold contending First By force and strength of arm or strength of arms We cannot suppose the Lord speaking here of such a Contention There were a sort of robustious men Giants of old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called fighters with God and many profane Atheists have blasphemously set themselves against heaven as if they would pull God from his Throne Such as these are not the Contenders with God here intended Job was far from being a man of that spirit Secondly Qui offert se disputaturum cum eo Aqu. There is a contending with God by force of Argument or by reasonings This I conceive is here meant Job was often found in these contendings with God But shall any think to logick it with God to enter a dispute with God to argue with or reply upon him as the Apostle speaks Rom. 9.20 O man who art thou that repliest against God Arguing and replying are a kind of contending and this is of two sorts First With the Word of God declaring what God would have us do or what God would have us believe Thus many contend with God even as many as submit not to his Word This is a common quarrel whether the Word of God or mans will shall stand whether the Law of God or the lusts of men shall carry it and bear the sway The Apostle is express in it Rom. 8.7 8. The carnal mind is enmity against God and if so then it contendeth with God for enmity will be contending and what kind of contending is there meant appears in the next words it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be Every natural man till subdued and conquered by grace is contending with the Word of God he submits not to what God would have him do nor to what God would have him believe he will not form either his faith or his life as God would have him Infinite are the Contentions of man with God in this notion but neither is this the contending here aimed at and I would speak to no more than is directly to the scope of the Text. Therefore Secondly There is a contending with the works of God or with what God himself hath done or is doing Thus also there are many Contenders with God in the world and this is the Contention here spoken of a Contention about the works of God what God either hath done or is doing All the debate which Job had with God was about his dealings with him God had laid him low and stript him naked God had broken his estate and filled his body full of sores and pains God had wounded his spirit and filled his soul with gall and wormwood God had with-drawn hiimself or his comforts from him and his friends were against him or at best but miserable comforters were they all Now though he was a patient man yet under these pressures he often broke out into impatient speeches Thus Job contended with the Almighty Moreover the Lord answered Job and said shall he that contendeth with the Almighty about what he is doing Instruct him Shall he have the better of him and be able to teach him or put him in a better way than he is in Shall he
man and made him vile even viler than the dust out of which he was made Thirdly Man is vile with respâ—ct to all those evil consequences and effects of sin which have possessed or are ready to possess First our bodies such are weakness sickness pains and all manner of diseases Secondly our names such are reproach infamie and disgrace Thirdly our estates such are poverty and want Fourthly our persons imprisonment and restraint Fifthly our souls such are blindness and ignorance in our minds stubborness in our wills inordinacy in our affections These consequences of sin as well as sin it self especially those consequences of sin which are themselves sinful as those last mentioned are render us vile From this first Observation take these four inferences First If man be vile in that threefold respect before spoken of he is so in many more then let not any man prize himself much We do not prize vile things without us why then should we much prize our selves who are vile We are very apt to have thoughts of our selves beyond our selves or to think of our selves beyond what is meet Did we remember that we were vile high thoughts of self would soon down and we would cease from our selves as well as from other men saying Wherein are we men to be accounted of Isa 2.22 The best man of meer men hath but a little breath in his nostrils and he hath much sin in his soul wherein then or for what as a natural man is any man to be accounted of Did we know our selves more understandingly we should know our selves less valuingly In which sense Job said Chap. 9.21 Though I were perfect I would not know my soul It is our ignorance who and what we are which causeth us to have high thoughts of our selves as it is our ignorance who and what Christ is which causeth us to have such low thoughts of him and such slow or slight desires after him Joh. 3.10 Secondly As because we are vile we should take heed of prizing our selves much so we should more take heed of being proud of our selves at all Indeed where the former is where any person man or woman sets too high a price upon self it is very hard to abstain from pride in self for pride in self arises from over-prizing of self We first think too well of our selves and then are lifted up in our selves As it is through the power of faith that our hearts are lifted up to God and in God so whensoever our hearts are lifted up in our selves glorying in our own attainments or to our selves gaping after our own ends it proceeds from pride Thirdly See the exceeding goodness of God who hath put honour upon vile man We have made our selves vile and so we should reckon our selves yet the Lord is pleased to esteem his people highly and make them honourable Isa 43.4 Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable Job was vile as he confessed in his own sight yet he was precious in Gods sight And thus the Lord estimates all that are godly all that are true believers â—hough vile and of no value in themselves nor in their own sight yet precious they are in his sight Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable We are never truly honourable till precious in the sight of God There is a bubble which the world calls honour a wind of fame with which many are much affected and with which some are invested who are not at all precious in the sight of God The best the truest honour ariseth from preciousness in the sight of God they who are esteemed by God are indeed persons of estimation His grace shewed favourably and freely to us his grace working mightily and effectually in us puts a blessed worth upon us though we are vile in our selves and so accounted by the world Fourthly See the goodness of God in this also that though we are vile yet he is pleased to set his heart upon us and to mind us We little mind vile things light things trifles we lightly pass by We are but a light thing a vile thing in our selves yet God not only hath us in his heart but sets his heart upon us Thus spake Job in the lowest ebbe of his outward felicity and he spake it admiringly as well as truly Chap. 7.17 What is man that thou shouldst magnifie and that thou shouldst set thine heart upon him When he saith What is man it is as it he had said Man is but a vile thing yet the Lord is mindful of him yea magnifieth him And though the Lord forbids us to set our hearts or affections on earthly things Col. 3.2 on the best of earthly things all which are comprehended under that one word or title Riches Psal 62.10 And though the reason why he forbids us to set our hearts upon these things is because they aâ—e vile yet he is pleased O infinite goodnesse to set his heart upon us though we are vile and considered as sinful much more vile than they even than the vilest of them We have the like question put again Psal 144.3 Lord what is man that thou takest knowledge of him or the son of man that thou makest account of him What is man 'T is a diminishing question implying that man is a vile thing or a nothing Is it not then a wonderful thing is it not the fruit of rich and free grace that God should take an account or make such an account of man And if God sets his heart upon man who is so vile how should man set his heart upon God who is so infinitely excellent God may be said to descend surely he condescends exceedingly when he sets his heart upon vile man The Lord humbleth himself saith David Psal 113.6 to behold that is to take any notice of or to take into his consideration the things that are in heaven and in the earth how much more doth he descend condescend and humble himself when he sets his heart upon vile man Now doth God set his heart upon vile man which is an humbling to him and shall not vile man set his heart upon the great and glorious God which is not only his duty but his felicity his honour and exaltation Again Job saith I am vile What was Job a godly man sure a holy man by Gods own testimony yet even he speaks at this low rate of himself Behold I am vile Hence note Secondly The better we are the less we esteem our selves and still the better and better we grow the lower are our thoughts of our selves There is no greater argument of height in grace than low thoughts of self Next to faith in Christ self-denial or to deny our selves is the great duty of the Gospel Mat. 16.24 Now as to deny our selves is to be very low in our own eyes so it is one of the highest acts of grace in us and requires not only truth of of grace but
God having many Idol gods nor did he own them as his people and therefore the Apostle did not nor could he in truth say of the Gentiles They changed their glory c. But thus he saith They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things The Gentiles did not change the incorruptible God their glory into an image but they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image c. And in that respect the idolatry of the Jews a people knowing the true God yea and glorying in him was worse than the idolatry of the Gentiles who knew him not nor ever gloried in him nor accounted him their glory But to the point in hand As that is Gods glory which manifests his glory So in general any thing which maketh man shine forth commendably or honourably to others or gives him a preheminence above many others as neer relation to God specially doth may be called his glory Whatsoever is best in us or to us is our glory The soul of man is his glory because it is his best part The body is a poor thing to the soul the body is but a shell the soul is the kernel the body is but the sheath as the Chaldee calls it Deut. 7.15 the soul is the sword though usually we take more pains for the body than for the soul as if we prized it more When Jacob said Gen. 49.6 O my soul come thou not into their secret unto their assembly mine honour be not thou united he meant some say the same thing by his soul and by his honour or glory because the soul is the most glorious and honourable part in man and that which men should be most careful of Thus likewise the tongue of man is called his glory Psal 57.8 Awake my glory that is my tongue The tongue being that organ or instrument whereby the wisdom and prudence of man is held forth and he made glorious in the world 't is therefore called his glory The tongue of man is also called his glory because with that he giveth glory to God by praising him and confessing his name together with his truth unto salvation And as glory is the best of man so of any other creature 1 Cor. 15.61 There is one glory of the Sun and another of the Moon and another glory of the Stars for one Star differs from another Star in glory that is there is one excellency uâ—e or operation in this Star and another in that Or One Star differs from another Star in glory that is their light influences effects differ some being more others less operative upon sublunary bodies When the Lord said to Job Array thy self with glory his meaning is shew thy best and he means the same when he adds Array thy self with beauty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beauty is the natural ornament of the body of the face or countenance especially These two words glory and beauty are often joyned together in Scripture Psal 21.5 Psal 45.3 where we render them honour and majesty We may thus distinguish between them taking the one for that which appears outwardly in vestures and gestures in actions and works and the other as importing that revâ—â—ence veneration which is given to such Verba originalia fero sunt synonima as appear in that splendor and dignity or which their splendor and dignity stirs up in others But we need not stand to distinguish them the words being often used promiscuously And here the Lord is pleased to imploy many words to the same purpose to shew what great state he had need be in that contends with him As if he had said O Job although thou didst not sit upon a dunghil or wert not bound to thy bed by the cords of thy affliction but didst sit upon a Kingly throne shining in robes of royalty couldst thou in all those ornaments equal thy self to me in majesty and excellency in glory and beauty Deck thy self with majesty and excellency c. Hence note First God himself is full of Majesty of Excellency of Glory and of Beauty I put them all together in one Observation because the tendency of them all is one The Scripture