downe the Bucklers They who contend for victory rather then for truth will not be answered how much soever they are answered And they who are more loath be foyled then willing to bee rectified will hardly submit to the plainest and clearest evidence The second reading is What doth provoke thee to answer Quid exacer bu â—e ut respondeas Jun. or What imbitters thy spirit that thou answerest As if Job had said Surely Eliphaz my fayre discourse with thee should have stopped the course of this severe proceeding with me before this time thou hast loaded me with hard words and uncharitable jealousies but have I spoken provokingly or bitterly to thee My conscience tells me that I have not and thou knowest I have not He that impartially reads over Jobs answers to Eliphaz may finde here and there a sowre passage but as we say Proverbially You must give loosers leave to speake The wise Physitian heares his Patient giving him uncomely language yet will not heare it much lesse retort or answer so againe They who are in paine must be borne with though they provoke it must not be called a provocation and though they give offence yet it must not be taken When the Childe cryes the Nurse sings God himselfe beares with the manners of his people so the word intimates Acts 13.18 as a Mother doth with a froward Childe and so should we with the frowardnesse of our weake and afflicted Brethren So that in this sense the provocations which Job gave his Freinds were not to be reckoned as provocations and he might well say to Eliphaz What provoketh thee to answer If I in the case I am in have spoken passionately Wilt thou be provoked by it Thou shouldest not Thou oughtest to passe it by and cover it with the garment of charity Yet further we may take the words as a totall denyall of any provocation given on his part Whence Note Some will speake harshly to and of those who never provoked or gave them cause Water runs cleare till 't is troubled and stirr'd by some outward violence But the spirits of some men run muddy though nothing from without stirrs them The Prophet compares all wicked men to the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt Isa 57.20 The Sea is not alwayes troubled when the Windes are quiet that is quiet wee often see a smooth Sea as smooth as Glasse A wicked man is like the Sea when 't is enraged he is such a Sea as knows no calme he is like the Sea not onely when it is troubled but when it cannot rest Though no breath of Winde from abroad offend him yet he stormes He hath lusts in his owne bowels which provoke him when nothing else doth yea those lusts within provoke him when all without labour to pacifie him So David complaines Psal 120.5 7. Woe is mee that I sojourne in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar that is With the Sons or descendants of Ishmael who have learned of their Father to mock and persecute I dwell in the Tents of Kedar But what caused them to mock and persecute Was it any provocation that David had given them No for he saith in the next words I am for peace I would live quietly with all my heart but when I speake they are for Warr. A motion for Peace becomes a provocation to Warr It is sinfull to speake rashly or harshly though we are provoked what is it then to speake so when we are not provoked They angred Moses at the waters of strife they provoked his spirit yet it went ill with Moses for their sakes when he spake unadvisedly with his lips Psal 106.32 33. But what was this unadvised speech Moses reports his owne infirmity Numb 20.10 11. And Moses and Aaron gathered the Congregation together before the rocke and he sayd unto them Heare now yee Rebels must we fetch you water out of this Rock And Moses lift up his hand and with his Rod he smote the Rock twice c. The errour of Moses in this businesse was twofold First That he did not onely smite the Rock but smite it twice with the Rod in his hand whereas he had order onely to take the Rod in his hand and speake to the Rock before their eyes and it should give out water Vers 8. His second errour was that he did not onely speake to the people for which in that transaction he had no order from God but spake bitterly and harshly to them calling them Rebels and slighting them Must we fetch water for you c What for you who are a murmuring and gainsaying people God knew the stubbornenesse of that people and their rebellions against him yet he did not call them Rebels but sayd in the close of the eighth Verse So shalt thou give the Congregation and their Beasts drinke God had more reason and power to call them Rebels then Moses had yet he did not And because Moses did that unadvised speech of his and the actions which attended it were called Rebellion at the twenty fourth Verse of the same Chapter Yee saith the Lord of Moses and Aaron rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah Now if Moses was thus reproved and censured by God himselfe for speaking passionately to a people who had provoked both God their Deliverer and him their Leader what reproofe doe they deserve who either upon none or very little provocation call their Brethren Hypocrites Hereticks Scismaticks Rebels perjured persons men of prostituted consciences or at least of unsettled and uncertaine Principles will not the Lord take notice of this bitternesse even in those who are his precious Servants towards their fellow-servants when he layd so heavy a penalty as non-admission into the promised Land upon a payre of the most eminent and faithfull Servants that ever he called forth to his work since he layd the foundations of the World This fals heavy upon the present age Whence is that bitternesse that Gall and Wormewood which fals from many both tongues and Pens every day What hath provoked them thus to speak and write I confesse there have been provocations and some doe but give Gall for Gall and Wormewood for Wormewood yet it cannot be denyed but that many speak and write bitterly when they have had no provocation yea most who speake bitterly have been treated gently and few who answer angerly will be able to give a good account what hath provoked them thus to answer and how much soever any man hath been provoked the Lord may justly make him smart for such smartnesse in answering It will not beare us out in acting or speaking besides the rule because others doe so Paul shewes us our duty in his owne practice 1 Cor. 4.12 13. Being reviled we blesse bâ—ing defamed we entreat Wee must not defame them that defame us we must not revile our revilers Then woe to those who revile such as blesse them and defame such as entreat
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
