places and wheresoever God is Heaven is yet there is more in Heaven then is common to all places That 's Heaven properly where the glory of God shines most and where there is the speciall revealings of his honour and power therefore it is called The habitation of his holinesse and of his glory Isa 63.15 Heaven is as we may speake the place of Gods glorious residence This Heaven is not every where for though God be every where yet he doth not manifest himselfe equally every where God hath built Heaven as that great Monarch Dan. 4.3 spake boastingly of Babylon for the house of his Kingdome and for the honour of his Majesty Quasi a natura insitam suisse opinionem Deum in caelo habitate asserit Aristoteles lib. 1. de Anima cap. 3. A meere Naturalist hath told us That this principle is stampt upon the nature of man that God hath his dwelling place on high or in Heaven Heaven is so proper to God that God is often by a Metonimy called Heaven in the holy Scriptures Thy Kingdome saith Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4.26 shall be sure unto thee after that thou shalt have knowne that the heavens doe rule that is When thou shalt be humbled and brought to this acknowledgement that the God whose Throne and dwelling place is in Heaven sits also upon all earthly Thrones and is King in all the Kingdomes of Men. Christ puts the Question to the Jewes Matth. 21.25 The baptisme of John Whence was it from Heaven or of Men that is Was it from God or from Men Was it a humane invention or a Divine Institution The prodigall Son cryes out Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight that is Both against my earthly and heavenly Father Some because these and the like Scriptures call God Heaven and because it is sayd after the resurrection when all the Saints shall be gathered into Heaven That God shall be all in all upon these mistakes I say they have run into that grosse errour That Heaven is God But when the Scripture calls Heaven the habitation of God the Throne of God the City of God the building of God an house not made with hands it cannot be but a perverting of Scripture and a throwing up of reason to call it God or to say that God and Heaven are the same Nor doth it at all follow that God is Heaven because God shall be all in all to us in Heaven Paul was not teaching the Corinthians there what Heaven is but wherein the happinesse of the Saints shall consist when they shall all be called up to Heaven after the generall resurrection from the dead Then Christ shall resigne up his Kingdome as Mediator to his Father then God shall be all in all in All that is There will be no more need of a Mediator betweene God and Man there will be no more need of Preaching nor of making prayers nor of using Seals All the glasses through which we saw God and the outward Ordinances in which vve enjoyed God in this life shall be layd aside when vve see him face to face and then God will be King and Teacher light and life glory and happinesse to his Saints immediately and for ever 'T is granted That Heaven is nothing to us without God yet God is something yea he is infinitely more then Heaven Solomon bespeakes God thus in his prayer at the dedication of the Temple 1 Kings 8.27 Behold the Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens cannot containe thee how much lesse this house that I have builded If Heaven even the Heaven of Heavens cannot containe God then it is not God That which doth containe a thing is not the thing contained much lesse is that which cannot containe a thing the thing which it cannot containe Againe that which Job cals heaven in one part of the verse he cals high in the other My witnesse is in Heaven my record is on high God dwels in the high and holy place Isai 57.15 And Christ after he had finished the work of mans redemption is said To sit downe on the right hand of the Majesty on high Heb. 1.3 This high place is the highest place all that wee call Heaven is high but all that wee call Heaven is not alike high Heaven is a building of three Stories The aire is called heaven The fowles of the aire are said to flye above the earth in the Firmament of heaven Gen. 1.20 The Clouds are called Heaven Lev. 2.19 I will make your Heaven as Iron and your Earth as Brasse that is I will make the clouds which are soft like Spunges hard like Iron they shall not yeeld a drop of water to refresh the wearyed earth The second Storie is the starrie Heaven where the Sun and Moon move and where those other glorious lights are set like golden studs to adorne comfort and direct the World His going for this from the end of Heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it Psal 19.6 The third is called The habitation of God the heaven of heavens the third Heaven the highest Heaven The Apostle saith of Christ that He ascended farr above all Heavens Ephes 4.10 And yet he then ascended into Heaven the meaning is Christ ascended above all