often sets forth the Lord thus adorned thus decked Psal 93.1 The Lord reigneth he is cloathed with majesty he is cloathed with strength wherewith he hath girded himself Again Psal 69.6 Honour and majesty are before him strength beauty are in his sanctuary Psal 104.1 Bless the Lord O my soul O Lord my God thou art very great thou art cloathed with honour and majesty This cloathing this array which the Lord called Job to put on is properly his own and though God will not give his glory to another yet here he bids Job take his glory and shew himself in it to the utmost if he could Many have affected or invaded Gods glory but none could ever attain or reach it God calls man really to partake of glory with him but man cannot take his glory upon him and be man The humane nature of Christ could never have received nor born that glory but as united to and subsisting in the person of the Son of God according to that prayer of his John 17.5 More distinctly If God be thus cloathed Then First We should tremble before him Majesty is dreadful The majesty of Kings who in nature are but men is very dreadful how much more the majesty of God who is King of Kings the King immortal and reigns for ever We have this trembling three times repeated with respect to the majesty of God Isa 2.10 19 21. where the mightiest and greatest of the world called there high Mountains and strong Towers Oaks and Cedars are said to go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his Majesty when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth And though the people of God have great cause to rejoyce at his majesty as 't is prophesied they shall Isa 24.14 They shall lift up their voices they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord nothing causeth the hearts of the righteous to rejoyce more than the majesty of God yet they ought to rejoyce and so they do with trembling Psal 2.11 or with a holy awe of God impressed upon their hearts for the majesty of God is a very dreadful tremendous awful majesty And the more we have truly tasted the goodness and mercy of God the more shall we tremble at his majesty yea the Lord will have his majesty not only taken notice of but trembled at and therefore he reproves those Isa 26.10 who would not behold his majesty The majesty of the Lord like himself cannot be seen or beheld in it self yet it sheweth it self many wayes though few behold it or tremble at it and the reason why they tremble not at it is because they do not
chief in the word of God is the truth of it that which rules and reigns and holds as it were the headship in and throughout the word of God is the truth of it or Gods trueness and faithfulness in making it good and therefore the first thing which faith doth is to set to its seal that God is true true of his word or that his word is true John 3.33 The Greeks call honey the first of sweetnesses because it is the sweetest of all natural things Mel dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quòd dulcedine praestat rebus omnibus Now here when the Text saith he is the chief or beginning of the wayes of God we are not to take it of a beginning in time several creatures were seniors to Behemoth being made before him but in excellency which we render clearly He is the chief of the wayes of God But you will say how is the Elephant the chief of the wayes of God Are not Angels and men at least above him I answer There is a twofold chief First Absolute Secondly in its kind Behemoth is the chief of the wayes of God not absolutely not as if God had made nothing more excellent than the Elephant but in his kind that is among the beasts of the earth he is the chief and as we say bears away the bell from all the rest Behemoth is not only of the first three but like Adino the Tachmonite among Davids worthies he is the first of the first three among all the irrational creatures which move upon the face of the earth And though in some one thing many excel him yet taking him altogether he excels them all He is the chief of the wayes of God that is of the works of God The works of God are called his ways because he appears stands forth in his works as man doth in his way God did not appear at all til he did create then he appeared gloriously in all his divine perfections of power wisdom and goodness And as he appeared in the works of creation so he daily appeareth in his woâ—ks of providence as in his way for in them also it is seen how powerful how wise how good he is Behemoth both as to creation and providence is the chief of the wayes or works of God in his kind Angels and Men are indeed above him but as for other creatures Behemoth is the chief Thus the Lord having spoken of many particular excellencies in this creature recapitulates or sums up all that he had said like an eloquent Orator in these crowning words He is the chief of the ways of God Hence note First There is a difference as to excellency or there are degrees of excellency in the works of God God hath bestowed more upon some creatures than he hath upon others God bestowed most upon man in the first creation for how excellent soever he made any visible creature yet it is said of no creature he made him in his image after his likeness till he came to man and the new creature which comes in by redemption is far more excellent than man in his first creation Now I say as man is far more excellent than all earthly creatures he is next to Angels man is placed in the uppermost form of the visible world So among the creatures there are some that very much excel others here 's one called the chief of the ways of God himself This is not an Orators flattery the Spirit of God gives Behemoth this encomium this commendation he hath precedency by a divine right All creatures are not alike they cannot all be chief and there are none like this he is the chief of all Among the inanimate creatures there is a gradual difference 1 Cor. 15.40 There are coelestial bodies and bodies terrestial but the glory of the coelestial is one and the glory of the terrestial is another and all coelestial bodies are not alike for There is one glory of the Sun and another of the Moon and another of the Stars and one Star differs from another in glory There are also various excellencies both as to kind and degree among vegetatives or plants What is a Nettle in the Ditch to Hysope in the Garden and what is the Thistle in Lebanon to the Cedar in Lebanon that 's one of the lowest and most ignoble plants this one of the highest and most honourable Consider animals What variety among the fish of the sea what is a Sprat to a Whale What variety among the fowls of the air what is a Sparrow to the Eagle What variety among the beasts of the earth what is a Bullock to an Elephant or an Ass to a Lion Coâ—sider â—ationals Men are not all alike some men do almost as much excel other men as all men excel beasts yea there is a difference in the same man his soul is more excellent than his body some parts of the body are more excellent than others some powers and faculties of the soul are more excellent than the rest The Apostle 1 Cor. 12.28 29. speaking of the Church shews how God hath put the guides of it into several ranks He hath set some in the Church First Apostles Secondly Prophets Thirdly Teachers after that miracles then gifts of healing helps governments diversities of tongues Are all Apostles are all Prophets are all Teachers do all speak with tongues are all workers of miracles are all chief are all in the first rank no some are in one condition some in another And thus it is in the world God hath set some Kings all others Subjects and among them some are Lords some Judges and Magistrates c. Are all Kings are all Lords are all Judges and Magistrates surely not To have all men of one order would put all men and all things too out of order There is a chief among beasts And those men are worse than beasts who acknowledge not a chief among men God is not the author of confusion as in all the Churches of the Saints saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 14.33 so I may say in all the Kingdoms of the world And if so I would only infer then let none be troubled that they are not chief no nor that they are not of equal rank with other men let us be content with our station though it be a low one 'T is best for us to be where God hath placed us and to be thankful for what God hath given us though in gifts and parts we are much inferior to many God doth not bestow a like measure of gifts no nor of grace upon all And though it may be a favour and a mercy to have outward preheminency above others yet to love or affect preheminency as the Apostle John taxed Diotrophes is very sinful The Apostle would have us covet earnestly the best gifts 1. Cor. 12.31 and he there minds us of a better thing to be coveted than the best gifts that is grace Faith hope charity to covet
said of Jacob Gen. 45.27 When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him his spirit revived it put a new life into him to see that which gave him much assurance that he should see a person that was the desire of his eyes his beloved son Joseph it revived the old man and made him even young again And as a pleasing sight made old Jacob as it were begin to live again so old Simeon rejoyced so much at the sight of Christ that he had done with living or had enough of it and therefore said Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation that is he had seen Christ with the eye of his body and he had a sight of Christ by the eye of his faith this sight lifted him above all things seen A sensitive sight of good doth very much chear refresh and rejoyce the heart much more an intellectual sight how much doth the sight of faith refresh the soul and cause us to rejoyce It is said of believers They rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious at the sight which they have of Christ by faith 〈◊〉 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now you see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Whom having not seen that is with bodily eyes and in whom though you see him not that is sensitively yet believing What is believing it is the sight of the soul Faith gives the soul a view of Christ in all his excellency and glory in his love and in his loveliness in his righteousness and holiness faith gets a view of Christ in all his beauty and beholding him we rejoyce with joy unspeakable If the sight of the bodily eye causeth the soul to rejoyce how much more the sight of the eye of faith the eye of either fixed upon desirable objects affects the heart with joy Secondly The sight of the eye fixt upon sorrowful objects affects the heart with sorrow Lam. 3.51 Mine eye affects my heart said lamenting Jeremiah that is seeing the calamities that are upon my people I cannot but weep and mourn Christ saith of the yet blinded and hardned Jews They shall look on me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn Zach. 12.10 They shall shed tears of true repentance when they shall see him with an eye of sence joyned with an eye of faith whose blood they shed Some of them saw him once with an eye of sense without an eye of faith and then they shed his blood but when they shall see him with both or only with an eye of faith they shall mourn for shedding it When good Nehemiah heard in what a ruinous condition the City Jerusalem was he sate down and wept and imourned certain dayes Neh. 1.4 his ear affected his heart how much more would his eye had he been a spectator as afterwards he was of those ruines Thirdly The sight of the eye affects the heart with fear There are some sights very dreadful so saith the Text and Point Shall not one be cast down at the sight of him This leads to a second Note which is this The Lord hath put a terribleness upon some creatures with respect to man Man is a terror to some creatures yet others are a terror or very terrible to man Let us consider and usefully remember this for it is a fruit of sin What is the reason we are cast down at the sight of any creature we may thank our sins for it all our troublesom passions came in aâ—â—hat door Why is man afraid or seized with a kind of horror at the sight of a Toad or Serpent of a Bear or Lion loose How comes it to pass that man whom God made Lord over all the creatures doth fear any especially so many of them Is not this a consequent yea an effect of sin When God made the Covenant with Noah Gen. 9.2 God blessed him and his sons and said unto them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every fowl of the air upon all that moveth upon the earth and upon all the fishes of the Sea the fear and dread of you shall be upon them 'T is of the Lord that any of the creatures are afraid and stand in awe of us we have deserved that the very Sheep and Dove should be a terror to us 'T is of the Lord that the fear and dread of us is upon any creature and 't is from our sin that any creature is a fear and dread to us It is a mercy that so many creatures are afraid of us that any of the creatures stand in fear of us is a fruit of the goodness of God and that we are afraid of any creature is a fruit of our sin Let us make a good use of this word Shall not one be afraid at the sight of him And hence we may infer If the sight of some creatures astonish us how will the sight of God of an angry God astonish us All the dread and terribleness that is in a Lion or Bear or Dragon what is it to what is in God With God is terrible Majesty The terribleness of the most terrible deadly creature yea of death the King of terrors is but a scare-crow to the terribleness of God and it is God who hath planted terror in any creature in man especially What is the reason why Kings and inferiour Magistrates are so terrible to evil men is it not because God hath planted such a terribleness in them or hath cloathed them with his own garment terrible majesty towards evil doers Rom. 13.3 4. Now I say if some creatures are so terrible that a man is cast down at the sight of them then how terrible is God! The Apostle John Rev. 6.15 16 17. represents a world of wicked ones or all the wicked of the world cast down at the sight of Jesus Christ The Kings of the earth the great men the rich men and the chief Captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every free-man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Some are cast down at the sight of Leviathan but all the unbelieving world shall be cast down at the sight of Christ all the unbelieving Kings Princes and Potentates of the world shall be cast down before Christ O how dreadful will he be to them and therefore I would conclude with that let us be cast down at the sight of sin which hath caused the sight of the creature and of God also to be so dreadful to us God had never been terrible to us had
