of the mighty power of God See how Jobs discourse moves from earth to heaven and from the heavens down to the sea He searches for the wonders of Gods power and wisdome in heaven and earth and in the waters Before he shews God stopping the course of the Sunne and sealing up the stars now spreading out of the heavens and treading upon the sea He spreadeth out the heavens The heavens in reference to the earth are the upper part of the world The heavens are as it were the roof of the great house which God made or as a spangled Canopy over our heads He spreadeth out the heavens The word is of the Duall number in the Hebrew and hath divers derivations which are considerable to enlighten us in the point 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à He spreadeth out the heavens Some derive it from Shem which signifies a name a name of honour and dignity Men of Name are men of renown Gen. 6.4 Nomen gloria decus quia coelum est nominatissima pars mundi Mâ—rtin in Lex â—bilos Anshi Hashem the heavens are the most glorious beautifull and renowned part of the Creation Their name is above every name of inanimate creatures Others because there are waters above in these heavens derive the word from Sham which is an adverb of place and Majim which signifies waters as much as to say there are waters or there is the place where God hath fountains and stores of water All his waters are not upon the earth he hath waters and springs in heaven A third takes it for a simple not a compound word Paulus Fagius in Gen. 1. being neer the Ishmaelitish word Shama noting only superiority in place high or above A fourth opinion derives it from Schamem which signifies to be amazed or to make one at a stand with wonder And the reason is given because the heavens are such a vast stupendious body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obstupuit propter insignem vastitatem istius corporis quae ipsa nos aspicientes in stuporem rapit Pisc in Gen. 1. that if a man look upon them exactly they will amaze him Who can observe the Sunne Moon and Stars and not wonder and be transported at their vastnesse and beauty at the swiftnesse and regularity of their motions it is above the reach and apprehension of naturall reason how the Lord should fashion and spread out such heavens But what are these heavens which he spreadeth forth Heaven is sometimes expressed with an addition the highest heavens the third heavens in 2 Cor. 12.12 The heaven of heavens 1 King 8.27 Paul was rapt up to the third heavens that is in visions and revelations he was brought as neer to God himself as a creature possibly can Of this heaven we are to understand that Gen. 1.1 where Moses saith In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and void He doth not say the heaven which God created at first was without form and void but the earth was without form and void for that heaven was a perfect creature We read further of the creating of those heavens which we see of the visible heavens which are the continent of the Sunne Moon and Starres But In the beginning God created the heaven that heaven which by way of eminency is called The habitation of his holinesse and of his glory Isa 63.15 This was created in the beginning and then it is conceived the Angels were likewise created but the earth which was then made was an imperfect creature and all other corporeall creatures with their severall forms and fulnesse were extracted out of that earth which was without form and void The very heavens which we see were made out of that first earth the Sunne Moon and the Stars yea the very light it self was made out of that earth that generall heap of matter which the Lord created at first and is said to have been without form and void But the heaven which we call the heaven of heavens the third heaven or the highest heaven was a perfect creature the first day made without any pre-existent matter whatsoever by the power of God This heaven is the largest of all the heavens which God spread out Secondly Take heavens for the visible heavens I intend not to stay upon philosophicall considerations only what the Scripture holds forth we finde heavens put first for the starry heavens or the firmament where the stars have their motion that 's the heaven meant Gen. 1.17 Psal 8.7 Psal 19.1 This aâ—cording to the doctrine of Astronomers is distinguished into severall orbs and sphears in seven of which seven speciall starres are said to move and all the rest to be fixed in the eighth The Apostle Jude seems to give a hint of those planeticall orbs Jude v. 13. where he justly reproacheth unsetled spirits by the name of wandering stars or planets to whom is reserved the blacknesse of darknesse for ever Thirdly Heaven is taken in Scripture for a nearer heaven for all that which is below the Moon for the air and the clouds Hence the birds are said to flie in the heavens and Gen. 8.2 the rain from heaven was restrained that is the rain from the clouds for there is no rain in that heaven above the clouds Triplex est coelum aerium sidereum ac aliud his superius invisible divinum Dam. l. â— de orthodoxa fide Heaven is a building of three stories The first story is the air and the clouds up to the moon The second story reaches all the planets and stars The third story is also called the third heaven or the heaven of heavens the place of his most glorious residence who filleth heaven and earth All these heavens the Lord spreadeth out There is a threefold spreading forth of a thing First By contusion or beating with hammers as a masse of gold or silver c. is spread into thin plates and leaves Secondly By way of rarefaction or attenuation water is rarefied by fire and so are metals when they are melted or caused to runne with extreme heat In allusion to which Elihu speaks in his challenge to Job Chap. 37.18 Hast thou with him spread out the skie which is strong and as a molten looking-glasse The skie is of a weak sleight matter not hard massie or elementall yet it is strong the nature of it being incorruptible the figure of it round and indissoluble And it is compared to a looking-glasse for the clearnesse of it those instruments were made some of glasse some of steel or brasse molten and polisht for that purpose Thirdly A thing is spread forth by unfolding the parts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Extendit disteâ—dit sicut tentoriâ—m as a tent or a curtain is spread and thus the spreading of the heavens is described Psal 104.1 2. O Lord thou art cloathed with honour and majesty thou stretchest out the heavens
trials of the Saints They are occasions to shew forth their vertues and their graces They give proofs both to God and the world what manner of men they are Tried ones are precious ones many others are so but these appear what they are they have shewed their metall All true faith is good but tried faith is best 1 Pet. 1.7 That the triall of your faith that is that your tried faith being much more precious then of gold that perisheth may be found unto praise c. Prudens futuri temporis exitū Caliginosa nocte premit Deus Ridetque si mortalis ultra Fas trepidat c. Horat l 3. Car Od. 29. Besides these two interpretations I shall adde for a close two more which may further illustrate the meaning of this laughter ascribed to God at the triall of the innocent First or Thirdly He laughs at the fears and sad fore-casts of his people who not being able to look thorow second causes and see the ends of things in their beginnings presently judge all 's lost the Church must be ruin'd and the Saints undone because thus tried Now God knowing the end of all actions not only at their beginning but from the beginning yea from eternity he looking thorow the blackest clouds and darkest nights upon the issues of all things derides the simple conjectures of men about them The very Heathens have given us such a notion of God in laughter Secondly or Fourthly God laughs at the laughter and derides the joies of wicked men who see his innocent ones tried For they say in their hearts and it may be with their tongues Happy we who have scaped such a scouring we would not have been in their coats for a world better die then live to bring our selves into such troubles Or thus Now the day is ours we have prevailed These men are catcht and entangled we shall doe well enough with them now The Lord hearing such language at the triall of the innocent laughs to thinke how those wretches shall see themselves deceived when they see these who were fallen rising again or God by their fall raising others and setting his King upon his holy hill of Sion Lastly As God laughs at the triall of the innocent so let the nocent and impenitent remember and tremble at it that God will laugh at the approach of their torments and mock when their fear commeth when their fear commeth as a desolation and their destruction as a whirlwinde Job having thus shewed how the innocent are afflicted shews in the next verse how the wicked are exalted from both he infers that there can be no judgement made of any mans inward state whether he be innocent or wicked upon his outward state whether he be prosperous or afflicted The innocent are under the scourge and the wicked are upon the throne and who doth these things but God himself that 's the sum of this 24th verse Verse 24. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked he covereth the faces of the Judges thereof if not where and who is he The earth is given into the hand of the wicked The earth Earth may be taken strictly for the element of earth as it is opposed to fire water and air Not so in this place But more largely earth is put for all earthly things as Psal 115.6 The heaven of heavens is the Lords but the earth hath he given unto the children of men that is he hath divided all earthly comforts as a portion or inheritance among men their lot falleth there Thirdly Earth is put for the inhabitants or people of the earth Psal 100.1 Praise him all ye earth so the Hebrew which we translate Praise him all ye people of the earth Isa 24.4 The earth mourneth and fadeth away that is they who dwell on the earth Fourthly By the earth we may understand speciall Countries or Nations tracts or parts of the earth Fiftly The earth is put for earthly minded men and for the false Church Revel 14.3 The Saints are redeemed from the earth that is God hath fetcht them out from amongst false worshippers and impure ones he hath rescued them from the world of Idolaters and from the superstitious multitude In this place earth is to be understood in the second third or fourth notion namely for all earthly comforts or for the Provinces and Kingdoms of the earth or for the inhabitants and people of the earth These are given into the hand of the wicked Given The Lord makes as it were a deed of gift of these things unto wicked men So in the 15th of this book ver 19. Vnto whom alone the earth was given and no stranger passed among them which some expound of the righteous No stranger passed among them that is none came in to invade them Or as others render it No strange thing that is no unjust thing came in amongst them they had the earth in their own power and rightfull possession Nihil alienum sc injustum Jun. To be given noteth two things or there is a double act of giving There is a gift by providence and a gift by promise When the Lord is said to give the earth into the hand of the wicked we are to understand it of that common providentiall gift whereby he disposeth of all things to all men no man hath any thing but by the gift of God Thus wicked Jeroboam had the Kingdome of Israel given him and so had hypocriticall Jehu for four generations They served the providence of God and the providence of God exalted them Act. 17.26 He hath made of one bloud all Nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation that is he hath as it were chalked out and drawn a line where the bounds and habitations whither the dominions and possessions of such men shall be extended and where they shall be confined That 's a gift of providence There is a speciall gift of promise peculiar to believers Ro. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but gave him to die for us how shall he not with him also freely give us all things that is all worldy things or we may take in whatsoever else concerns our spirituall estate besides Christ All the things of Christ yea and all worldly things come in to the Saints as a gift by Christ who is himself the greatest gift that ever man received or that God could bestow How shall he deny us any thing when he hath given us him who is above all things 1 Cor. 3.22 23. Whether Paul or Apollos or the world all is yours for ye are Christs Believers enjoy earthly things by an heavenly title Christ is their conveiance In this sense the earth is not given to the wicked the Lord gives them nothing in Christ or for Christ as a Saviour in the Covenant of Grace Christ as a Lord hath bought the wicked 2 Pet.
am impure and shall be at my best vvhich sense falleth in directly with the two verses following Though I wash my self with snow-water and make my hands never so clean yet thou wilt plunge me in the ditch and mine own clothes shall abhorre me Taking up that interpretation I shall connect it with these two verses and open them in order Verse 30. If I wash my self with snow-water and make my hands never so clean Washing is an act proper to the cleansing of the body In lege multae erant purificationes quas Deus sortè instituit ut populum aliarum gentiuÌ„ talibus ceremoniis assuetum facilius adduceret ad cultum veram Pined or of bodily things and in Scripture-story we finde travellers had water provided for them at their journeys end to refresh and cool their bodies These were civil washings But besides these we finde many ceremoniall washings of the body or bodily things which implied the removing and taking away of sinne and so were a token of internall purification Therefore the Apostle Heb. 9.10 describing the Jewish worship and shewing the severall parts of it saith It stood we supply that word but it sutes the text well for the substantials the pillars upon which their worship stood were shadows consisting in meats and drinks and divers washings In allusion to which the Lord promises Ezek. 36.25 I will sprinkle you with clean water And the Apostle Peter speaks of the sprinkling of the bloud of Christ 1 Pet. 1.2 And Paul of the laver of regeneration Tit. 3.5 The Saints who came out of great tribulation are said to have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb Revel 7.14 Sanctification which is cleansing from the filth of sinne and justification which is cleansing from the guilt of sinne are set forth by washing 1 Cor. 6.9 But ye are washed Thus the Prophet counsels the polluted Jews Isa 1.16 Wash you make you clean which he expounds by a morall duty in the next words Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to doe evil Antiquèssimum suit uti balneo aut corporis ablutione ad detergendas animi sordes Ab nimium faciles qui tristia crimina caedis Fluminea â—olli posse putatis aqua learn to doe well It was usuall among the Heathen to wash as a sign of purification especially before they went to worship their gods or after they had defiled themselves with some greivous crime One of the Poets gives them a reproof O ye who are so credulous or easie of belief to thinke that the bloody sinne of murthering the bodies of other men can be taken away by washing your own bodies a Romani noâ—uerunt parricidas nudos sed in culeum insutos influmen abjicere ne cum delati esseâ—t in mare ipsum polluerâ—nt quo caetera quae violata sunt expiari putantur Cic. in Oraâ— pro R sc They had a great opinion of a cleansing vertue in the sea to which some thinke the Prophet Micah alludes Chap. 7.19 He will cast all their sinnes into the depths of the sea b â—hristianus lotus oret Tert. de orat c. 10. Clem. l. 8. Const c 88. Aliqui ex latinis legunt aquis vivis non aquis nivis Pined The ancient Christians using to wash before they praied shewed a little touch at least of Judaisme or of their old Gentilisme Some have given this for one reason why the Lord appointed so many washings among his people that the Heathens might be the easier gained to the religion of the Jews when they found somewhat symbolizing with their customes among them which if it were so yet it cannot bear out those who have mixed Christian worship with Heathenish observations thereby to facilitate their conversion But doubtlesse Job had reference to those rites either of the Jews or Gentiles when he said Though I wash my self with snow-water Why with snow-water That is say some with the most pure water with the clearest springing fountain water or in the most crystall streams not in the water of melted snow but in water like snow for purity and orient clearnesse Others Conceive it an allusion to that peculiar rite in those times when they took snow-water to wash with rather then spring or river water because that came from the heavens not from the earth here below and was therefore in their opinion more excellent in it's nature because it had a more excellent originall Thirdly Job is thought to specifie snow-snow-water because in those Countreys the fountain or river-river-water was not pure and therefore they preserved snow and took that water to wash and cleanse with As the custom still is in those places where good water is a rare commodity Or lastly He may say If I wash in snow-water because he would expresse the cleanest washing such as makes the body look like snow white and pure White as snow is a proverbiall Isa 1.18 for the most resplendent whitenesse In Scriptura talibus aliquis dicitur lotus qualtum reserre videtur similitudinem Sanct. And we finde in Scripture a thing is said to be washed vvith that the likenesse of vvhich after washing it represents Thus the Church glories in Christ That his eyes were as the eyes of a Dove by the rivers of water washed with milk Cant. 5.12 that is his eyes were white as milk after washing So here Though I wash my self with snow-water that is though I wash my self till I become as white and as pure as snow c. We read a like phrase Psal 51.9 Purge me with hysop and I shall be clean in allusion to the Leviticall law which appointed the Priest to sprinkle both things and persons with a bunch of hysop Levit. 14. Numb 19. So the Chaldee paraphrase expounds the Psalm Cleanse me as the Priest sprinkling with hysop cleansed the people Though I wash my self with snow-water And make my hands never so clean The Hebrew text is very emphaticall Though I wash mine hands in purity which some expresse by that which is the instrument of purifying the hands Though I wash my hands with sope So M. Broughton Though I wash my hands with wash-bals to make my hands clean and sweet We translate though not to the letter of the Hebrew yet to the sense Though I wash my hands never so clean yet c. As the former expression referreth to internall holinesse so this later to externall The hands in Scripture note our outward works Hands are the executive part the instruments of action Your hands are full of bloud Isa 1. that is your actions are cruell and bloudy there is not only bloud in your hearts but in your hands too Psal 26.6 I will wash mine hands in innocency so will I compasse thine altar that is I will make all my outward conversation pure and holy The Lord hath rewarded me according to the purity of my hands Psal 18.20 Again Psal 73.13