the visible heavens into that which is invisible to us who are on earth This Heaven Job pointed at while he said My record is on high Take foure deductions from it First If Heaven be highest then there is nothing but serenety in Heaven The highest places in a civill sense are full of stormes and so are high places in a naturall sense but the highest places in nature are free from clouds stormes and vapours Naturalists tell us of Olympus a very high Mountaine lifting up its head beyond the middle Region whither no breath of winde ever comes you may draw Letters and Figures in the Sand and come many yeares after and finde them no more stirred then if they had been written in Marble and if the highest places in nature are alwayes serene how serene is the high place of glory When you are once in Heaven you are beyond not onely proper but figurative stormes and winds for ever Secondly Heaven is high therefore it is a pure place Every thing in nature the more high it is the more pure it is Earth is the lowest and the grossest of the Elements the Water next to that is more grosse then the Ayre the Ayre is more grosse then the Fire which Philosophers call the highest of the Elements The higher wee goe the more purity wee finde and when we are in altissimis at the highest there is nothing but purity perfect purity there is not the least mixture of drosse nor the least spot of dirt in Heaven Heaven is all pure and none shall come thither but such as are pure Pure persons are fit for a pure place and only they art fit No uncleane thing shall enter there and he that hath this hope
say What if the wicked man doe not grow rich for the present What if his substance doth not continue What if he prolong not his perfections or fall from the top-stayre of his high condition Yet we hope at last he may outgrow all this and get riches which he had not or regaine those which he had No saith Eliphaz Either the wicked man shall not rise to riches or if he rise he shall fall and when once he is fallen he shall rise no more eithâ—â— he shall not get into the light or if he doe he shall be soon overtaken with darknesse and when once he is in the dark he shall come out no more Hee shall not depart out of darknesse When the wicked man is in the light he sings Loth to depart but he must and when he is cast into darknesse he crys Hast to depart but he cannot The wicked man like the evill Angels is held in chaines of darknesse which he is neither able to break off nor to file off He hath sayd to God who is light yea because he is light Depart from me and God saith to him Thou shalt not depart out of darknesse There is a twofold darknesse First Inward Secondly Outward Both metaphoricall By darknesse some understand inward trouble or griefe of spirit others expound it of outward troubles and calamities upon his estate 'T is true of both for he shall depart neither out of the one nor the other but rather take it here for outward trouble and then Not to depart out of darknesse imports abiding misery irrecoverable sicknesse decayes and losses which shall never bee repayred Hence Note Wicked men falling into trouble shall not know the mercy of a resurrection out of trouble The just man falleth seven times and riseth againe Prov. 24.16 The just man is subject to take falls of two sorts and both of them Seven times that is often First He falls into sin Secondly He falls into trouble He riseth from both these falls He riseth from the first by repentance he riseth from the second by deliverance Solomons Text is to be understood of this second sort of falls and may therefore be expounded by the direct words of David Psal 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth them out of them all The righteous have as many resurrections as falls But as Solomon makes the Antithesis in the place fore-cited the wicked shall fall into mischiefe Solomon doth not tell us expressely what the just mans fals into but he tells us he shall rise againe He tells us expressely what the wicked man shall fall into but he doth not tell us that he shall rise againe nay he tells us implicitely that he shall never rise againe He that riseth againe did not fall into mischiefe how great soever the evill was which he fell into and he that doth not rise againe fell into mischiefe how little soever the evill was which he fell into Nothing makes our falling either into sin or trouble a mischiefe to us but our continuing in it He goes farr we say in our Proverbe who never returnes surely he fals low who never riseth and he stayes long in darknesse who never departs out of it Darknesse is the portion of a wicked man and he shall never depart out of darknesse neither out of that darknesse of sin nor misery he hath no desire to depart out of the former and he hath no promise to depart out of the latter Thus we have seen the negative punishment of a wicked man what he shall not be what he shall not receive this is