it not been for sin nor had the sight of any creature been terrible to us had we not sinned When Adam had sinned then God was terrible to him then presently he hid himself O therefore be cast down at the sight of sin which hath made both God and many creatures a terror a casting down to us How terrible this creature Leviathan is to man appears further by what the Lord saith next Vers 10. None is so fierce that dare stir him up who then is able to stand before me The former part of this verse carrieth on the matter of the whole former verse None is so fierce that dare stir him up that is Leviathan is a creature so fierce so cruel that none how fierce soever dare provoke him no nor awaken him The words may be taken two wayes First None dare stir him up when he is asleep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crudelis saevus fevox immisericors Secondly No man dares challenge or provoke him when he is awake The word rendred fierce properly signifies cruel because cruelty makes men fierce or because fierce men are usually very cruel None is so fierce as to stir him up Hence note First There is no wisdom in provoking an enemy that is too strong for us Wise men though bold and possibly cruel too yet when attempts are exceeding dangerous will not venture Physicians will not stir some humours in the body for it would be like stirring of a fierce Lion that is asleep they dare not provoke them but do all they can to attemper and allay them to stir such a humour were to stir Leviathan He hath more rashness than courage who meddles with more than his match or as some say conjures up a spirit that he cannot lay again Secondly Saith the Lord none is so fierce or cruel that dare stir him up He means not cruel to Leviathan but to himself none is so cruel to himself as to go about to stir up Leviathan because there is so much danger in that attempt Whence Observe They who run themselves upon great dangers unadvisedly are cruel to themselves They are their own enemies and the greatest enemies to themselves How cruel then are sinners to their own souls who are so fierce as daily to stir up Leviathan Prov. 6.32 Whosoever committeth adultery with a woman hath no understanding he that doth it destroyeth his own soul surely then he is cruel to his own soul he seems to be very kind to his harlot but he is very unkind yea cruel to himself Pro. 8.36 He that sinneth against me saith Wisdom wrongeth his own soul all they that hate me love death 'T is Christ that speaks thus he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul he is cruel to himself Many when they sin do it to please themselves O what a good turn do they hope to do themselves when they venture upon unlawful pleasures or profits But he that doth so hateth me saith Christ and he that hateth me loves death How cruel is that man to his own life that is in love with death yet so in truth are they who love any sin by sining You may as was toucht before stir up and awaken a sleeppy conscience and conscience may be more terrible than Leviathan yea by sin you may awaken and stir up the sleeping vengeance of God who is more than a thousand Leviathans and consciences Once more remember that possibly by not stirring up your selves to take hold of God you may stir up God to be angry with you as 't is said Isa 64.6 7. Our iniquities like the wind have taken us away What follows And or for there is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee Which words as I apprehend may be taken two ways First As shewing their sluggishness that though their iniquities that is the punishment of their iniquities carried them away or they were carried â—way as a punishment of their iniquities yet they did not stir up themselves to call upon the name of God nor to take hold of him Secondly As shewing the reason why their iniquities carried them away even because they did not stir up themselves to take hold of God Their not stirring up themselves to take hold of God stirred up God against them If we do not stir up our selves especially when at any time we are compassed about with sins and dangers or with dangers procured and brought upon us by our sins as with Leviathans we may stir up God against us as a Leviathan And therefore let us take heed lest we be found fierce and cruel against our own souls by sinning against God or by not stirring up our selves to take hold of God such neglects are full of provocations Hitherto we have had instruction concerning this Leviathan how great how stout how fierce and cruel he is now the Lord makes application He hath been diâ—coursing about a huge tremendous Sea-monster but what is all this for Surely for very great use And the Lord maketh use of it two ways First In this verse to shew his own irresistibleness If none can stand before Leviathan then who can stand before me Secondly In the 11th verse to shew his own independency that he hath no need of any creature Who hath prevented me that I should repay him And all this the Lord makes good by that great assertion for whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine this great Leviathan is mine to do what I will with him This is the sum of that two-fold Application which the Lord makes from the hitherto description of Lâ—viathan the first part whereof is expressed in the latter part of the 10th verse Who then is able to stand before me As is the Lord had said no man is able to stand before me If this creature Leviathan be so terrible that no man is able to stand before him then who can stand before me for all the strength and courage that Leviathan hath I have given him and 't is nothing to what I have 't is not so much to me as a drop of the bucket or a dust of the ballance to the whole world Can none stand before Leviathan Who then can stand before me One Translation saith Can you resist before my look Quis rasistere potent vultu meo Scult As God had said before one shall be cast down at the sight of him namely of Leviathan so here Can any man stand before me or at the sight of me Is any man able to abide my look the majesty of my eye Surely no. The sence is much the same with that of our reading Who then is able to stand before me Hence Observe Our inability to stand before mighty creatures should mind us of our utter inability to stand before the Almighty God This is the most proper use that ever was made of a doctrine The Lord made a promise and it was a very wonderful promise which the Lord made
that he is terrible to others v. 25. When he raiseth up himself the mighty are afraid Yea Seventhly Such is his power That nothing can annoy him the sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold the spear the dart nor the habergeon ver 26. And Lastly Such is his power That he maketh the deep to boil like a pot he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment He maketh a path to shine after him one would think the deep to be hoary ver 31 32. Thus the Lord describes not only the parts but the power of Leviathan And in the Hebrew the word is plural powers which intimates the greatness of his power or that he is powerful in every part each part being full of power There is a two-fold power First of strength Secondly of authority Leviathan hath no power of authority though he be called a King over all the children of pride But he hath a mighty power of strength That 's here intended I will not conceal his parts nor his power Nor his comely proportion Or the grace of his disposition Non tacebo gratiam dispositionis ejus i. e. dicam quam concinnè membra ejus composita sunt That 's the emphasis of the Hebrew There is a two-fold disposition First Of the mind which we commonly call a mans disposition Secondly Of the body which consists in the right placing of the parts their symetry order and proportion Hence we translate fully His comely proportion Master Broughton renders it The grace of his frame that is the due composition and feature of all the members of his body Some expound these words Ironically Ironicè dictum cum enim horrifica sit immanissimi monstri dispositio conformatio totius corporis nihil in illo gratiae venustatis esse potest Cajetan As if when the Lord saith I will not conceal his comely proportion his meaning were his monstruous uncomliness But by their leave how great or vast soever any creature is there may be a comeliness and proportion or a due disposition of the members of his body as well as of a lesser or little one There are three things which make up the compleat natural comeliness of a creature First Distinction of members there must be parts Secondly Strength for the exercise of the parts Thirdly A due proportion of the parts one towards another that 's it which we properly call feature There may be beauty but no comeliness without a due disposition or proportion of parts and where there is a due proportion of parts there is comeliness how great soever any creature is All these concur in Leviathan First parts Secondly power Thirdly proportion and therefore he is though a Monster for bigness yet a comely creature I will not conceal his parts nor his power nor his comely proportion Hence observe First God hath bestowed excellent parts power and proportion upon all his creatures eminently upon some of them Whatsoever the Lord made he made it as 't is said in number weight and measure that is exactly The fowls of the Air the beasts and creeping things of the Earth the fishes of the Sea all of them according to their kind have excellent parts power and comeliness of proportion David speaking this in general brings it down to the particular under hand Psal 104.24 O Lord how manifold are thy works that is the works of Creation in wisdom hast thou made them all all of them even to the very Fly are wisely made in wisdome hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches vers 15. So is this great and wide Sea wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great beasts there go the Ships there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein Leviathan is made in wisdom or wisely made the wisdom as well as the power of the great God is visible in the making and composure of him Secondly Observe God is pleased to set forth and in setting forth the particular excellencies of natural creatures I will not saith the Lord conceal his parts c. God who is without parts is seen in the parts of every creature and therefore he hath not concealed their parts Men do not light a candle saith Christ Mat. 5.15 and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick God hath lighted a candle for us to see himself by in making the parts of every creature and he hath put that light on as many candlesticks as he hath made discourses or discoveries of them in any part of the Scriptures and that he hath done eminently in the latter part of this Book of Job Now if God be thus pleased in declaring the parts of natural creatures How much more is he pleased in declaring the parts and excellencies or those most excellent and amiable parts of the new creature That is the excellencies of man in his inner man David saith Psal 147.10 11. He delighteth not in the strength of the horse he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy and with them he is much taken He is infinitely more pleased in speaking of their parts and powers and comely proportion than in those of Leviathan or of any the most comely and beautiful creature in the world Jesus Christ could not conceal the parts the power not the comely proportion of his Spouse that is of his Church Cant. 4.1 2 3 4. Behold thou art fair my love behold thou art fair thou hast doves eyes within thy locks thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from mount Gilead thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn c. Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet thy speech is comely thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks thy neck is like the tower of David thy breasts are like two young roes that are twins which feed among the Lillies Thus Jesus Christ you see was so far from concealing that he gave his divine rhetorick full scope to depaint all the lineaments parts powers and comely proportion of his Spouse the Church Jesus Christ was so ravisht with the beauty which himself had put upon the Church that like an amorous wooer he could not if I may so speak contain himself from crying up her comely proportion The rarest bodily beauty takes the heart and affects the eye of Christ no more than the gastly appearance of a rotting carcase unless he see spiritual beauty there too and where he sees that he is highly pleased though the body where such a soul lodges hath an appearance as little attractive or desirable as that of a rotting carcase Thirdly Consider the reason why the Lord insists so much in declaring the parts and powers of Leviathan the reason was that God might declare his own power it was not for Leviathans sake that God declared his parts c. but that he