the former context exalted the power and wisdom of God in many instances and closed all with an admiring sentence He doth great things and unsearchable marvellous things without number He in these words seems to give a proof of those attributes of Gods works that they are innumerable and unsearchable c. Verse 11. For loe he goeth by me and I see him not he passeth on also but I perceive him not As if he had said I am not able to reckon how often he worketh for I cannot alwaies perceive when he worketh I am not able to search out all his great and wonderfull actings for I cannot see him in many of his actings He goeth by me and I see him not The Lord is said to goe by us not in regard of any locall motion for he that filleth all places moves to none Doe not I fill heaven and earth is the Lords query of himself to those who thought to play least in sight with him And he convinces them that they could not be hid from him in secret places because he fils all places There is no place to be found beyond the line of heaven and earth both which God fils Jer. 23.24 Then his motion is not locall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mutavit variavit rem vel locum denotat mutationem conditionis vel loci Mol. in Ps 90. 6. but providentiall God doth not move to act but his acting is his moving He goeth by us doing marvellous things for us and we see not when he is doing or what he is doing The other word here used He passeth on is of the same sense yet more peculiar and proper to the motion of spirits we had it in the fourth Chapter vers 15. A spirit passed before me saith Eliphaz when he speaks of the vision that appeared It signifies to change and vary either place or condition The transitory changablenesse of the creature is expressed by it Psal 102.27 Thou doest change them and they shall be changed the creatures passe on as from place to place so from condition to condition The fashion of them passeth away 1 Cor. 7.31 They have not only a perfective change but a corruptive change but of the Lord he saith Thou art the same and thy years shall have no end The word is used for changing by oppressive destruction Prov. 31.8 Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction or death Such as are appointed to that great change are called a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Filij excidij i. e. qui traâ—untur excidio Jun. in loc The Sons of change or destruction Thus the Originall So that the word signifieth any change or motion whether perfective or corruptive The Lord saith Job passeth on he maketh changes he worketh sometimes to perfect sometimes to destroy but I perceive him not I am not able to make out what he doth Here are two words one referring to sense the other to understanding He goeth by me and I see him not that is my senses cannot finde him He passeth on also and I perceive him not that is he destroieth he buildeth he planteth he rooteth up but I am not able to apprehend him or unriddle the meaning of his wonderfull works He doth great things and things unsearchable b NoÌ„ est una interpretatio hujus divini ac cessuâ— recessus Pined There is much variety of opinion about the meaning of these words though I think the meaning is clear in that generall I have now given Yet I will touch a little First Some interpret Jobs discourse conversing still in and about the c Multa sunt naturalia quorum suprenum auctorem Deum vel opus inchoantem vel ab opere cessantem noÌ„ observamus atque ita praecedenti sententiae haec innectitur tanquam illius subjecta ratio Id. Quemadmodum sit in omnibus extra omnia supra omnia sciri non potest Olymp. naturall works of God the earth the heavens the waters and the air of which he had spoken before as also about the body of man Act. 17.28 In him we live and move and have our being God is about us he is ever with us and yet we observe not either when he begins to work or resteth from working How he is in all things without all things and above all things is not known Secondly Others take his going and passing for the acts of his d Deum venire miserentis est discedere punientis Phil. Presb. Aquinas ad beneficia praestita vel denegata refert Transit eum quem impunituÌ„ relinquit Drus favour or dis-favour He goeth by me in bestowing favours and He passeth on in taking them away his accesses or recesses in mercy or judgement his love and his wrath are often indiscernable He goeth by me he passeth on he varieth his workings and I perceive him not To passe by is taken sometimes for sparing pardoning or shewing mercy The Lord by his Prophet Amos 7.8 reports severall judgements from a full execution of which he was taken off yet at last he resolves I will not passe by them any more it is the word here that is I will not have mercy on them any more I will not spare them any more the next time I come with my drawn sword in my hand I will be sure to smite and wound before I put it up I will not passe by them any more So He passeth by me may note here the sparing mercy of God The Lord spareth man many times and pardons him not suffering his whole displeasure to arise when man takes no notice but is insensible of it The word is used in this sense Prov. 19.11 It is the glory of man to passe by an offence that is to spare a man that hath offended not to punish him or take revenge and it is ordinary in our phrase of speech to say I will passe you by for this time that is I will not take any severe notice or strict account of what you have done And we finde in the same prophecy of Amos that to passe thorow notes judgement and wrath in the opposite sense In the fifth Chapter vers 17. In all vineyards shall be wailing Why For I will passe thorow thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In interiori tuo or I will passe into thy bowels or inwards So the letter of the originall that is I will come to judge thee I will passe thorow thee as a revenger and wound thee deeply insomuch that in all vineyards there shall be wailing why in all vineyards When he saith There shall be wailing in all vineyards it implies there should be wailing every where for if there were joy in any place it would be in the vineyards vineyards are places of mirth and refreshing grapes make the wine which makes glad the heart of man Therefore when he threatens That in all vineyards there shall be wailing it is as much as
Sight which is the chief sense is put for any sense And so the meaning is Though I am righteous yet I cannot hold up my head or take any comfort because I am so full of confusion and see so much affliction As if he had said Can a man at the same time mourn and rejoyce Can a man lift up his head while he hath such a load upon his heart Hence observe They who see much affliction can hardly take in any consolation Come to a godly man under great outward or inward troubles tell him of the love of God of the pardon of sinne of an inheritance among the Saints in light as his portion you can hardly fasten any of these things upon him sorrow within keeps comfort out As till sin be cast out we cannot act holily so till worldly sorrow or the excesse of godly sorrow be cast out we cannot act joyfully The Saints in a right posture of spirit are joyous in all their tribulations and Christ is able to make consolations abound as tribulation doth abound yet where there is abundance of tribulation consolation is usually very scarce Drops will hardly be received where rivers are offered and poured forth Another reading of the words representeth Iob bespeaking God in praier mixed with complaining If I were righteous Satis habeas ignominiae vide impotentiaÌ„ meam Coc. yet cannot I lift up my head be thou satisfied with confusion and behold my affliction So M. Broughton As if Iob had said Let it be enough Lord let it now suffice give me some ease that I may lift up my head a little before I lay it down for altogether Thus David praied Ps 39.11 12. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth surely every man is vanity O spare me that I may recover stâ—ength before I go hence be no more When Nehemiâ—h was humbling himself and confessing his sin and the sinne of that people he concludes according to this interpretation Chap. 9.32 Let not all the trouble seem little before thee that hath come upon us on our Kings on our Princes and on our Priests and on all thy people as if he had said Lord consider that now we have been greatly punished though we have been punished lesse then our sins deserve Thou maist justly inflict more but we are not able to endure more Rectius in imperativo q. d. vide Domine quo sim statu tum cognosces ita esse ut dico Mâ—rc Thirdly We read imperatively Therefore see thou mine affliction So his meaning is Lord take notice of my sad condition I am full of trouble Hence observe That when sorrows are come to a great height it is time for us to pray that God would cast a compassionate eye upon them When we are past the cure and help of man we are fittest objects for God When the pressures of the people of Israel were greatly encreased in Aegypt then the Lord himself saith I have seen I have seen Exod. 3.7 and when affliction is boyl'd up to the height then let us say See Lord see Lord. When the rage and blasphemy of Rabshakeh both by speaking and writing reached even unto heaven Then Hezekiah went and spread the letter before the Lord 2 King 19.14 As if he had said Lord do thou read this letter Lord bow down thine ear and hear Lord behold and see we are full of confusion See thou our affliction And when the enemies of the Jews in Nehemiah's time fell to scoffing and jearing the work they had in hand and them in the work then that zealous Governour puts it unto God Hear O our God for we are despised Secondly Note That when our afflictions are at the highest and greatest thou the Lord is able to master and subdue them I am full of confusion see thou mine affliction As if he had said It is in vain for me to shew my diseases and my wounds to creatures but I know I am not past thy cure though I come thus late or thus I have shewed my wounds and my diseases to the creature I have made my moan to men but they cannot help Now I bring them unto thee O see my affiction All our ruines may be under the hand of God he hath bread and cloathing for us he can be our healer when none can either in heaven or earth Lastly Observe When our afflictions are at the highest then usually God comes to deliver When the waters of affliction swell over the banks and threaten a deluge then God turns the stream when our sores fester and are ready to gangrene then God applies his balsome He seldome appears in a businesse which others can do or undertakes that which is mans work As in the sore travel of women in childe-bearing other helpers undertake it not till as they speak it be past womens work so God seldome meddles eminently he acts alwaies concommitantly till our deliverance is past mans work that so the whole praise of the work may be his When danger is upon the growing hand then desire God to take deliverance in hand then pray and pray earnestly that God would see your afflictions when you perceive them to be encreasing afflictions So it follows in the next verse See thou mine affliction Verse 16. For it encreaseth Thou huntest me as a fierce lion and again thou shewest thy self marvellous upon me This verse with the next are an elegant and patheticall description of Iobs yet growing and prevailing sorrows for having closed the 15th verse with an Assertion and a petition I am full of confusion therefore see thou mine affliction he presseth and pursueth both in these words For it encreaseth Thou huntest me as a fierce lion For it encreaseth M. Broughton renders How it fleeth up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In bonum elevâ—tâ—â— eminuit in malum intumuit superbiit de inanimatis â—revit auctus â—uit The Hebrew word is taken sometimes in a good and sometimes in an ill sense In a good sense it signifies to be lifted up or to be eminent in excellency In an ill sense it signifies to be lifted up or exalted with pride The word is applied also to things without life and then it signifies to augment by addition or encrease The Vulgar takes it in that ill sense as noting pride and high-mindednesse translating by the Noun thus For pride thou dost catch me as a lion or thou dost hunt me as a lion because I am proud A lion is a stout creature and may be an embleme of pride Another gives a sense near that When it lifteth up it self then thou huntest me as a fierce lion When what lifteth up it self when my head lifteth up it self he had said in the former verse If I be righteous yet will I not lift up my head for if I doe lift up my head in pride then thou wilt hunt me as a fierce lion I shall
Abib this moneth shall be to you the beginning of moneths So then this greennesse of the rush implies the strength and best of it the goodlinesse and beauty of it And not cut down That is before it is cropt and pull'd up by the hand or is fully ripe It withereth before any other herb That is sooner or more speedily then any other herb of lesser shew but better rooting There are two causes why trees wither both which are here removed from the rush and yet it withers First Age but the rush withers while it is young in its greennesse Secondly Violence when it is pull'd up or cut down by force of hand but the rush withers while it is not cut down Both argue enough the little subsistency which the rush hath in it self to seek any further account about it were but to seek a knot in a rush Vers 13. So are the paths of all that forget God c. Bildad having explained his similitude now applies it The comparison may be made out three waies First That hypocrites are kept in life and lustre by outward earthly supplies only as the rush is by mire and water and therefore when these fail they fail also Secondly As the rush dies because it hath no water so an hypocrite declines and wastes because he is not watered by the blessings of God and hath no rooting in grace The seed cast on the stony ground Matth. 13.6 withered because it had no earth â—he lack of earth to the one is the same with the lack of water to the other Thirdly In the generall that as a rush flourishes a while but quickly withers so the best estate of an hypocrite his greennesse is of no long continuance his seeming graces like his joyes are but for a moment Hence observe Naturall things are shadows to us of spirituall We may learn many lessons from speechlesse creatures While we turn the leaves and peruse the contents of this great volume the book of nature we may finde much of the God of nature David took instructions from it daily Psal 8. When I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained what is man that thou art mindefull of him I say likewise when we behold the grasse and flowers of the field the flag the rush in the water we may not only put the Question What is man but we may resolve the Question what the man is when we look upon the meanest creatures we may see peeces of our selves they are as we are in many considerations and we as they what is man Man is as grasse What is a wicked man an hypocrite He is a rush He is like the chaff which the winde drives away What is a godly man He is like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season The Spirit of God from things sensible and visible raiseth us up to things spirituall and invisible The Ancients were very frequent in this kinde of study Praemifit Deus naturam magistram submissurus prophetiam quo faciliùs credas prophetiae discipulus naturae Tertul. Familiare est Syris maximè Palestinia ad omnem sermonem suum parabolas jungere ut quod per simplex praeceptum teneri non potest per similitudines teneatur Hier. in c. 19. Mat. perusing the book of nature and taking helps to better the understanding by every object of the eye It is well observed by one of them That God sent us the book of nature before he sent the book of Scripture The minde of God was written upon the things which he had made before he made tables or books to write his minde in The Fathers had many revelations from the beginning but they had not Scripture from the beginning Some conceive that Isaac going out into the fields to meditate meditated upon the text of the creature and used to raise his heart by those steps of earth to heavenly contemplations It is said of Solomon 1 King 4.32 33. That he spake three thousand Proverbs and his songs were a thousand and five and that he spake of trees from the Cedar tree that is in Lebaâ—â—n even unto the hysop that springeth out of the wall which * Cuilibet specie plantarum suam adhibuit parabolam Joseph in loc Josephus expounds thus Solomon applied his three thousand parables or similitudes unto those trees or plants about which he discoursed drawing some divine morall from every plant whose nature as a Philosopher he had described More distinctly for the spiritualizing of this similitude consider wherein a wicked man or an hypocrite is like unto a rush the rush may be of good value to us being thus improved First The rush is a very spungy hoven hollow substance it is not solid or close-grain'd An hypocrite hath no solidity we call him a hollow-hearted man Secondly Hypocrites are well compared to a rush or a flag because in windy weather they sit which way soever the winde sits They take no haâ—â— by a storm because they yeeld to every turn let the winde blow which way it will the rush breaks neither body nor branch Let things turn which way they will hypocrites can shift and bend and yeeld with them And therefore when storms arise which pull down and destroy many goodly trees of Gods own planting these rushes continue Hypocrites keep their standing because they never stand A great man being asked how he kept his honour and preferment in so many changes of winde and weather of times and Princes answered By being a willow and not an Oak He that can sway seldome breaks Hypocrites in the Church and State live by the same principles Thirdly A bulrush or a flag in time of a storm hangs down the head but when the storm is over it holds up the head and stands upright again This resemblance between the hypocrite and a bulrush is given by the Prophet Isa 58.5 Is this the fast that I have chosen a day for a man to afflict his soul Is it to bow downe his head as a bulrush c The bulrush in a storm seems to be humbled to the very ground but in fair weather it is as high as ever Hypocrites in times of publike humiliation hang down their heads and seem to lay their mouths in the dust but when the day is past they quickly forget their sorrows If I saith the Apostle Gal. 1.18 build again the things which I have destroyed I make my self a transgressour Hypocrites are the worst sort of transgressours for they seem to destroy their sins one day but they indeed build them again the next Fourthly The rush and the flag grow only in miry places where they may have abundance of water and moisture which notes a kinde of sensuality in them and therefore they have their names from drinking So hypocrites seem to be heavenly but are indeed earthly they are like the rush they cannot live without