enough to make him miserable but positive evill will make him outright miserable This Eliphaz prosecutes in the next words The flame shall dry up his branches The flame is taken two wayes either First For the wrath of God which goeth forth causing judgement to take hold of sinners or Secondly For the judgement it selfe which is an effect of his wrath The wrath of God burneth against the wicked as a flame and then judgements burne up the wicked there is no heat to the heat of Divine wrath neither is any thing punitively hot till Divine wrath heats it Sunt qui eius liberâ—s intelligunt sed noâ— allegoriâ—è intelligimus omnem ejus splendorem opes c. Meâ—c The flame shall dry up his branches Some by his branches understand his Children they shall dye Children are branches they stand saith the Psalmist like Olive plants or branches round about the Table of a man fearing God Such branches Job had but they were dryed up and probably Eliphaz might give him a rub upon that soare in this expression Secondly Others by branches understand His followers and flatterers who live upon him as branches upon a Tree but to passe these restrained Interpretations Flamma exurens in Heb. est vehementissimi supplicii atque adeo aeterni symbolum Duci videtur translatio a more hostium vastantium regionem aliquam qui segeâ—â— arberes succendunt I conceive we may take the Branch in generall for all that belongs to a wicked man his Children his Freinds his followers his flatterers his Honour his Riches his Power all these look green and are his beautifull branches and all these the flame dryeth up The Prophet complaines Joel 1.19 O Lord to thee will I cry for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the Wildernesse and the flame hath burnt all the Trees of the Field The flame of which he cryes out and which did not onely dry the branches but devour the Trees of the Feild was the extreame heat of the Sun which as it usually sends out refreshing beams so when God is angry it can send out scorching flames and those beames which tempered with showers of raine nourish the Earth in the long withholding of raine scorch the Earth And what then befell the Trees properly taken and their branches doth often befall both Trees and branches taken in the metaphoricall sense as herein the Text a flame dryes them up A godly man is compared to a Tree flourishing and growing by the water side wicked men are compared somtimes to flourishing Trees but they grow by the fire side The flame dryes up their branches Hence Note First The wrath of God is a drying yea a devouring flame the flame of Gods displeasure puts all into a flame That flame will burn up branches how goodly how strong how high soever they are growne though as strong as the Oakes of Bashan though as high as the Cedars in Lebanon yet this flame will dry them up The Prophet Zechariah speaks this point while he thus bespeaks Lebanon Zech. 11.1 Open thy doores O Lebanon that the fire may devoure thy Cedars 'T is interpreted as a Prophesie of the destruction of Jerusalem and Judea by the Roman power as Christ after threatned them for rejecting him and his Counsell The words of the Prophet may be understood two wayes either litterally for the
destruction of that Forrest of Lebanon which the Romans cut down for the service of their Seige against Jerusalem or figuratively for the flourishing estate of Jerusalem whose branches though like the branches of the Cedars in Lebanon were dryed up by the flame of that dreadfull War In which stile and figure the Prophet Isaiah denounceth the judgements of God Ch. 2.12 13. The day of the Lord shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty c. And upon all the Cedars of Lebanon And the Prophet Ezekiel puts forth this Riddle and Parable Chap. 17.3 Thus saith the Lord A great Eagle that is Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon with great wings long winged full of feathers which had diverse colours came unto Lebanon that is unto Judea and Jerusalem and tooke che highest branch of the Cedar Namely Jehojakim the King of Judah and carryed him Captive to Babylon The Lord can make any affliction a consumption to the most beautifull branches of a sinfull people or person Whatsoever he useth as an instrument of his indignation is his flame In this sense the very waters which drowned the old World were the fire and flame of God He can by poverty as by a flame consume and dry up riches by disgrace as by a flame consume and dry up honour by sicknesse as by a flame consume and dry up health God hath speciall flames for every speciall branch nothing can continue to doe us good when God gives Warrant or Commission to any of his flames to scorch and consume it The flame shall burne up his branch And by the breath of his mouth shall he goe away We have the flame of God in the former clause and the breath of his mouth in this Some Interpreters conceive that Eliphaz mentions