Leviathans description is taken by Bochartus as a further proof that the Leviathan here spoken of is the Crocodile whose scales are not penetrable by the force of any weapon whereas saith he the skin of the Whale gives passage to the forcible stroke or thrust of any sharp-edged or sharp-pointed instrument For answer to this I have no more to say than what hath been said at the 15th 16th and 17th verses of this Chapter concerning the scales of Leviathan to which I refer the Reader and shall pass on when I have given three or four hints by way of improvement from the whole First If the Lord hath made a creature that no weapon can hurt then surely the Lord himself is exalted above all hurt from the creature as it is said in another place of this Book Chap. 35.6 If thou sinnest what dost thou against him or if thy transgressions be multiplyed what dost thou unto him that is thou canst not hurt God with thy sin Though men by sin lay at him as with sword and spear though they throw their sling-stones of blasphemy at him they cannot hurt him Gamaliel Acts 5.39 gives warning against this take heed what ye do refrain from these men lest haply ye be found even to fight against God They fight against God who set themselves to do mischief but what mischief soever they do to men or among men they can do none to God their weapons reach him not As Solomon tells us Prov. 21.30 There is no wisdom nor counsel against the Lord so there is no weapon against the Lord Sword and spear and dart whether material or metaphorical are but stubble before him And as the Lord himself is beyond the reach of weapons and the rage of man so are they who are under the Lords protection therefore it is said of the Church Isa 54.17 No weapon formed against thee shall prosper that is it shall not have the intended effect of the Smith that made it as that Scripture speaks nor of the hand that weilds it The sword of him that layeth at the Church of God shall not hold the spear the dart nor the habergeon As none are so much assaulted as the Church so none are so well armed and defended Secondly As no offensive weapon can hurt the Lord so no defensive weapon can shelter us from hurt if under the wrath of the Lord. Though we have got an Habergeon though we have scales or bucklers like Leviathan yet the Lord hath a sword a spear a dart that can strike through them that is through all the defences of the most hardned sinners in the world There is no shelter to be found nor defence to be made against the weapons of divine wrath but only in and by Jesus Christ God is a shield and Buckler a Helmet and an Habergeon for believers against all offensive weapons of men or devils but where shall unbelievers find a shield or a buckler to secure themselves against the offensive weapons of God! Again some in allegorizing this Scripture say that Leviathan is an emblem of the Devil Now though it be a truth that no outward weapon no sword nor dart can terrifie or hurt the Devil yet the Lord hath furnished us with weapons that can pierce the Devil that Leviathan and defend us from his power Eph. 6.14 15 16. The sword of the Spirit the Word of God will wound that old Leviathan the Breast-plate of Righteousness the Helmet of Salvation the Shield of Faith will preserve us from woundings in the midst of all his fiery darts How soon would the Devil that cunning and cursed and cruel Darter and Archer wound our souls to death with his fiery darts and poysonous arrows if the Lord had not given us a shield a breast-plate and an helmet more impenetrable than the scales of Leviathan Lastly This description of Leviathan carrieth in it a fit resemblance of a hardned sinner of a sinner resolved upon his evil wayes Some sinners come at last to such a hardness that they are like Leviathan nothing will pierce them the sword of the Spirit doth not enter them Though you lay at them with all your might in the Ministry of the Word though you cast darts and shoot arrows of terrible threatnings against them they esteem them but straw and stubble sin hath so hardned them that they as we may express it are Sermon-proof threatning-proof yea judgement-proof too as to amendment by them though they are broken and perish under them Let God say what he will in his Word or do what he will in his works they regard it not they laugh at the shaking of these spears As a man that hath armour of proof cares not for sword or spears fears not an arrow nor a bullet so 't is in a spiritual sense with resolved sinners God having as a just judgement for former sins given them a shield upon their hearts as the word signifieth Lam 3.65 which we render sorrow of heart and put in the margin obstinacy that is hardness of heart they then account reproofs threats admonitions the most terrible words in all the armoury of God no more than a straw or rotten wood Woe to these Leviathans to those who harden their hearts against the Word of God Who hath hardned himself against the Word of the Lord and prospered And let all such know that as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 10.4 The weapons of our warfare are not carnal that is weak dull edgeless pointless tools but mighty through God c. And that though now they prevail not to conversion yet they will prevail to condemnation and that while they go on to sin they are but going as Solomon speaks of the young wanton Prov. 7.22 As an Ox goeth to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks till a dart strike through his liver God will have a dart at last which shall enter a dart which those Leviathans shall not count stubble nor find to be so The Lord proceeds to describe Leviathan and as we may conceive to give a further demonstration of the hardness of his scales and skin Vers 30. Sharp stones are under him he spreadeth sharpe pointed things upon the mire Mr. Broughton reads it His underneath-places be as sharp-sheards The word rendred Sharp stones properly signifies the sharp pieces of a pot-sâ—â—â—rd that is stones or other hard things as sharp and pricking as the pieces of a broken pot-sheard We may expound this verse two wayes First As being a proof of the hardness and firmness of Leviathans skin and flesh so hard they are that he can lye down and rest himself upon hard and sharp stones even upon the sharp tops of rocks in the Sea as we lye down upon our beds Sharp stones are under him but he feels them not which may be the meaning also of the next words He spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire That is Leviathan like some hardy man or iron-sides scorns to lye
Ezek. 6.9 They shall loath themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations And when the Lord had promised to bring the children of Israel to their own land he tells them what work they shall be at there Ezek. 20.43 There shall you remember your ways and doings wherein you have been defiled and ye shall loath your selves in your own sight for all the evils that ye have committed Once more in that Prophet chap. 36.31 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations In all these Scriptures we have loathing of self for sin and evil done And as there is a loathing of sinful self in true repentance so Secondly Of righteous self or a loathing of our selves in the good in the best that we have done We may soon see that in the best of our duties which will stir up this self-abhorrence or which gives us cause enough to abhor our selves So Job did as to all the glitter of his moral vertues of which he spake so much before in several places especially in the 31. chapter He that truly repents doth not only abhor his sin so as never to commit it again but he abhorreth his righteousness so as never to trust in it at all Thus the Apostle spake Phil. 3.7 8. I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ What did he account loss not only the evil that he had done but all the good that he had done he accounted that but dung that he might be found in Christ not having his own righteousness which is of the law Self-righteousness is gold and to be embraced in conversation but 't is dung and to be abhorred in justification Job abhorred his own righteousness from the beginning of this dispute in that point though he spake so much of it chap. 9.31 If I wash my self with snow water and make my hands never so clean yet shalt thou plung me in the ditch and mine own cloaths shall abhor me or as in the Margin my own cloaths shall make me to be abhorred What means he by his cloaths Surely not the cloaths that were upon his body but his moral cloathing his own works of righteousness according to the law These cloaths saith he will make me to be abhorred I see I cannot be accepted in them nor justified by them Job was clear in that before but now he doth not only abhor his own righteousness as to trusting in it but as to talking so much of it or so much as to talk of it Christ saith Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth that is take not much notice of thy own good deeds As a repenting person will not touch at all with his former evil deeds so he will not talk nor take much notice of his own good deeds The best of himself is little to himself Before I pass this point it may be enquired First what this self-abhorrence which accompanies true repentance works in those that have it with respect to sin or sinful self I answer It works these five things First A dislike of sinful self he grows into a distast with sin it relisheth not his renewed palate and so will not like unsavoury meat go down with him Secondly A hatred of sinful self 'T is but an easie step from distast and dislike to hatred That soon falls under our displeasure which pleaseth us not No sooner did Amnon dislike his sister Tamar whom he inordinately liked a little before but the Text saith 2 Sam. 13.15 He hated her exceedingly so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her Thirdly An indignation against sinful self The spirit of a true penitent riseth against sin as against an open enemy or a false friend 2 Cor. 7.11 Fourthly An utter aversation or alienation from sinfull self As they who live in sin are averse and alienated from the life of God that is from holiness so they who repent of sin are alienated and turned away from the sins of their former life Fifthly and lastly An opposition against sin There is not barely a turning away from it but a war against it a desire to destroy and mortifie it to do it as I may say the greatest mischief we can Thus dislike is followed with hatred and hatred with indignation and indignation with aversation and aversation with opposition wrought and rising up in a penitent soul against sin But Secondly it may be asked why doth a repenting soul abhor sinful self I answer He doth it upon these four considerations First Because it appears to him as a filthy thing Ezek. 16.5 Psal 38.7 Prov. 12.22 All which Scriptures shew that as sin is a filthy thing in it self so it appeareth such to a repenting soul They that love their sins look upon them as fine things or as their beauty but to a repenting soul nothing appeareth more dirty and filthy and who abhors not that which is so to him Secondly A repenting soul looketh upon sin as a hurtful thing to him We naturally turn from and abhor that which is so We abhor the poyson of a Toad and the sting of a Serpent To taste the one or to be bitten by the other is no more deadly to the body than sin is to the soul Thirdly A repenting soul is sick very sick of his sins they have burdened his conscience as unwholsom food doth the stomack Now if a man abhors that which hath made him stomack-sick much more will he abhor that which hath indeed and not so much from the quantity as from the quality and nature of it made him conscience-sick Fourthly A repenting person hath vomited or cast up his sins by an humble confession of them alwayes to God and in some cases to men Repentance is the souls vomit Now as any man loaths his own vomit so a man truly repenting loaths the sin which he hath thus vomited Upon all these accounts a repenting soul loaths sinful self or sin in himself Thirdly But why doth a repenting soul abhor righteous self I answer First Because he is convinced that self-righteousness is a weak imperfect thing even in sanctification and therefore he is so far from boasting of it or trusting in it that he hath a kind of abhorrence of it Secondly He seeth that as to justification it is a filthy abominable thing Isa 64.6 All our righteousness are as filthy rags And as he abhors it because 't is unfit and incompetent in it self for that use so because 't is utterly inconsistent with the tenour of the Gospel wherein God hath removed all mans righteousness how pure soever it may be from that use and directed us to look only to the righteousness of Christ for that use which the Apostle calls the righteousness of God Rom. 10.3 and that in a twofold