persecution at least before some scorching beams of that Sun though he is not able to bear it when it comes to the utmost triall to the extreme heat of the day Thus we see the hypocrites greennesse in his branches yet that is not all for in the next verse we finde his roots also he is seemingly setled below as well as beautifull above And when a tree hath flourishing branches and firm roots what can be desired more For as when a tree is cut down root and branch it is then utterly taken away so when a tree flourisheth root and branch it is in best estate and highest perfection Both these meet here not only doth he shoot forth his branches in his garden But he wrappeth his roots about the heap and seeth the place of stones His roots are wrapped about the heap The root of this hypocriticall tree is that by which he fastens himself Radices sunt divitiae liberi a micitiae dignitates honores any accommodation or strength which he hath in the world credit riches friends whatsoever strengthens a man that 's his root it is as necessary to fasten a tree as to moisten and feed a tree Now saith Bildad he spreads his roots he hath not only excellent branches outwardly but he laies his matter so that he hath rooting also in the world yea he seems to have rooting in the Church too His roots are wrapped about the heap 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Volvit â summo ad imum The word in the Hebrew signifies to roll or to bring things together to put them up in a heap Hence the Verb is used for that act of the soul in believing whereby a Christian gathers himself together and all that he hath and laies it upon the Lord Psal 22.8 He trusted in the Lord the Hebrew is He rolled himself upon the Lord. Hence it is translated to signifie First a tempest wherein the windes roll and are enfolded together Secondly a wave of the sea which is a rolling water Thirdly as here a heap because in a heap a great many stones are gathered or rolled together As Gen. 31.47 after that contest and debate of Laban with Jacob about his departure Jacob said Let us gather stones together or roll stones together and make an heap and Laban gave it a name he called it Jâ—ger-shahadutha which is to say A heap of witnesse because these stones were rolled together for a witnesse Lastly which sense is applied by some interpreters to this text The word signifies a spring or a fountain Josh 15.19 because springs and fountains are as the gathering together of waters The sea is called the gathering together of waters Gen. 1. there waters are rolled and laid as upon a heap and so proportionably every spring fountain and river is a place wherein the waters are rolled or wrapped together Some translate the word thus His roots are wrapped about the water or about the fountain And that further sets forth the seemingly sure and stedfast estate of the hypocrite as he hath goodly green branches above so his roots are wrapped about the fountain he looks as if he were planted by the waters side as the flourishing tree described Psal 1. A godly man is as a tree planted by the rivers side so the hypocrite seems to have his roots wrapped about the waters as if he had an everlasting supply from an everliving fountain as if his leaves should not wither or his fruit fall off from him That 's one sense But most goe with our translation His roots are wrapped about the heap they are intricated and folded about the heap of stones and so the meaning of it may be giâ—en three waies 1. In that it is said Impius aliquaÌ„do floret inter varia impedimenta His roots are wrapped about the heap the heap of stones it notes his thriving against all opposition here shadowed by heaps of stones Heaps of stones are hinderances to the growing of a tree to the rooting of it therefore we set or plant trees in places free from stones but to shew that he may even overcome conquer and subdue those difficulties which hinder his growth he saith His roots are wrapped about the stones The seed that was cast in stony ground could not take root the stones hindered it from a due depth of earth Mat. 13.15 So that Bildad according to this sense magnifies the hypocrite and speaks high of him He wrappeth his root about the stones he grows in places of greatest disadvantage A wicked man may conquer oppositions and prevail against the pull-backs which hinder his worldly yea and his seeming spirituall estate he may encrease when he wants encouragements and means of encrease yea he sometimes encreases against stops and discouragements he thrives among stones 2. His roots are wrapped about the heap notes that he thrives Ita latè radices diffundat ut fuâ—damenti struem offendat in aedibus Domini sui Iun. In aliorum daÌ„num propagatio denotatur Idem or will thrive if he can though it be to the hinderance and damage of others for by the heap some understand the foundation of an house where stones are artificially heaped or laid together not a naturall or accidentall heap Trees that grow neer a house shoot their roots under or about the foundation of the house and so may be dangerous to the whole structure Thus the hypocrite will grow if he can though he inwraps himself about the foundation of another mans house raising or securing his estate upon his neighbours wrong or ruine Hypocrites care not whom they injure so themselves may thrive though they undermine the foundation of another mans house and loosen his estate to fasten their own 3. His roots are wrapped about the heaps may note the firmnesse and the seeming strength of his standing He is rooted not in some loose and sandy earth or in tougher clay but his roots are wrapped about a heap of stones As Mat. 7. the house founded upon the sand could not continue when the storms came but the house founded upon the rock did so a tree that is rooted only in loose sleight ground cannot stand against a great tempest we see such trees blown down but that which is rooted among the stones and wrapped about their heaps that which interweaves and incorporates it sâ—lf as it were with a rock this hath strength against all storms Thus hypocrites pretend to Christ and say they have wrapped themselves about that rock they will speak great words and bid defiance to all the world can do professing they have laid up a good foundation and that the munition of rocks is their defence And seeth the place of stones Domum lapiduÌ„ cernet id est inter lapides â—â—â—â—iciter provenit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Inter lapides commorabitur Vulg. Domum lapiduÌ„ oculis vidit Drus The words may be translated He dwelleth and he staieth in the
shalt become a plain The Prophet is assured that all the power and strength which opposed it self against the reformation and re-edification of Jerusalem should be laid levell with the ground Per montes intelligit regeâ— qui si ut moÌ„tes firmitate â—o hore perstant Râ—â— Dav in Ps 14â— 5 So we may interpret Psa 144.5 He toucheth the mountains and they smoke the meaning is when God doth but lay his hand upon great men upon the mightiest of the world he makes them smoke or fune which some understand of their anger they are presently in a passion if God do but touch them Or we may understand it of their consumption A smoking mountain will soon be a burnt mountain In our language to make a man smoke is a proverbiall for destroying or subduing And besides there are mountains in this figurative sense within us as well as without us The soul hath a mountain in it self and it is an act of the great power of God yea of an higher and greater power of God to remove inward than it is to remove outward mountains Isa 40.4 The Prophet fore-shewing the comming of Christ and the sending of the Baptist to prepare his way tels us Every mountain and hill shall he made low Christ did not throw down the outward power of men who withstood him he let Herod and Pilate prevail but mountains and hils of sinne and unbelief in the soul which made his passage into them impassible he overthrew These mountains of high proud thoughts the Apostle describes 2 Cor. 10.14 Casting down imaginations and every high thing and bringing into captivity every thought every mountainous thought to the obedience of Christ These are metaphoricall mountains the power of sinfull men without us and the power of sinne the pride of our own hearts within us It is a mighty worke of God to remove these mountains But these are not proper to the Text for the instances which follow being all given in naturall things shew that those here intended are naturall mountains Taking mountains for earthly materiall mountains it is doubted how the Lord removes them There