these two The flame and the breath purposesy to put Job in minde what God had done to him for we read in the first Chapter of this Book of the flame of God a fire from Heaven consuming that branch his flocks of Sheep and a breath from God namely a mighty strong winde destroying a more precious branch his flock of Children Eliphaz cloathes this discourse in such termes as might easily reminde and represent to Job what God had done to him in the day of his calamity And by the breath of his mouth shall he goe away There is yet a difference among Expositors about the Antecedent to his His mouth whose mouth Most understand it of the breath of Gods mouth as hath been hinted already Some expound it of the breath of the wicked mans owne mouth I shall touch upon both First By the breath of Gods mouth he shall goe away the breath of God may be taken two wayes Either first as the flame before for his anger which is often expressed by puffing the breath Secondly It may be taken for the decree or determination of God Both these wayes a wicked man goes away by the breath of God first by the anger of God if God doe but breath angerly upon him he is blasted and gone His glory and greatnesse langâ—ish before the least puff of Divine displeasure God needs not make great preparations of Armies or Forces to contend with wicked men he needs not raise Mounts and Batteries to overthrow their best Fortifications of Riches and Honour The Channels of waters were seen saith David Psal 18.15 and the foundations of the World were discovered at thy rebuke O Lord at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils The Prophet tels those who neglected to build the House of the Lord Hag. 1.9 Yee looked for much but loe it came to little and when yee brought it home I did blow upon it God did but blow upon it and by the breath of his mouth all their expected encrease went away When Pharaoh pursued the Israelites in the height of pride and presumption the Text saith It came to passe in the morning watch the Lord looked upon the Hoast of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud and troubled the Egyptians and tooke off their Chariot wheeles that they drave them heavily Exod. 14.24 25. God confounded them by a looke how easily can the Lord rise up and destroy all the power that riseth up against his people Hee can doe it with a breath from his mouth With a cast of his eye When Christ was apprehended by the Officers armed with Staves and Swords he sayd Whom seek you They answered Jesus of Nazereth He saith I am he Christ was not afraid to confesse himselfe As soon then as he had sayd unto them I am he they went backward and fell to the ground Joh 18.6 What a strange power was here that Christ could cast them down with a word and that not an angry word not a word of conviction but confession he did not chide them and say Yee wretches how dare you lay your hands upon me who am an innocent person how dare you carry me to judgement who shall one day be your Judge Christ spake no such terrible language but onely sayd I am he and downe they fell If these words of submission had such a force in them as overthrew those Officers to the ground how shall his Enemies stand before the thunder of his severest increpations and finall sentence As the Lord needs not make great provisions for comforting of his people if he speaks a word it is done if he give but a good look their hearts revive Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon me thou hast put gladnesse in my heart Psal 4.6 7. So if God doe but darken his countenance against wicked men and frowne upon them if he doe but breath at them he puts sorrow enough into their hearts even consuming killing sorrow By the breath of his mouth they goe away Againe take the breath of God For the decree of God Verbo vel mandato ex ore Dei procedente Jun. for the word or command which goethout of his mouth by this breath of God they goe away The destruction of the wicked is under a Decree God hath spoken in his holinesse Psal 108. 7 8 9. That is he hath given out his word from Heaven the habitation of his holinesse and of his glory or He hath spoken it certainely there is nothing but holinesse in his word and that 's the strength of words David having received this word stands assured That as Shechem and Succoth Gilead and Manasseh Ephraim and Iudah would willingly submit to him and yeild obedience So also that Moab Edom and Philistia who were his professed Enemies should be subdued to him He expected to conquer and tryumph over them to put them to the basest offices as his Vassals because God had decreed and spoken it in his holinesse God hath spoken the word saith he therefore it shall be done yea 't is done and therefore David cryed All 's mine Gilead is mine Manasseh is mine Moab and Edom are mine as soone as God had spoken the