respect First because 't is that which the wisdom of God the Father hath provided for us and Secondly which the worthiness of God the Son hath wrought out and procured for us Take two or three Inferences from the general Observation thus far prosecuted That true repentance is joyned with self abhorrence First Then self-admirers are no repenters They are at the furthest remove from abhorring themselves who admire themselves Secondly Self-justifiers are no true repenters Christ told the Pharisees Luke 16.15 Ye are they which justifie your selves They are far from abhorring themselves who justifie themselves such surely are highly pleased with themselves and have much confidence in themselves therefore very far from self-abhorrence Thirdly What shall I say of their repentance who instead of abhorring themselves abhor others Luke 18.9 Christ spake a Parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others and presently instanced in the Pharisee who despised the poor Publican and called him in contempt This Publican he would as we say hardly touch him with a pair of tongs They that despise others are usually if not alwayes much pleased with themselves Fourthly If these self-boasters and self-admirers c. are not repenters then do they repent who are so far from abhorring sinful self and righteous self that they take pleasure in sin and unrighteousness whether their own or others The Apostle speaks of such Rom. 1.32 Who knowing the judgement of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them That 's a dreadful word 2 Thes 2.12 That they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness O how far are they from abhorring their own righteousness who take pleasure in unrighteousness How are they puffed up with that which hath but a shew of righteousness who please themselves with that which is really unrighteous Fifthly If true repentance be accompanied with self-abhorrence then do they repent who return to those sins which they say they have repented of do you think the dog loaths his vomit when you see him go back and lick it up again 2 Pet. 2.22 When once the Jews loathed or abhorred Manna they had no mind to eat of it though it was Angels food When Job loathed his life he said he would live no longer Chap. 7.16 I loath it I would not live alwayes that is not at all not an hour longer in this world He that is weary of his life thinks to live but a day or a little longer is to live alwayes or that his life will never end Thus if a man doth truly loath and abhor his sin he will not return to it again though it hath been as sweet to him as Manna yea as life it self I do not say that he who loaths and abhors his sin can never relapse into the same sin or be overtaken with it again but this I say he that truly repents never delights in sin again he never goeth back to it and licketh it up as a dog his vomit A good man may fall into the same sin but he never returneth to the same sin he may be overtaken with the same sin but he never taketh up the same sin again That 's the Apostles word Gal. 6.1 If any of you be overtaken with a fault c. A good man may be overtaken with the same fault but he never taketh up that fault nor runs a course in that sin again I shall only add these two words for the working of our souls to this self-abhorrence First The more we abhor our selves the more God delighteth in us the more we are displeased with our sins the more is he pleased with our persons the worse the viler we are in our own eyes the better we are and the more beautiful in the eye of God Secondly Unless we abhor our selves God will abhor us I may say unless we so repent as to abhor our selves God will abhor our very repentance There is no true repentance without some degree of self-abhorrence yea of self-condemnation Let us not take up this word repentance too easily that is when we know not what this word self-abhorrence meaneth We defile this holy this precious thing called repentance when our hearts are not fully taken off from that or thole sins of which we say we repent All such would have that go for repentance towards God which indeed is but a mocking of God and can never be joyned from which true repentance cannot be separated with faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20.21 I abhor my self said Job And repent in dust and ashes I shall here give somewhat about the nature of repentance in general and then gather up those particular Observations which arise from these words about it Repentance is a grace of the Gospel wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Word and Spirit turning the whole man from all sin to God in the sincere and universal obedience of his holy will In this description of repentance we have four things considerable First The nature of it or what it is A grace of the Gospel Secondly The seat of it or where it is wrought The heart of a sinner Thirdly The means by which it is wrought and that twofold First Instrumental The Word Secondly Principal The Spirit Fourthly The issue or effect of it Conversion or turning wherein two things are to be taken notice of First the term from which the turn is made Sin and all sin Secondly the term to which the turn is made God thus explained In the sincere or universal obedience of his holy will or in the practice of every known duty First I say Repentance is a grace of the Gospel Some possibly may say Job was before the Gospel I answer no The Gospel was published long before Job was born even as soon as God promised the seed of the woman Christ Jesus should bruise the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 The whole body of Gospel duty moves upon these two feet Faith and Repentance Some have questioned which of these two graces hath the precedency or takes the first step in the motion of the soul heaven-ward All that I shall say in answer to it is First that where these two graces are mentioned together in Scripture usually repentance is named first because it appears first and is most visible to us in its actings yet Faith is to be understood first because without that no man can come to Christ as a true penitent for pardon of sin and reconciliation unto God Secondly in those Scriptures where true saving repentance is spoken of alone it supposeth faith also and where true saving faith only is spoken of it necessarily implyeth true repentance This repentance is so much a grace of the Gospel that the first Sermon that ever was preacht at the approach of Christ or at the opening of the Gospel in the new
people which are are called by my Name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked wayes then will I hear in heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land This was performed to the Ninivites a heathen Nation when they repented of the evil which they had done God repented of the evil which he threatned to do unto them or bring upon them and did it not brought it not But I shall not stay upon this useful poynt here because it is grounded upon a translation which is not as I conceive so clearly grounded upon the Original as our own The Lord turned the Captivity of Job In Hebraeo est pulchra paranomasia nam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est vertere aut convertere et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 captivitas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Hebrew is very elegant He turned the turning or captivity of Job Why his Captivity Job was never lead captive in person he was not carryed away prisoner by the Chaldeans anâ— Sabeans who captivated his cattel How then is it here said The Lord turned the captivity of Job I answer These words The Lord turned the Captivity of Job may be taken two wayes First thus Jehova restituit quod captum fuerit Jobo Jun. Captivitas ponitur pro ipsis captivis Drus He turned that to Job whatsoever it was which was lead into Captivity So some translate The Lord restored that which was taken from Job His Cattel which were taken away by violent men his children which were taken away by a vehement wind were returned or restored to him again The word Captivity is elsewhere in Scripture taken tropically for things or persons captivated that which is captivated is called captivity The Lord turned the captivity of Job that is he returned that which was captivated or taken away Take a Scripture or two for that sâ—nse of the word captivity Judg. 5.12 Awake awake Deborah awake awake utter a song arise Barak and lead thy captivity captive thou son of Abinoam .. That is bring them back who were taken captives or thus lead those captive who have taken thy people captives So Psal 68.18 which is quoted by the Apostle Ephes 4.8 When he ascended up on high he lead captivity captive The Psalmist gives us a prophesie and the Apostle reports the history of the glorious ascension of Christ When he ascended up on high he lead captivity captive Which text as the formâ—r may be taken two ways First Christ ascending led those captive who had led poor soulâ—â—aptive that is the devils which the Apostle expresseth thuâ— Col. 2.15 And having spoiled principalities and powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it that is in his cross or â—ufferingâ— or as our Maâ—gin hath it in himself And as Christ spoiled those principalities and triumphed over them not only really but openly in his passion so he led them captive and triumphed over them more openly in his ascention Secondly He led those that were captives sinful men captive he brought them out of a miserable captivity into a blessed captivity that is from the capâ—ivity of sin Satan and the world into a cap iviâ—y to himself The Apostle speaks so of the mighty power of the Word in the miniâ—tery of the Gospel The weapons of our warfare that is the weapons with which we the Ministers of the Gospel mâ—ke war upon sinners to convert them are not carnal that is weak but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations c. and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience Christ 2 Cor. 10.4 5. Not only are our persons but our thoughts captivated to Christ by the power of the Spirit ministred in the Gospel Thus the Scripture speaks of captivity in both these notions the captivaters and the captivated are called captivity Here in this place we may take it in the latter sence the Lord turned the captivity of Job that is what was captivated or taken away the Lord as it were fetch 't back again and restored it to him In this sense Abraham when he heard that his Nephew Lot was taken captive led captivity captive Gen. 14.16 He pursued them that had taken him captive he brought back Lot and the rest of the prisoners together with the spoils Thus the Lord did not only deliver Job from all those evils which he was under but restored the good things to him which he had lost or were carried away Secondly We may take it thus The Lord turned the captivity of Job that is he took away or called in Satans commission which he had given him over Jobs estate and body and by which Satan held Job in captivity or as his captive for as we read chap. 2.6 Satan could not touch him till he had leave or a letter of license from God till God said Behold all that he hath is in thy power only upon himself put not forth thy hand chap. 1.12 Nor could he touch his person till his commission was enlarged and the Lord said again Behold he is in thine hand but or only save his life chap. 2.6 And as soon as his commission was taken away or called in by God he could trouble him no longer The Lord forbidding the devil to meddle any more with him Turned the captivity of Job Hence Observe First To be in any affliction is to be in bonds or captivity The afflicted condition of Job was a captivity Troubles in our estate troubles in our relations troubles in our bodies troubles in our souls are like bonds and prisons It is a very uneasie and an uncomfortable condition to be in prison and so it is to be in any afflicted condition considered in it self Job spake as much of himself while his affliction continued upon him strongly chap. 13.27 Thou puttest my feet in the stocks and thou lookest narrowly unto all my paths Job was not only as a man in captivity but as a man in the stocks which is a great hardship in captivity David calleth such an estate an imprisonment Psal 69.33 The Lord heareth the poor and despiseth not his prisoners Some are prisoners strictly being under restraint all are prisoners largely or as we say prisoners at large who are in any distress The Lord maketh many prisoners by sickness and weakness of body as also by poverty and the want of bodily comforts and conveniences The afflicted condition of the Church in any kind is expressed by captivity as captivity in kind is sometimes the affliction of the Church The ten tribes were led into captivity by Salmanazar Judah by Nebuchadnazzar Hence that promise Jerem. 30.18 Behold I will bring again the captivity of Jacobs tents And that prayer Psal 14.7 O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Sion When the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people Jacob shall rejoyce and Israel shall be glad This Scripture may be taken both strictly