are different opinions about the point Some understand it of a naturall motion * Montes naturae sua generabiles sunt corruptibiles additione partium generanâ—ur detractione partiuÌ„ corrumpuntur Aquin Caj Minimè mirandum est fi quaâ— terrae partes quae nunc habitantur olim mare occupabat quae nunc pelagus sunt oâ—im habitabantur sic campos montes par est invicem commutari Sâ—â—b l 17. Philosophers disputing about mountains and hils conclude that they are subject to generation and corruption by the addition of many parts they are generated that is kneaded or gathered together and become one huge heap of earth and by the detraction falling and crumbling off or taking away of these parts they are removed again Thus we may expound that Job 14.18 And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought Yet this cannot be the meaning of Job here For though we grant that doctrine of the Philosophers that there is a generation of mountains and so a corruption of them yet that corruption is so insensible that it cannot be put among those works of God which raise up the name of his glorious power * Divina poteâ—tia in â—aâ—â—longa segni montium remotione non se praebet valdâ— mirabileÌ„ cuâ— remo fere 〈◊〉 qui eam rem videat Pined That which fals not under observation cannot cause admiration Slow and imperceptible motions make small impressions either upon the fancie or understanding That here spoken of is quick and violent and by it's easie representation to the eye causeth wonder and astonishment in the beholders And so it imports a removing them by some violent motion Thus the Lord is able to remove and hath removed mountains sometimes by earthquakes sometimes by storms and tempests sometime those mighty bulwarks are battered with thunder-bals discharged from the clouds Psal 97.5 The hils melted like wax at the presence of the Lord. Hils melt down when he appears as a consuming fire Psal 104.32 He looks upon the earth and it trembleth and he toucheth the hils and they smoke Those rocky mountains are as ready to take fire as tinder or touch-wood if but a spark of Gods anger fall upon them God by a cast of his eye as we may speak can cast the earth into an ague-fit he makes it shake and more tremble with a look He by a touch of his mighty arm hurls mountains which way he pleaseth as man doth a Tennis-ball We read Isa 64.1 How earnestly the Prophet praies O that thou wouldst rent the heavens and come down that the mountains might flow down at thy presence Where he is conceived to allude to Gods comming down upon Mount Sinai at the giving of the Law Exod. 19. which is said To melt from before the Lord God of Israel Judg. 5.3 Some understand it of that day of Christ when he shall come to judge the world others of that day when Christ came in the flesh to save the world then the mountains were levell'd according to the preaching of the Baptist but rather the Prophet being affected with the calamitous condition which he fore-saw the Jews falling into entreats the Lord to put forth himself in some notable works of his providence which should as clearly manifest his presence as if they saw the heavens speaking as of solid bodies renting and God visibly comming down then those difficulties which lay in the way of their deliverance and looked like huge mountains of iron or of adamant would presently dissolve like waxe or ice before the Sunne or fire The Prophet Micah describes the effects of Gods power in the same stile Chap. 1.3 4. Behold the Lord cometh forth out of his place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth and the mountains shall be molten under him Ex quo hoc loco non absurde colligitur fuisse proverbium ad significandum maximam olique Deo convenietem potentiam Bold and the valleys shall be cleft as wax before the fire and as the waters which are poured down a steep place So to remove mountains is used proverbially Job 18.4 Shall the earth be forsaken for thee or shall the rock be removed out of his place that is shall God work wonders for thee or God will alter the course of nature as soon as the course of his providence To say God can remove mountains is as much as to say he hath power to doe what he will and the reason is because mountains are exceeding great and weighty bodies mountains are firmly setled now to remove a thing which is mighty in bulk and strongly founded is an argument of greatest strength The stability of the Church is compared to the stability of mountains Psal 125.1 They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion which cannot be removed but
Most buildings have their foundations in the earth but some upon it being raised upon pillars So Hannah 1 Sam. 2.8 in her Song The pillars of the earth are the Lords and he hath set the world upon them What are these pillars that the Lord hath set the world upon or where shall we finde them David shews us Psal 24.1 2. The earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof the world and they that dwell therein for he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the flouds It is strange that pillars of liquid water should bear up the massie earth the earth seems rather to be the pillar and foundation of the waters Some interpret super which signifies upon by prope or juxta neer he hath founded it upon the seas that is He hath founded it by or neer the seas But take it in the letter and it is a truth for the sea is as much the pillar of the earth as the earth is the pillar of the sea earth and sea being a globe and round the sea is as much under the earth as the earth is under the sea Thus the pillars of the earth are waters And the earth is established upon the flouds Further If you would know what these pillars are hear what Job saith Chap. 26.7 where he assures us that God hangeth the earth upon nothing We are not to think that the Lord in framing and building the earth did first set up pillars and then set the earth upon them for the earth hangeth as a ball in the midst of the air without any pillars under it Hence Jobs Philosophy teaches us That he hangeth the earth upon nothing there are no materiall or visible pillars to sustain it What is then the pillar of the earth What is it that supports and bears it up The reall pillar of the earth it is the power of God But the power of God cannot tremble How then doth he say When he shaketh the earth the pillars thereof tremble Terrae columnae infimas terrae partes significant quae reliquam terrae molem impositam sustineat haec sunt veluti fundamenta fulcra terrae In this place therefore we may expound the pillars of the earth for the lower parts of the earth and so though the whole globe of the earth taken together be neither higher nor lower yet in the parts of it from any point some are higher and some are lower some above and some beneath upon what superficies soever we are the under parts thereof are to us the pillars of the earth So the meaning is He shaketh the earth out of her place and the pillars thereof tremble that is he shaketh it so terribly that if it had any outward visible pillars those pillars must needs tremble Quo pacto terra firma immota consistit quidnā pro vehiculo habet cujus rei adminiculo fulcitur rationi nihil occurrit cui innitatur si divinam voluntatem exceperis Greg Nazianz Orat. 34. Suis l brata ponderibus fixa manet In this we may observe the great power of God in upholding the earth We see what the pillars of the earth are the supposed pillars are no other then the lower parts of the earth and the true pillar of the earth is no other but the power of God there are no other buttresses or pillars upon which the earth is set or by which it is sustained This huge weight of the whole earth and seas is borne up by the thin air Is not this an argument of the mighty power of God that the air which is a body so weak that if you throw a feather up into it it will not stay there but descend yet the whole masse or globe of earth and waters hangs there God poiseth it meerly by its own weight For he weighed the mountains in scales and the hils in balances Isa 40.12 He upholds all things by the word of his power And hath built this great Castle in the air Could we enter into the secrets of nature and set our faith a work by our senses about these things we should be raised above all fear in the greatest difficulties If we saw but a bullet or a piece of lead of a pound yea of a peny weight lifted up and hang in the air without any thing to support it we would conclude it a miracle What thinke you when all the lead and iron and brasse and stone that is in the world hang in the air without any visible stay I finde some interpreting this clause as the former in a figurative sense He shaketh the earth that is States Kingdoms and Common-wealths And the pillars thereof tremble that is they who seemed to be their strongest supporters tremble and shake This is a truth and a profitable one for our meditation To clear this First We finde the earth in Scripture often put for States and Kingdoms Isa 24.20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard and shall be removed like a cottage and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it and it shall fall and not rise again The earth shall doe this what earth He doth not mean the naturall earth ☜ upon which men tread but the people who tread upon the earth or that Common-wealth wherein people are united and governed these shall reel to and fro and be removed like a cottage As if