Olive To lose a hopefull Childe is an affliction what is it then to lose them all Eliphaz having dehorted the wicked man from trusting in vanity upon these considerations gives in the strength of his whole discourse in the two last Verses of the Chapter Vers 34. The Congregation of Hypocrites shall be desolate and fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery 35. They conceive mischiefe and bring forth vanity and their belly prepareth deceit Epilogus est totius loci Merc. Apodosis superioris allegoriae Jobum perstringens cui ista obvenerant Jun. As if he had sayd Here is the summ of all of all the sins and of all the punishments of a wicked man Here are two sorts of wicked men described and these two as was toucht before by a Senechdoche include all The first are such as worship God falsely or with false hearts they draw neer to God with their lips but their hearts are farr from him these are Hypocrites The congregation of Hypocrites shall be desolate As these are false with God in his worship so others are false with men in their commerce and dealings These are comprised in the second branch Fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery Bribery is put for all sins against our Neighbours and hypocrisie for all sins against God So that here we have sinners against the first Table and sinners against the second sinners against God and sinners against men in the compasse of this division all sins and sinners are contained The Congregation of Hypocrites That is Hypocrites how many soever there be of them though they be a full Congregation Hypocrites how strongly soever they are conjoyned and cemented yet they shall be desolate The Hebrew word signifies not onely to Congregate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat non solum congregari sed in faedus pactum aut amicitiam convenire and gather together severall persons into one place but to associate them into a Covenant League or confederacy one with another as if he had sayd Though hypocrites combine and Covenant together yet this covenanting Congregation or these unholy Leaguers shall be made desolate A second interpretation gives it thus Illa quae congregantur ab hypocrita Aquin. The Congregation of hypocrites that is all that Hypocrites doe congregate whatsoever they gather together whether things or persons their Riches their Honours their Relations all shall be desolate Shall be desolate Or barren the word signifies both that which is desolate brings forth no fruit and that which brings forth no fruit will quickly be desolate What an Hypocrite is hath been shewed before Chapter 8. therefore I will not stay upon it but refer you thither where Bildad told Job The hope of the Hypocrite shall perish Onely note two things from the whole The Congregation of Hypocrites shall be desolate First An Hypocrite is under a curse Of all men in the World Hypocrites are deepest under a curse They are most cursed who are most wicked Hypocrites are therefore more wicked then others because they would seem not onely somewhat but much more holy then others It is bad enough to be bad but it is worse to appeare good when we are bad They who delight in the shews of morall goodnesse when they hate or care not for the reality of it shall surely meet with not shewes but realities of penall evill Their painted feigned fire of zeale shall be punished with the true fire of Divine wrath Secondly Observe Hypocrites how many soever they are how strongly soever they are confederate how much soever they have gotten together shall be made desolate It is not possible to make any power to withstand the power of God Though like those uncircumcised Nations Gebal and Ammon and Amaleck the Philistims and those of Tyre they all consult and lay their heads together to make a Congregation yet God will break them all How long soever their traine be how many soever their attendants be and how strong soever their correspondency be yet the Congregation of Hypocrites shall be desolate And fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery Fire may be taken two wayes Either litterally and strictly for the element of fire or for ordinary fire Or it may be taken figuratively and metaphorically and so it signifies Either first The wrath of God Or secondly Any effect of the wrath of God any revenge or judgement which God powres forth on wicked men And so what judgement soever God sends we may call it a Fire even that deluge of Water as hath been noted which drowned the old World was in this sense a fire Divine judgements are represented by fire upon these three grounds First Because as fire they break forth suddenly and unexpectedly they are not like the fire that is for use which we are long preparing and blowing before it will burne but the judgements of God are like an accidentall fire which breaks out when no man looks for it in a moment Os lingua tribui solet igni nam dicitur lambere depascere Secondly They are fire because of their destroying nature so the Text speaks it eates up or