we should do so and 't is a great part of our conformity unto God when we do so It was very well that Job gave fair respect to his friends and treated them lovingly when they came to him and it was well and but their duty that they came to him Yet this was not all they did Jobs friends did not only come and eat bread with him thar had been but according to the custom of common friends they went further They bemoaned him That 's the second friendly office which they did him The word signifies to shake the head so the Latine Translation renders it His friends came to him and moved their heads over him so expressing their compassion Moverunt super eum caput Vulg. Consolati sunt eum et mirati sunt super omnibus c. That gesture of moving the head was used somtimes in derision somtimes in admiration in which latter sense the Septuagint take it here They comforted him and wondered at all the evills that God had brought upon him It might well move wonder that so good a man should suffer so much evil yet this gesture of shaking the head is rarely if at all used in way of admiration whereas in way of compassion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est propriè migrare unde pro condolere sumitur quod qui aliquem solari volunt ejus vicem dolere è loco suo ut id faciant soleant migrare nothing is more usual and it complyeth fully with our translation they bemoaned him As they feasted with him so they bemoaned him and condoled his former sad stare and to do so is a proper act of sincere love and friendship Hence Note It is our duty to pity and bemoan the afflicted We read of Ephraim bemoaning himself Jer. 31.18 and there is a twofold bemoaning of our selves First With respect to the sins that we have committed Secondly There is a bemoaning of our selves as to our afflictions and possibly both are to be understood in that place concerning Ephraim 'T is a duty also with respect to others we ought to bemoan those that are in sufferings and those that have sinned as well as our own sins or sufferings And though that which gives us the greatest occasion of bemoaning others is their sin yet 't is a great duty also to bemoan those that are under sufferings and to have bowels of compassion or a fellow feeling of their afflictions But it may be objected what need had Jobs brethren to bemoan him now that he was delivered out of his afflictions and his captivity turned were not these bemoanings improper and unseasonable I answer First Though Job was come out of his afflictions yet he was but very lately come out of them he was yet as it were upon the borders of sorrow and was come only a step out of his troubles so that his tears were then scarce wiped away or dryed up and the sorrow of his late adversity was even forced to intermingle with the joy of his newly begun prosperity The remembrance of his affliction was doubtless yet very strong upon him and the pain of it scarce off him he had as yet a tast of the woâ—mwood and gall of that most bitter cup of which he had a little before drank so deeply his wound was but in healing not quite healed and therefore they might well bemoan him as to his former afflictions in that morning or day-break of his mercies Joy and sorrow use to conflict together and strive for masteries whether the one shall keep or the other get the ground at the beginning of all great changes Secondly This act of Jobs friends in bemoaning of him might respect not only the abiding sense of his former affliction but the sharpness and soreness of it while it was upon him so that as his own remembrance of his former sufferings might still hang upon him so while his brethren and other visitants remembred how grievous and tedious his sufferings had been it might well stir their compassions and cause them to bemoan him Thirdly Job had none to bemoan him while the affliction was actually upon him Have pity upon me have pity upon me said he in the 16th Chapter yet found little or no pity from any Now that being a great part of his suffering that he had none to pity him while he suffered the Lord sent his brethren to him when he was new come out of his sufferings to perform that duty to him which should have been done him while he suffered Further Because we ought not only to pity and bemoan our friends in adversity but to help them out and make a perfect cure therefore Jobs friends proceed to that duty also For having bemoaned him the text saith They comforted him That is they used all the means they could to comfort him they gave him comfortable words cordial consolations Job himself had been a great comforter of others as Eliphaz acknowledged in the 4th Chapter and now he hath his comforters even they comforted him concerning his former miseries who formerly had been miserable comforters From the method of their proceeding First They bemoaned him and Secondly They comforted him Note We can never truly comfort others till we have pitied others Comforting begins at pittying It is possible to pity one and not to comfort him Some will give bemoaning words yet are not able to minister real comforts so then there may be pittying without comforting but there cannot be comforting without pitying God himself is thus exprest 2 Cor. 1.3 4. First He is called The father of mercies that is he is full of pity full of compassionate bowels And then Secondly He is called The God of all consolation He is a comforting God because a pittying God If God were not pitiful and compassionate we should have to comfort from him so it is with men if we pity not others we cannot comfort them Job called his friends miserable comforters chap. 16.2 They came to mourn with him and to comfort him chap. 2.11 but had they more affectionately mourned with him they would have more effectually comforted him They did not pity him enough in his misery and so they proved but miserable comforters to him Secondly From the work it self Observe To comfort those that are in affliction is our duty and a work of charity To minister comfort to the sorrowful is a greater point of charity than to minister bread to the hungry or clothing to the naked As the soul is better than the body so those acts of charity which offer relief to the soul in any kind are better than those by which the body is relieved Though to give bread be more costly to us than good woâ—ds we use to say good words are cheap yet good and comfortable words are worth much more than bread they are better than gold yea than fine gold sweeter also than the honey and the honey-comb The Apostle gave this duty in charge to believers 1
he God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction He was once very much afflicted and now he was very fruitful therefore he called the name of his younger son Ephraim that he might remember the kindness of God to him as often as he beheld or spake to or of that son So Moses called his son Gershom stranger for he said I have been a stranger in a strange Land Exod. 2.22 We find also names given to things as well as to persons by way of remembrance Thus 1 Sam. 7.12 after a great victory obtained against the Philistines Samuel set up a stone and gave it a name He called it Eben-ezar or the Stone of help The reason was for said he hitherto the Lord hath helped us The name of the stone was to mind them of the Lords constant readiness to help them even unto that day So Moses Exod. 17. after that great deliverance from the Amalekites built an Altar and called it Jehovah nissi which signifieth the Lord is my Banner to put them in remembrance how the Lord went forth as a man of War and mightily confounded their enemies There is a prudence to be used in the names both of things and persons We read Gen. 10.25 Vnto Eber were born two sons and the name of the one he called Peleg and why Peleg for in his days saith that Text was the earth divided Peleg signifieth division The whole world which lay before as one common field in his days was divided and cantoniz'd into several Countries therefore his name was called Peleg And as many names have been given from past or present providences so some names have been given as it were by Prophesie with respect to after providences Gen. 5.29 Lamech lived a hundred eighty and two years and begat a son and called his name Noah which signifieth rest Why so not from a providence that was past or present but from what he believed should be For this same said he shall comfort us concerning our work and toyl of our hands because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed Thus much of the names of Jobs daughters as they signified the providences of God towards him and the turn of his state Secondly We may consider these nemes with reference to the personal qualifications or endowments of his daughters and those twofold First their corporal external qualifications Secondly their spiritual internal qualifications which we may well conceive Job had a chief respect unto in giving them these names First He called the names of the first Jemima or Day thereby signifying First the clear natural beauty of that daughter or the brightness of her complexion like the brightness of the day or as if she shined in beauty like the day when beautified by the beams of the Sun Thus Christ spake of the Church Cant. 6.10 Who is she that looketh forth as the morning fair as the Moon clear as the Sun Jobs eldest daughter looked forth as the day she was of a resplendent comeliness and we may well suppose Job who gave her this name had prayed she might have and hoped she would have and doubtless in her time she had not only a beautiful face and a comly feature of body but which is far better a beautiful soul a well-featured disposition of mind much grace and goodness in which sense the Church in the place last mentioned is said to look forth as the morning to be fair as the Moon and clear as the Sun The name Day doth very well shadow both the virgin beauty of the body and the divine unspotted beauty of the soul Secondly he might call her so thereby signifying that as the day is sweet and pleasant so was she both as to her bodily aspect in comeliness and the aspect of her soul in holiness Thirdly say some he called her name Day Vna dies aperit susturit uno dies because beauty bodily beauty they mean is of no long continuance it is but as it were for a day like a flower which a day opens and withers He called the second Kezia or as one of the Ancients renders Cassia signifying spice and perfume to note that she was of a fragrant temper of a winning disposition and conversation Grace and vertue yield the sweetest smell in the nostrils of God and of all good men The Church Cant. 1.3 saith of Christ Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is an ointment poured forth therefore do the virgins love thee These ointments were the precious graces of Christ 'T is so in some proportion with all the godly their ointments the unction of the Spirit poured upon them cast a delightful savour Solomon saith Eccl. 7.1 A good name is better than precious ointment A good name arising from good qualities from grace received and acted is the most precious ointment more precious than all the ointments which affect the sense To be Jemima beautiful in body as the day and not to be Kezia not to have a spirit sweet as Cassia what is it but a piece of pageantry or gilding upon a common post Job called the name of the 3d Keren-happuch or Horn of beauty First with respect to her out-side intimating that she was a great beauty Some say she was called Keren-happuch by an Antiphrasis because she needed not much less used the horn of beauty to make her self beautiful she was even beauty it self Her natural beauty exceeded all that artificial beauty which proud women make shew of by painting their faces She was also a horn of beauty as to her graces and spiritual endowments Thus Job might give his daughters these names not only with respect to the change of his condition but considering the conditions of his daughters both with respect to their bodily beauty and the divine excellency of grace bestowed upon their souls Hence note It is good to give names exciting to vertue and to duty The names of Job's three daughters Day Perfume Nomina bona calcar ad virtutem habent Horn of beauty might stir them up to approve themselves such as their names imported Vertuous names or names of vertue should mind us to do vertuously 'T is also a piece of spiritual prudence and policy to put as the names of excellent things of graces and vertues so of excellent persons such as have excelled in grace and vertue upon our children that they may be provoked to imitate and follow their examples whose names they bear The good wishes and desires of parents concerning children may be silently if I may so speak expressed in their names They who would have their children excel in such a grace or good way may do well to six it in their names Apud nos votiva quasi ob virtutis auspi cium ponuntur vocabula sc Victoris Casti Pii Probi sic apud Hebraeos Micheas Habdias Zacharias caeteraque his similia ex virtutem vocabulo liberis à parentibus