of their hearts is to God and they love God with all their hearts which is the fulfilling of the Law So that the obedience of the Angels in Heaven is made the copy and patterne of our obedience here on earth as Christ hath taught us to pray though I say the Angels are thus perfectly righteous in reference to the Law yet there is a higher righteousnesse and holinesse in God There 's but the holinesse of obeying a Law God hath the holinesse of being a Law They have a holinesse without spot yet it is but a finite a created holinesse now what comparison is there betweene finite and infinite created and uncreated therefore though there be no blemish in the obedience of Angels none in their nature none in their lives yet God puts no trust in them he cannot lay the weight of his confidence upon them because they are creatures The next clause doubles this point And the Heavens are not cleane in his sight There is a difference among Interpreters what these Heavens are The Chaldee Paraphrast and some of the Ancients understand the Angels as in the former part of the Verse and they say the Angels are called the Heavens under a twofold consideration First Because Angels are like the Heavens in their spirituality and incorruptibility in their order and subordination among themselves as also in their power over sublunary or earthly bodies Secondly By a Synechdoche because the Angels have their habitation in Heaven that 's their dwelling place so Master Broughton translates Nor they of Heaven be cleane in his eyes that is the Inhabitants of Heaven are not cleane in his eyes Caeruleus Tibris caelo gratissimus amnis i. e. diis vel caelicolis Virg. l. 8. The Heathen Poet calls those whom he supposed dwellers in Heaven by the Name of Heaven describing a pleasant River he calls it A River pleasant to Heaven that is to those who are in Heaven Others by Heaven understand the Saints in Heaven not the Angels and that also upon a twofold reason First Because God is said to dwell in the Saints Sancti in quibus tanquam in caelis habitare dicitur Deus caeli dicuntur quae allegoria frequentissima est inter antiquos patres Pined they are his habitation and wheresoever God dwels he makes a Heaven Secondly Because the Saints not onely those in Heaven but they on earth have their conversation in Heaven Phil. 3.20 As carnall and earthly minded men are called Earth because their hearts and conversations are fixed to the earth so spirituall and heavenly minded men may be called Heaven because their hearts and conversations are fixed in Heaven Thirdly We may rather understand it in a proper sense the heavens that is The heavenly bodies are not cleare in thy sight the heavens are the most excellent and purest part of the Creation And therefore this interpretation or rather plaine construction of the words suites the scope of Eliphaz fully who as he spake before of the Angels who are the purest of all rationall creatures so here of the heavens which are the purest of all inanimate creatures Caeli qui maxÃmè sunt lucidi suas habent maculas partesque crassiores magisque opacas materiales in re igitur er fectissima vidit Deus ma ulas Pineâ— yet these are not pure in the sight of God therefore no man is The heavens have a kinde of uncleannesse in them the Moone hath her spots yea the Moone is but a spot if Philosophers may be credited who tell us that all the Stars in their sense the Moone is a Star are but as the spots of Heaven A Starre as they define being the thicker and grosser part of its Orbe The heavens themselves are so fine and liquid so thin and fluid that they cannot hold the light therefore the Lord made those Celestiall bodies the Sunne Moone and Stars more compact and grosse that so they might both receive and retaine the light as also transmit and give it out to the World here below These are spots in the Heavens and though they appeare as the glory or Beauty-spots of Heaven to our sight and are so indeed yet these are not cleane in the sight of God Againe the heavens are furthest removed from all earthly dregs and drosse In conspectu ejus Aliud est purum esse simpliciter aliud purum esse coram Deo ut justus justus coram Deo differunt Luc. 1. 6. Drus so that they are cleane not onely in regard of their nature and constitution but also in regard of their site and position being placed so far from the sinck of the World the earth they never received any staine or defilement from it yet these heavens are not cleane in his sight God doth not make that which is cleane not cleane by his seeing it but his sight is infinitely above all the cleannesse which he sees That may be cleane considered simply or in it selfe which before God or to the eye of God is as an uncleane thing Hence Note God is so clear-sighted that the cleanest creatures are uncleane in his sight the very cleannesse of the creature is uncleannesse before him much more compared to him For if one creature may be so cleane that another creature which is cleane may be sayd to have no cleannesse in comparison of it Then surely God is so cleane that the cleanest creatures have indeed no cleannesse in comparison of his The Stars are very beautifull bodies and full of light yet the Sunne hath so much light that it darkens all the Stars and causeth them to disappeare when it appeareth Now if the Stars have no light in the sight of the Sunne what light hath the Sunne in the sight of God he that puts all the perfections that the creature hath into the creature hath infinitely more perfection in himselfe Those excellencies which are divided and scattered all the Creation over are not onely contracted and united in God but unconceiveably exceeded by him Job having thus layd downe the former part of his argument he applyes it Vers 16. How much more abominable and filthy is man who drinketh iniquity like water Concerning the Saints he sayd onely God puts no trust in them and concerning the Heavens They are not cleane in his sight But now that he speakes of man he doth not say God puts no trust in him or he is not cleane in his sight but he layes load upon him He is abominable and filthy and as if that were not enough he aggravates it with How much more abominable c. If he put no trust in glorified Saints in whom yet there is no iniquity then no marvell if man be called abominable who drinketh iniquity like water The whole Verse is a description of mans sinfulnesse First of the sinfulnesse of his nature in those words He is abominable and filthy Secondly of the sinfulnesse of his life He drinketh iniquity like water How much more
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