devoures Fire is a great eater fire hath a strong stomack what will not fire digest Fire will digest the whole sublunary World at last The Element shall melt with fervent heat Fire will digest Stones Adamant and iron Such is the wrath of God nothing can stand before it it will subdue the hardest materials and toughest peices The hot stomack of the Ostrich as some affirme concocts Iron what will not the heat of Gods anger concoct and consume to ashes Thirdly There is a mercilesnesse in the judgements of God as in fire We say Fire and Water have no mercy there is no intreating them they are not onely hard but impossible to be intreated Such in reference to wicked men is the wrath of God as good speak to fire not to burne or to water not to drowne as to the wrath of God not to consume wicked men it must and will doe it Jer. 15.1 Though Moses and Samuel stood before me c. to intreat yet the sentence shall not be taken off wrath must burn Though prayer hath in many cases quenched wrath yet sometimes the wrath of God cannot be quenched by prayer nor intreated downe there is no speaking to it and sometimes that it might burn quietly the Lord hath sayd Pray not for this people Fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery Tabernacles of bribery may be taken two wayes Either for the Tabernacles of those who have taken bribes Or the Tabernacles of those who have given bribes for there goes as we say but a paire of Shears between him that gives and him that takes bribes both are of a peice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proprie munus quod datur ad corrumpendum judicem Drus and both are alike mischeivous and wicked Some take bribes to pervert Justice and others give bribes to pervert
righteousnesse and that twofold First The way of his heart or his inward way Secondly The way of his hand or his outward way The righteous man holds on in both these wayes he continues his course both in the holy motions of his spirit towards God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inhaerebit justus viae suae Theodol and in the holy actings of his life towards man in this way he is full of motion but he will not move a step nor willingly decline to the right hand or to the left out of this way Here he walkes as to industry and here he stands as to constancy The righteous shall hold on his way Hence Observe First The righteous shall persevere perseverance is at once the duty and the priviledge of the Saints As they are in a good state so they shall goe on in a good way The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4.18 The goodnesse of Hypocrites is as the morning cloud and goeth away as the early dew Hos 6.4 The winde scatters the morning cloud and the rising Sun exhales the early dew thus the goodnesse of the Hypocrite is gone but the goodnesse of the righteous like the goodnesse of God of and from whom it is endureth in its proportion continually Ps 52.1 As they who joyne works to grace make grace to be no grace so doe they who say the worke of grace may be lost or that grace may for ever lose its working The worke of grace may be clouded but grace is no cloud the working of grace may decline but grace cannot dye The righteous shall hold on his way Further This Scripture tells us that he shall hold on not onely in faire way and in good weather but in stormy weather and rugged wayes when his way lyes among sharpe stones and ragged rocks through bryars and thornes yea I may say when his way lyes among Beares and Lyons hee will on Hence Observe A godly man perseveres notwithstanding all seeming discouragements from God and all reall oppositions from men Though God seeme to cast cold water on him yet his fire never goes out and often by a holy Antiperistasis he is inflamed the more while the evill World thinkes to dash him out of countenance and dampe his spirit he is the more emboldned As the Apostles approved themselves the Ministers of Christ so doth every Beleever in his Spheare in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments by honour and dishonour by good report and evill report c. 2 Cor. 6.4 8. Let the way be what it will foule or faire a green Carpet way or a deepe pochy way let it be what it will he goes through thick and thin Paul puts the question and resolves it Rom. 8.35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ He puts it of a person Who shall And he answers about things Shall tribulation or distresse shall these separate us from the love of Christ That is Eyther from that love which we beare to Christ or from that love that Christ beares to us what shall make Christ out of love with us Or what shall make us out of love with Christ Shall any thing Nothing shal for those things shal not which might seem most able to make us out of love with Christ or to tel us that Christ doth not love us Shall tribulation or distresse or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or Sword