imponuntur Hieron in Proaem Comment in lib. Mich. as prophecying or hoping at least they will really be what they are in name or what their names promise One of the Ancients reports this practice of the Ancients We give names saith he wherein we hold forth our wishes and desires and pray to God that our children may answer the signification of their names Many Scripture-names have mysterious meanings in them Hosea signifieth a Saviour his parents therein prophecying as it were and shewing their faith that he would be a Prophet and prove instrumental for the salvation of others Obadiah signifieth the servant of God his parents gave him that name we may suppose hoping he would and wishing he might be a faithful servant of God Zachariah signifieth the memery or remembrance of God his parents earnestly desiring that God would both remember him which is all mercy to man or that he might alwayes remember God which is all duty to God Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth that is perform all duty to God Nomina erant quasi omina vel monita vel vâ—ta rei futurae We see then it hath been usual among godly parents to give significant names to their children either that they might be minded of the mercies of God to them or of the duties which they were to perform to God I shall only adde for the close of the point this short admonition to all to women especially because the Text speaks of them that As it is useful and usual for parents to give good names to their children so children should have a gracious ambition to make good the signification of their names What will it advantage a man to be called John which signifieth grace if himself be graceless or to be called Obadiah which signifieth a servant of God if he neglect to serve God or to be called Zechariah which signifieth the Remembrance of God if he forget God Again what will it benefit a woman to be called Susanna which signifieth a Lilly a beautiful flower if she be not like that lilly among thorns the Church Cant. 2.2 but only a lilly in the wilderness of this world What will it benefit a woman to be called Tamar which signifieth a Palm-tree tall and strait if her self be of a low base and crooked diâ—position 'T is better to be a crooked shrub in bodily stature than a tall strait Palm-tree with a crooked mind and a low spirit To be named Jemima as fair as Day to be named Kezia as sweet as spice or perfume to be called Keren-happuch as beautiful as the very horn of beauty what will it advantage any women unless they have real vertues and gracious qualities answering these names Yea these names will be real witnesses against them at last and fill their faces with shame To profess our selves to be or to have a name to be what we are not is to be deeply hypocritical and to bear that in our names which we are not nor take any care to be is highly disgraceful But when names are fulfilled in persons when men and women who wear good names are or do the good signified by their names how precious are their names and their memories how honorable And when the good or vertues of the three feminine names in the Text meet and center in the person of any one woman when Jemima the day-light of true knowledge and understanding is joyned with Kezia the perfume of reputation ascending from Keren-happuch store of beautiful graces put forth in the gracious actions of a spotless and unblameable conversation what Pencil is able to draw to the life the ravishing features of such a person Such I believe were those noble Ladies Jobs daughters named in the Text which was the joy of their fathers heart and the staff of his old age Thus much of the names of Jobs daughters and of the signification of them both in reference to the then present change of Jobs estate and the hope he had of their future good estate with respect to the beauty and gracefulness of their bodies but especially to the beauty and graciousness of their souls or minds Now as the beauty and vertues too of Jobs three daughters were implyed and wrapt up in their names so their beauty is plainly expressed in the next words Vers 15. And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughâ—ers of Job and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren In this verse we have two things concerning Jobs daughters First The supereminency of their beauty Secondly The greatness of their dowry or portions bestowed on them by the bounty of their father The former we have at the beginning of the verse And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job When 't is said in all the land we are to understand it of all the land of Vz 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In ea quae sub coelo Sept. Tota terra est sub coelo hic autem restringitur ad certam Regioâ—em Drus Yet the Septuagint extend it to all lands all the world over rendring all under heaven but the word in the Original will not reach so far though the truth might But in all that land were no women or women kind as Master Broughton reads found so fair that is none were so fair as they The word found is to be taken as in that of Moses Exod. 35.23 Every man with whom was found that is with whom there was or who had blue and purple c. brought them And as in that which is spoken of Christ Phil. 2.8 He was found that is he was or appeared in the form of a man So Mal. 2.6 2 Chron. 19.3 For we are not to conceive that there was an inquiry or search made amongst all the women of the land of Vz who was fairest and that upon the return none were found so fair and beautiful as Jobs daughters The meaning is only this none were known so fair as they or they had no known Peers in fairness and this is a sufficient proof that those notable names were not given Jobs daughters without a cause either seen or foreseen at least desired the issue answering the desire In all the land there were none so fair as they There is a bodily fairness and a soul fairness The word into which we render the Hebrew signifieth properly the fairness of the face or body Non sunt inventae juxta filias Job meliores eis Sept. but the Septuagint translate it by a word signifying the souls fairness They say No women were found better than the daughters of Job Their goodness without question as it was far more excellent in it self so more contentful and delightful to him than their fairness But we may very well take in both as was hinted before namely that his daughters were excellent both for the one beauty and for the other Yet I conceive
Pulcritudo terrenae faelicitatis eximia portio est ad dispensationem veteris testamenti pertinens the fairness here spoken of was that of the body and we must reckon it as a part of Jobs renewed felicity not only that he had three daughters as he had before but that his daughters were fairer than any in the land Hence note The bodily beauty of our children is a gift of God and no small one Beauty is not only one of the excellencies of nature but some part of Gods image in man and much respected in women Species corporis simulacrum est mentis figura probitatis Amb. l. 2. de virgin The beauty of the body bears the image of a beautiful mind and is a figure of holiness hence that Scripture phrase The beauty of holiness It is said of Moses He was a goodly child and of Sarah that she was a very beautiful woman so beautiful that Abraham was afraid her beauty might endanger him among strangers Rebeccah also was beautiful and very fair Gratior est pulchro veniens è corpore virtus and though beauty is no grace yet it is a grace to grace Beauty is and duly may be a great attractive of love and affection Though we know it is often an incentive to lust yet it is an attractive of true love What is said of the Church Psal 45.11 So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty thy spiritual or inward beauty is true also of outward or corporal beauty Beauty to some is a portion among men to others a favour from God Beauty is a silent eloquence a tacit perswasion it works much But consider I speak of that beauty first which is natural not artificial I speak not of beauty out of a box but of that which is laid on by the hand of God that 's a blessing and a mercy then especially when it is joyned with better beauty Only remember though bodily beauty be a blessing it is but an inferior blessing it is a gift of God yet an inferior gift And there are many considerations which may keep them humble in their own thoughts who are most beautiful in the eyes of others For First As beauty is a blessing so it is a snare oftentimes and that in two respects First It proveth a snare to them that have it Fastus inest pulchris sequiturque superbia formam If they have not grace it maketh them proud and vain such are often given up to new-fangled inventions their natural beauty will nor serve them they must have artifical set-offs Again much beauty maketh many disdainful of others and they who are so are under the disdain of God and it had been much better for such if they had been the veriest Doudes as some call unhandsome ones or the most deformed creatures in the world Therefore I say remember there is a snare in beauty to those that have it yet by how much beauty hath the more temptation in it by so much are they the more to be commended who being beautiful overcome those temptations and continue humble modest chast discreet and diligent avoiding evil with all the occasions of it turning from every vanity and doing good Secondly Beauty is often a snare to others When the Persian Captive Ladies were presented to Alexander the Great he called them The sores or pain of the eyes He was afraid they might wholly conquer him who had conquered so great a part of the world What reason have any to be proud of that which may insnare and so undo both themselves and others Secondly Consider there is nothing more frail nor sooner lost than bodily beauty A little sorrow a few tears spoil and fully a a fair face a fit of sickness withereth beauty and inevitably old age will do it Est exigui donum breve temporù Sen. in Hippol. at best 't is quickly gone and every day when once at best abates it the longer you have it the less you have of it Some conceive as I toucht before that Job called his eldest daughter Jemima Day because beauty lasteth but as it were a day one day bloweth it and another day blasteth it Formae omnes insidiantur Thirdly Beauty endangers the weaker sex to become a prey to the lusts of adulterous men who often lye in wait for such a booty So then though beauty be a blessing yet we have little reason to be proud of it if these three things be true as who can deny the truth of any one of them which have been said of it and three times three things more might be said of it with as much truth to take all off from over-much valuing it or to abate our valuation of it Therefore above all look to the beauty of the mind that 's a beauty worth the striving after and that is truest bodily beauty which is adorned with soul-beauty or when the beauty of comeliness is associated with the beauty of holiness It had been no great matter of commendation to Jobs daughters that they were the fairest women in all the â—nd if they had not been the holiest The beauty of the mind is ten thousand times more commendable than that of the body the King of heaven desires such beauty It is not a naturally fair face that will make the Lord Jesus desiâ—e you and as for an artificially fair that will cause the Lord Jesus to abhor you The Kings daughter is all glorious within Psal 45.13 her glory is a spiritual glory Solomon hath told us what natural beauty is without spiritual Prov. 11.22 As a jewel in a swines snout so is a fair woman which is without discretion especially that fair woman is so who as the Margin hath it departeth from discretion They are truly beautiful and lovely who have beautiful dispositions and follow beautiful and lovely actions The Lord said of the Jewish Church Ezek. 16.14 Thy renown went forth among the heathen for beauty for it was perfect through my comeliness which I had put upon thee But what was the comeliness which God had put upon her It was the comeliness of divine gifts and graces planted in her and exercised or held out by her That 's the ornament with which the Apostle Peter saith the good women in the old time adorned themselves even the hidden man of the heart a meek and quiet spirit 1 Epist 3.4 5. And let men as well as women strive for these ornaments They that are deformed in person may more than make it up by being conformed to Christ in their ways and works Better be deformed in body and conformed to Christ than to have a well-proportion'd comely body and no conformity unto Christ It hath been said of some wise and worthy men that their souls were ill-housed that is they had ill shap'd or unhandsome bodies But though the house of the body be mean and despicable yet if the inhabitant or the soul be wise and good that makes a mends for
all outward deficiencies yea for deformities and monstrosities whereas if the house of the body be never so well framed and built yet if it be inhabited by a proud unclean ignorant impious soul how doth that spoil defile and dishonour that body and make it no better than a darksome dungeon So far concerning the names of Jobs daughters who being qualified in body and mind according to the import of their names were themselves portion enough to any husband yet Job did not put them off so but gave an honourable share of his plentiful estate to them as it followeth And their father gave them inheritance among their brethren And well they deserved it Their father gave them He made the distribution to prevent contention which often falls out among children and possibly might among Jobs about their fathers estate This was a high favour and somewhat unusual to give daughters inheritance among their brethren they use only to inherit when they have no brethren For among the Jews and probably among the Idumeans it was a custome and it past into a law among the Jews that sons should have the whole inheritance the reason was because their families and inheritances were preserved distinct by the male not so by the females The Hebrew word for a male signifies Remembrance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but that for a female Forgetfulness because daughters lose the name of their family in marriage and therefore daughters did not inherit but when there was no male issue Thus it was in the case of the daughters of Zelophehad their father left no son so they inherited Num. 27.7 An immoveable inheritance came not to daughters they had only a moveable inheritance Illud Inter vel ut in Hebraeo est in medio fratrum aequalitatem quandam communem rationem denotat Pined But Job giving his daughters inheritance among their brethren implyeth as some Interpreters conceive that they had an equal inheritance in lands with their brethren which is also the opinion of our Annotators as if out of love to them and in reward of their vertues he gave to every one of them as to his sons a portion of land to inherit so that they shared proportionally with their brethren by their fathers Will and Testament and were coheirs with them in his estate equally Inter fratres sc ad designandum convenientiam virtutis in utrisque Aquin. Yet those words among or in the midst of their brethren note faith another Expositor only an equality in their good qualities vertues I suppose if you take equally in a strict sense that is just as much foot for foot penny for penny they did not inherit equally but if we take it in a common or large sense so they had as great an inheritance as their bâ—ethren they had as much for daughters as their brethren for sons Their fathers gave them inheritance among their brethren Hence note First It is the fathers duty to provide for his Children 1 Tim. 5.8 If any provide not for his own and specially for those of his own house he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel The Apostles meaning is in that point he hath denied the faith and doth not carry it like a believer no nor so well as unbelievers or infidels commonly do Secondly Their father gave them inheritance Hence note It is the fathers priviledge to dispose of his estate to his children Children must not take their portions their father must give it them Children must not carve to themselves It is the priviledge of the father to dispose of what he hath according to right and reason and the law of the place Thirdly Who were they that had this gift they were his daughters Their father gave them inheritance Hence note Daughters are to be provided for as well as sons Some fathers are all for their sons and neglect their daughters altogether Sons should not be denied their priviledge and daughters should not be unprovided for Sons bear up the name of the family and daughters may bring both strength and honour to the family by matching into worthy families Note Fourthly The better daughters are the better should parents father or mother do and provide for them The reason why Job went so high to give his daughters inheritance among their brethren was because his daughters were not only beautiful but dutiful and though women by sex yet of a masculine spirit The very grammer of the Text as some take notice leads us to this ground of their fathers bounty and nobleness to them he dealt with them as with sons because they had the vertues of sons for in three places the Holy Ghost useth the masculine affixe מ mem where according to ordinary rule he should use the feminine × nun to shew say they that Job was not moved by fond affection to his daughters but sound judgement he seing them exceed their sex in vertue equall'd them in his fatherly provision with those who were of a more excellent sex and dealt with them as with sons in their degree Lastly Observe Children ought to be satisfied with their fathers pleasure in disposing his estate among them We do not hear that there was any discontent in the sons because the daughters had so much nor in the daughters because they had no more both rested in what their father was pleased to do for them How much more should we rest content with that portion and inheritance which our father in heaven provides for us and indeed he will give all his daughters at last inheritance among his sons For as the Apostle speaketh with respect to grace so 't is true in respect to glory There is neither male nor female but Christ is all and in all The grace of God is not more to the male than to the female and as it is in the giving of grace here so it will be in the distribution of glory hereafter Brethren and sisters husbands and wives who are heirs of the same grace of life shall be all heirs together in the life of glory oâ— in the glorious life and therefore let us be content with what portion or inheritance our heavenly father is pleased to give us to allor or allow us in this life JOB Chap. 42. Vers 16 17. 16. After this lived Job an hundred and forty years and saw his sons and his sons sons even four gegenerations 17. So Job died being old and full of dayes THese two verses conclude the History and whole Book of Job and in them we may consider these six things First The length of Jobs life or how long he lived even an hundred and forty years Secondly From whence we are to date this account of his life After this saith the Text lived Job an hundred and forty years Thirdly We have here the great increase of his family he had not only sons of his own but saw his sons and his sons sons even four generations Fourthly
dew 223 224. A three-fold allusion of the dew 226 Disdain or despising who most apt to do it 780 Disposition two-fold 717 Divisions among good men very bad 736 Don the Spanish word for a Lord whence derived 68 Double what it signifies in Scripture 948 Drinking much in bruits is from their constitution not from their lusts 653 Duty God would have us do our best in every duty 38. Two things needful to it 38. Better do duty late than not at all 961 Dwellings appointed by God to every creature sutable to his nature 334 E Eagle what the Hebrew word imports 474. Exceeds any Hawk in three things 475. Two reasons why the Eagle mounts so high 476. Fâ—ur reasons why she makes her nest on high 480. What food she most delights in 484. The quickness of the Eagles eye-sight 485. How she tryeth her young ones 486. Eagles presage or smell a battel long before 488. The similitude between the Eagle and Christ in seven particulars 489 490. The similitude between an Eagle and a true Christian â—pened in seven things 491. Two wings of a greet Eagle are said to be given the Church 493 Earth how immoveable 51 52. The earths foundations 47 52 God the maker of the earth five inferences from it 53 54. Three things in the making of the earth should stir us up to praise God 56 57. The form and firmness of the earth set forth four ways 59 60. Measures of the earth different opinions about it 61 62. Five things admirable in the frame of the earth 65. Inferences from it to thankfulness and an exact frame of life on this earth so exactly framed for us 66 67. What are the garments or clothing of the earth 137. Breadth of the earth 157 158. Two inferences from the greatness of the earth 158 Eastwind much under the dominion of the Sun 199 200 Egypt why not looking to heaven for rain 207 Election of free grace not of fore-seen works 702 Elements their natural order 98 Elephant the manner of his eating grass described 618. Twelve things for which the Elephant is eminent above other beasts 627 628. Four inferences from it 630 Encrease in the field five things needful to produce it 378 Enemy no wisdom in provoking one too strong for us 691 Enemies to be prayed for and how 941 Entreaty the strong will not use entreaties 669 Equinox when 127 Error wise and good men may erre 869 Eternity three sorts of beings 49. God only absolutely eternal 49. Eternity what 50 Exacters of two sorts 339 340 Examples of two sorts recorded in Scripture 1036 Experience experimental knowledge best 793 Eye hath a great force upon the heart in three things 688 689. The Eye called the light of the body in two respects 740 F Face binding of it in secret what 590 Failings God overlooks them in his upright servants 178 Faith the only way of understanding the worlds creation 51. Faith is the eye of the soul 689. Only faith keeps down the prevailings of fear 756. All must be done in a two-fold faith 918. Faith and repentance must go together 943 Fault God will not charge any man beyond his fault 33 Favourites God shews favour to all good men yet some only are his favourites 891 Fear of two sorts 411. A due fear puts us upon the use of means for the â—reservation of our selves and others 412. Fear put for the thing feared 445. That which is not feared is usually derided 447. Fear what it is 733. Fear disturbs reason 755 756. The less natural fear the more perfection 777 Feasting moderate lawful 963. Seven cautions about it 663 Feathers goodly feathers the gift of God to birds 387. Three inferences from it 388. All birds are not of a feather 389 Folly sin is folly shewed four ways 906 907 Food God gives food to all creatures convenient to their nature 342 641 642. Forgetfulness we may be said to forget that which we never had as well as that which once we had 413 Forgiveness God is ready to forgive 882. We should be ready to forgive one another 887 888 Foundation of a building four Attributes of it 46. What the foundations of the earth are 47. Why the earth is said to have foundations 47. What the foundations of the earth are shewed further 52. A different word in the Hebrew signifying a foundation 68. Acclamations used at the laying of the foundation of great buildings 74 Freedom some creatures are free from others bound to service by Gods appointment 328. Inference from it 328. To be free from labour and service is but a low priviledge 329. To desire freedom from duty and service is very sinful 330. A mercy to be free from three yoakes or bonds 331. To be free to serve is better than to be free from service 332. To be forced is grievous 341 Friends their loss a great loss 957. In times of afflâ—ction worldly friends will leave us and godly friends may prove unkind to us 957. Two inferences from it 958. Friends should be friendly 961 Frost and Ice from God 228. Frost compared to ashes in three respects 228. The force of frost 229 230. A two-fold resemblance of frost and ice 231 232 Fruitfulness how the Wilderness will witness against unfruitful professors 215. What spiritual good fruits are 215 216 Fullness of two sorts 1028 G Garment natural what 725. Every creature hath some kind of garment or other 726. Christ and his graces the best garment 726 Gates of death what vid. death Gifts or endowments God gives not all to any one creature and why 421 Gifts or presents a duty to send them in some cases 973. Six sorts of gifts lawful a seventh utterly unlawful 973 Glory that which any creature eâ—cels in is his glory 440 567 569. Glory of God twofold 568 Goates the signification of the word both in the Hebrew and Latine 307. Seven things wherein wild goates resemble a godly man 308 309 God is present with his in troblous dispensations 20. The outward appearances of God very terrible when he intends nothing but mercy 20 21. God is the first being 49. God an eternal being 49. God is the fountain of all being 50. None like God 54. God the proprietor and possessor of all things Inferences from it 55. All creatures are at the command of God 262. Contendings with God See contending God hath terrible ways of revealing himself 530. God hath a mighty power 547. A three-fold gradation in expressing it 547 548. God is full of majesty beauty and glory 570. Inferences from it 571. 573. God terrible to sinners 690. No standing before God four ways 694 695. God is in no mans debt 698. God self-sufficient 700. All things are his by a four-fold title 705. The excellencies of God must not be concealed 722. God terrible 728 729 God is good at any work that is good 795. God is omnipotent 796. God hath right to do whatsoever he doth 799. Not a thought of