Nay in all these things we are more then conquerours through him that loved us He loved us therefore he will love us and we shall goe on to love him for through him we shall not onely conquer but over-conquer or more then conquer whatsoever stands in the way to divert us from his love or to render him unlovely Nothing can separate Beleevers from the love which Christ beares to them if any thing can doe it sin can but sin cannot because hee hath more then conquered it by his owne power Nothing can separate Beleevers from the love which they bear to Christ if any thing can tribulation can but that cannot because we shall more then conquer it through his power The righteous shall hold on his way he neither turnes back nor stands still David was sorely shaken and tempted Psal 73. yet his feet were but almost gone and his steps were but wel-nigh slipt As Hypocrites at the most are but almost Christians they are not Christians altogether and as they step at their neerest but wel-nigh Heaven they shall not enter in so the feet of true Beleevers may almost be gone out of the good way but they shall not goe out altogether and their steps may wel-nigh slip from God but they shall be upheld and hence it is that though they have many not onely slips but falls in the way yet they shall neyther slip nor fall quite out of the way this Davids experience taught him at the twenty third Verse of that Psalme Neverthelesse saith he I am continually with thee and thou hast held me by my right hand that is Though I have many troubles in thy way yet I depart not out of thy way I have temptations to leave thee but I will not leave thee I am still with thee I am where I was yet not by any power of my owne but by thy power for thou holdest me by my right hand It is not the hold which we have of God but that which he hath of us that makes us hold on our way We should quickly let goe our hold of God if God had not infinite faster hold of us thou holdest me by my right hand There is a manutenentia Dei an invisible Hand-holding of God by which the whole visible Creation is supported without which no creature could hold on in the way of nature much more is there an invisible Hand-holding of God by which the spirituall creation is supported and without which the new creature cannot hold on in the wayes of grace 'T is the hold which Christ hath of us and the rooting which we have in him by vvhich we are confirmed Cum creverimus in Domino mittemus radices nostras sicut arbores Libani quae quantum in aurat consurgunt vertice tantum radice in ima demergunt ut nulla tempestate quatiantur sed stabili motu consistant Hieron Israel the people of God is sayd to grow as the Lilly and to cast forth his roots like Lebanon Hos 14.5 The Trees of Lebanon are high and spread out their branches but they are also deeply rooted they have as much under ground as above they have as much hold in the earth as they have shew in the ayre As the Saints grow up and spread forth their branches so they grow downe and cast out their roots like Lebanon so that the winds and storms which shake them do indeed but settle them 'T is the goodnesse of the root which
to come while he saith My dayes are past My purposes are broken off 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cogitavit plerumque in malum ali quando in bonum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cujus singularis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod antiquitus legebant Zemma ferre scelus denotat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 autem quod ab eodem themate vocabulum est medium Drus Rupti sunt articuli cordis mei Sept. Convulsae sunt compages corporis mei Aug. The word which we translate Purposes signifies most usually an evill purpose or wicked designements yet it is used also as among the Rabbins so by the Penmen of Scripture in a good sense for a warrantable yea for a holy purpose In the Booke of Proverbs Chap. 1.4 Chap. 2.11 it is translated Discretion or Advisement proceeding from the teachings of wisedome which stirrs up gracious purposes in the soule towards God and every good My purposes are broken off The Septuagint render My heart strings are broken The heart-strings by a metaphor may be taken for purposes because purposes are as Bands or strings upon the heart and therefore when purposes are broken we may say the bands or strings of the heart are broken Another reads The bindings or fastnings of my body are loosned or torne asunder which translation as also the former taken literally notes onely his neernesse to death for when a man dyeth we say his heart-strings breake and his whole body is in a fit of convulsion My purposes are broken The word signifies a violent forcible breaking as if a Giant had broken them But what was it which broke his purposes The violence and continuance of his afflictions was this Breaker or his purposes were broken by the confused motions and troublesome representations of his owne fansie to which sick men are very subject Againe what were those purposes of his which were broken If they were evill purposes he had reason to rejoyce not to complaine if they were good purposes was it not his sin as well as his affliction that they were broken off I answer to that Purposes may be good and yet broken without the sin of the purposer if himselfe be not the cause of that breach and the impediment of their performance If our holiest purposes are broken off by the inevitable providence of God the holinesse of man receives no blemish by it The purposes of Job were good doubtlesse eyther spiritually good or civilly good and they may be taken eyther for those purposes of doing good which hee had before hee fell into trouble or for those which hee had layd up in his brest to doe when he should be againe restored and delivered out of trouble As if he had sayd I once had an expectation of life and I purposed with my selfe what to doe with or in my new life but now those purposes are all broken off for I see my life is ready to be broken off The next clause seemes to explaine this and in that wee shall see more fully what he meanes by these purposes Even the thoughts of my heart Every thought of the heart is not a purpose yet every purpose is a thought of the heart our thoughts are made up into purposes eyther what to doe or not to doe Hence it is usuall to say I thought to have done such or such a thing that is I purposed to doe it Therefore Job might well say My purposes are broken off even the thoughts of my heart because purposes are nothing else but a frame or pack of thougts there is an elegancie in that word which we translate Thoughts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Possessiones cordis a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cogitationes meae avulsae sunt quas possidere solebat animus meus Jun. The Hebrew is The possessions of my heart so we put it in the Margin of our Bibles A learned Translator renders it thus The thoughts which my minde was wont to possesse are puld or snatcht away he meanes it not of all his thoughts as if his power of thinking had been lost but of those speciall thoughts which he had or hopes which he nourished about his restoring to happy dayes these once possessed his heart but they were gone Thoughts are called the possessions of the heart two wayes Dicuntur cogitationes possideri a corde quid enim magis proprium aut innatum cordi quam suae ipsius cogitationes Drus Coc. First In a passive sense Secondly In an active sense Passively Because they are possessed by the heart the heart doth enclose and hold our thoughts The hear◠is the naturally proper vessell or receptacle of thoughts therefore they are called the possessions of the heart The heart is the soyle and seat of thoughts there they are planted and there they dwell Actively For as thoughts are possessed by the heart so thoughts possesse the heart thoughts are full of activity they trouble and they comfort the heart looke what our thoughts are such is the state of our hearts if our thoughts be quiet our hearts are quiet if our thoughts be unquiet our hearts are unquiet if our thoughts be joyful our hearts rejoice if our thoughts be sad our hearts are sorrowfull 'T is sayd in the Gospel L. 24.38 Why are ye troubled why do thoughts rise in your hearts that is Why doe troublesome and disconsolate thoughts rise in your hearts 'T is as natural for thoughts to rise in the heart as it is for water to rise in a spring therefore Christ did not chide them because thoughts but because such thoughts did rise in their hearts We cannot hinder our hearts from thinking no more then wee can hinder the fire from burning or water from wetting but 't is our duty to hinder our hearts from undue or discourageing thoughts and to check them for thinking so Thoughts rule the heart and put it into severall frames and formes according to their owne likenesse and therefore it is both our wisedome and our holinesse to put and keepe our thoughts in the best likenesse The heart in a figurative sense is nothing else but the frame of our thoughts and our thoughts in a proper sense are nothing else but the possessions of the heart Tabulae cordis Chald. Further The Chaldee Paraphrase saith The Tables of my heart are broken so it is an allusion to writing The Law was written at first in Tables of Stone and now a heart of flesh not a fleshly heart is the Tables of the Law our hearts are Tables both for our owne writing and for Gods Job had written many purposes upon those tables therefore he might well say as in this case My purposes or all that was written upon the Tables of my heart are broken In my thoughts I had written and set downe many particulars which I purposed to have done Scriptura cordis nunc litura est Pined but now those lines are crossed or quite blotted out God writes many of his owne thoughts in