he had said you thought your State and Kingdome was setled like a strong Castle but I will take it down as a man takes down a little cottage raddl'd only with a few sticks and reeds Or the meaning of it is your Common-wealth that hath been founded by the wisdome of so many Law-givers Fundavit legibus urbes and is established in so much riches and power shall be removed as a poor cottage thorow which every puff of winde findes a passage The strongest Kingdoms and Bulwarks of the earth are but as thatcht cottages when God takes them in hand Secondly Pillars are as often taken in a politicall sense Psal 75.3 The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved How comes it then to passe that they are not utterly destroied It follows I bear up the pillars of it that is I maintain Governours and Magistrates some in places of power and authority by whom shaking tottering Kingdoms are upheld Our experience teaches us this We live in a Nation of which we may say Our earth with the inhabitants thereof are dissolved we are a broken and a shattered people yet the Lord bears up our Pillar * the Parliament the politique pillar of our Nation we had long ago lain in the dust if God had not borne up this pillar The chief counsels of the adversary have been to weaken and undermine to ruine and pull down this pillar They like Samson have taken hold of our two pillars and bowed themselves with all their might Judg. 16.28 but neither have they proved Samsons nor proved us Philistines
without any thing that he hath made And treadeth upon the waves of the sea The sea is a fluid body to sail or swim in the waters is ordinary but to tread upon the waters that 's another act of wonder He treadeth upon the waves of the sea or he walks on them as upon a pavement To tread upon the waves imports that God hath a command over the sea and the waves of it Verbum Dorac aliquando est ducis praeltantis debellantis hostes Quasi jure belli subjicere To tread upon a thing is to have it under our power or in subjection to us Psal 91.13 the promise is Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and upon the Asp that is thou shalt prevail and triumph over the greatest evils over enemies as strong and fierce as Lions as poisonous and stinging as the Asp Psal 108.9 Over Edom will I cast out my shoe which notes either contempt of them as if he had said I look upon them as worthy only to scrape and make clean my shoes Or secondly Conquest over them I will walk thorow Edom and subdue it Deut. 11.24 Every place whereon the sole of your feet shall tread shall be yours that is yours shall be conquering feet you shall tread as lords upon all lands Yours shall be all the ground you go on that is it shall be subject to you Jud. 5.21 O my soul thou hast troden down strength and Mic. 1.3 The Lord shall tread upon the high places of the earth that is the Lord shall subject the highest things that are upon the earth to his power That place is very observable Numb 24.17 Where Balaam prophesying of Christ saith as we translate A starre shall come out of Jacob Calcabit stella è Jacob. the Hebrew is A starre shall tread out of Jacob noting Christ a victorious a triumphing starre who should come treading and trampling upon the world as conquerour though the world in regard of his out-side trod and trampled upon him So it is explained in the later words of the verse He shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Sheth A starre shall tread out of Jacob. A treading starre is a triumphing starre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Excelsa maris Ambulat super altiâ—udinem to boâ—is maris Tar. Robur maris dicit vehementiaÌ„ maris quando à ventis turbatur commovetur Dorsum immare summo mari attribuit Virg. Aeneiad l. 1. The Hebrew is He treadeth upon the high places of the sea the word Bamoth is used frequently for the places where idolatrous worship was set up their high places Mr Broughton translates the high waves of the sea because sea-waves rise high so high that the Psalmist describes them mounting up to the heaven Psal 107.26 When these high waves threaten to swallow all then the Lord treads upon them that is his power is above them and he makes them submit to his command As to ride upon the high places of the earth Deut. 32.13 Isa 58.14 is to have highest command and to be a chief upon the earth or to dwell safely and free from anoiance upon the earth So to tread upon the high places or high waves of the sea implies Gods Empire or Soveraignty over the Sea Hence observe first That the sea in its highest rage is at the beck and under the treadings of God When the waves are most stirring and raging he speaks them quiet Psal 89.9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea when the waves thereof arise thou stillest them As to walk upon the sea is an argument of a divine power so to command the sea When Christ Mat. 8.26 rebuked the sea and said as another Gospel hath it Mark 4.38 Peace and be still as if one should hush a childe The men marvelled saying What manner of man is this that even the windes and the sea obey him Windes and waves seem the most disobedient stubborn and unteachable creatures in the world yet a word from God calms the one and smooths the other Egyptij ut rem prorsus impossisibilem demonstrarent hominem pedibus super aquas ambulanâ—em in suis Hieroglyphicis depingebant Verâ—res cum suum Neptunum super aquas ambulantem pingere non auderent à nando ei nomen dederunt Herod l. 1. Delectat Canuti regis Anglorum exemplum qui assentationis procellam procella maris in se admâ—ssa compescuit Bold ex Camb. Brit. Ex alto incitatum flâ—ctum ita alloquutus est unda tibi jubeo ut ne pedes meas tangas When the old Egyptians would by their Hieroglyphicks expresse an impossibility they did it by the picture of a man treading upon the waves as if they should say this is as impossible as for a man to walk upon the waves The Heathen Poets describe Neptune their Sea-god swimming not walking upon or treading the waters To tread upon the waters is so much above man that meer Naturalists thought it too much for God Man shews his pride and arrogancy to the height when he pretends to lord it over the waves of the sea When the Hellespont a strait of the sea by a sudden storm rising upon it broke the bridge of Boats which Xerxes had made to passe into Greece and so opposed the project of that Persian Monarch he cast fetters into it as if he would teach it to know it's Lord and caused it to be beaten with 300. stripes to chasten its former disobedience It is recorded in the history of this Nation concerning Canute an ancient Danish King that when a mighty storm of flattery rose upon him he appeased it by shewing he could not appease the storms of the sea One of his Courtiers told him in his progresse as he rode near the sea side that he was Lord not only of the land but of the sea and that all those seas which he saw were at his command Well saith he we shall see that by and by and so walketh down to the shore and pulling off his upper garment wraps it together and sits upon it neer the flowing of the waves and with a loud voice speaks thus O ye seas and waves come no further Touch not my feet c. But the sea came up notwithstanding his charge and confuted that flattery God only hath this Prerogative He treadeth upon the high waves of the sea There are also mysticall waves which the Lord treadeth upon people and Nations are called waters and many waters in the book of the Revelation The waves of the sea cannot be in a greater rage then the Nations of the earth sometimes are And the same Hebrew word by which the rage of the sea is properly exprest expresses also the rage of men Psal 2.1 Why doe the Heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing Why are the Gentiles the great waters up as high waves threatning a deluge to the throne of Christ The power of Christ is as eminent in stilling the
post they flee away they see no good They are passed away as the swift ships as the Eagle that hasteth to the prey THese two verses are a confirmation of Jobs former argument As he had shewed in generall that the wicked are exalted and the innocent afflicted so now he shews the later branch from his own experience or example Verse 25. My daies are swifter then a post they flee away they see no good c. We have here three similitudes by which Job sets forth the uncertainty of his prosperous estate and how soon the time wherein he enjoyed it was blown over 1. The similitude of a Post 2. The similitude of a Ship 3. The similitude of a Eagle As in the seventh Chapter he used three similitudes viz. 1. of A weavers shuttle 2. of The winde 3. of A dissolving cloud So here he bringeth in three more to clear the same point Jobs thoughts travel'd thorow all parts of the world to finde out illustrations of mans frailty In these two verses three of the four elements are enquired into The earth The air and the water A post upon the earth A ship upon the water an Eagle in the air are called in as witnesses to this truth Now my daies are swifter then a post c. Now my daies That is my prosperous daies so Mr Broughton glosses Troublesome times are all night and darknesse yet we may take it of daies in generall They are swifter then a post 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levitas velocitas tam ex Graeco quam Hebraeo etiam Latino pro eodem accipiuntur Levis armatuturae milites celeriter subveniunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cursor qui ex una urbe in alteram c. proficiscitur cum literis aut nunciis The word which we translate swifter signifies any thing that is light because light things are quick in motion We call a man that is swift of foot light of foot And here it is joyned with that which among men is most swift and passing a post who rides or runs without any stop or stay without the least considerable stop or stay So that it is grown into a proverb To run post or To ride post is as much as to be in haste To say You are in post haste is to say you are in great haste My daies saith Job are swifter then a post they out-runne those curreers sent out upon the most important messages The post whether sent to carry news good or bad or intelligence for the dispatch of businesse publike or private is engaged to ride hard he must not spare horse-flesh or as we commonly speak suffer the grasse to grow under his horse-heels Hence observe First Time is very swift 't is gone suddenly My daies are swifter then a post We seldome consider or consider as we ought this common truth We live for the most part as if we could not tell how to get rid of our time or as if we were weary of our time and knew not how to spend it out as if time were rather chained to a standing post then were like a running post The Ancients emblem'd Time with wings as if it were not running but flying The next word in the text comes neer that sense They flee away My daies saith Iob flee away The word doth not signifie flying as a fowl with wings but fleeing as a fugitive from hard bondage or as a man from some imminent danger which because 't is done with speed therefore the word imports any speedy motion especially that of a post A post riding or running is an excellent embleme of Time There are many considerations in post-riding which shew how exceeding speedy time must be to which it is here compared First A post rides upon fleet or speedy horses Secondly He rides his horses upon their speed a man may have speedy horses and goe softly but a post spurs on Thirdly A post hath change of horses at every stage that he may keep them upon their speed Fourthly He hath horses standing ready for change they are not to fetch out of the field or to make ready when he comes to his stage it is but leaping into the saddle and away Fifthly He that rides post makes no long meals much lesse feasts he takes a bit and away Sixthly He lies not long a bed he scarce goes to bed till he comes to his waies end Seventhly A post hath extraordinary pay for his service and that will cause him to make speed Eighthly Sometimes he rides upon pain of death with a halter about his neck No man will loiter when his life laies on 't Ninthly If a man rides post all must give him way he picks and chooseth his path and no man must hinder him Tenthly He staies not to salute much lesse like other travellers to gaze and view the Countrey the Towns buildings Gardens c. All these things laid together evince that the Post makes speed Yet saith Job My time out-runneth the post my time goes faster then he The post must stay a little sometimes but time will not stay at all The post must stay for change of horses but the charriot of the Sunne never staieth to change horses the Sun is the measure of time and that makes no stop hath no stages or baiting places Our daies are swifter then a post Further Experiences speak this most true of that speciall time the time of prosperity The best things of the world are in a moveable in a passing posting condition They scarce abide with us long enough to learn what they are If a man ride post we can hardly discern who he is the good things of the world the pleasures and profits the form and fashion of it passe away so fast that none can perfectly report what they are excepting this Transitory and vain As the artificiall fashions of the world the fashions in building and in apparell passe so speedily that few know what the fashion is before 't is gone a new one is abroad before the greatest number are in the old So the naturall fashions of worldly things some in themselves all as to our enjoyment the excellency and dignity the lustre and beauty of the creature are out of sight before we can well say of what colour and shape or what manner of things they were When the Painter takes the perfect feature of a mans face or the lineaments of his body he must sit The world sits not so long with any man as for him to take the picture of it Creatures perish in their using while they are in our hands we know not what they are for even then they are perishing and declining from what they were One said when a creature-comfort was taken from him If I had it again me thinks I could enjoy it we seldom enjoy what we have And what we have is alwaies in transitu passing from us while we have it it is in motion while in possession We can scarce be acquainted
come to the port 4. There is another sense given by those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In micari piratarum naves quae onèrariae non sunt sed tactumad capiendam praedam who derive the word from a root which signifies to hare and oppose or to be an adversary and then it is thus rendered My daies passe away as a Pirats ship or as a ship that goes out to take a prey as a ship that goes out to take prizes upon the sea Now we know when ships go out either upon piracy which is robbery at sea or upon any lawfull way of taking prizes by publike authority these ships of all others are the swiftest they are prepared on purpose to make way and overtake other ships their lading is not burden but ballast that they may be swift of said so saith Job My daies passe away like a swift ships not like some great Merchant-ship deeply laden which can make no great way in the sea but as a ship of piracy that hath nothing in her but weapons artillery and ammunition to oppose those they meet such are as your nimble Frigots Fly-boats and Catches which sail with every winde or Galleyes which passe without winde carried with strength of arms and oars all being vessels used to runne in upon and surprize a booty This also is a good interpretation and so M. Broughton translates it My daies doe fleet away as the Pirats ships That 's the second similitude My daies are passed away as the swift ships And as an Eagle hasteneth to the prey This is the third similitude A ship moveth swiftly especially a ship upon a swift river or a ship laden with desirable commodities or a ship laden with Summer fruit or a pirats ship a man of war But here is an instance implying greater speed then that of the most speedy ship As â—n Eagle hasteneth to the prey An Eagle of all the fowls in the air is the swiftest and strongest of wing An Eagle is the chief of birds We finde in Scripture swiftnesse expressed by this similitude of an Eagle Hab. 1.8 the Chaldeans who invaded the people of Israel are thus described Their hors-men shall come from farre they shall flee as the Eagle that hasteth to eat See the like instances Jer. 48. Jer. 49. Ezek. 17. And in Isa 40.31 They shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles c. noting the exceeding swiftnesse of the Saints in the waies of God the speed they shall make in waies of holinesse though the youths faint and the young men utterly fall yet they that wait upon the Lord shall mount up with wings as Eagles that is they shall be swift and strong But here is more expressed then the naturall swiftnesse of the Eagle here is somewhat occasionall which adds wings to her wings We had four interpretations of the ships swiftnesse Here is one expression exceeding all those four An Eagle hastening to the prey Quoniam avidâ—ssinè appetit ideo pernicissimè volat San. An Eagle is a greedy fowl Hence that of Christ Matth. 24. Where the carcase is there the Eagles gather together that is look where ever there is any prey there you shall have Eagles if there be a carcase to be had the Eagle will be sure to make towards it My daies saith Job are passed away as the Eagle hasteneth to the prey The Naturalists observe that the Eagle soars aloft in the air so high that the eye of man cannot discern her yet the Eagle is of such a piercing eye Eagle-eied is a proverb for quick-sighted that she can discern her prey upon the earth yea in the water and assoon as the Eagle espies her prey she pours or sowces down upon it like a thunderbolt Tanquam fulmeâ— se è sublimi in terram jaculatur like a bullet out of a gun or an arrow out of a bowe Thus Jobs daies passed as an Eagle in her flight and not in her ordinary flight but as an Eagle that hasteneth to the prey when hunger adds swiftnesse to her wings such was the passage of his daies There is somewhat further observable in this from the translation of the Seventy who render it thus Is there any sign or mark in the way of a ship or of an Eagle So the meaning of Job should be that his life in respect of former comforts and contentments Numquid est navibus vestigium viae aut aquilae volantis c. Sept. was past away and had left no marke no sign behinde it The ship in the sea passeth away and there is no rode no tract left and the Eagle in the air passeth and you cannot see where the Eagle made her flight the air closeth presently there is no way to be seen Solomon useth those similies Prov. 30.19 There be three things which I know not the way of an Eagle in the air the way of a Serpent upon a rock and the way of a Ship in the Sea Quae nullum sui cursus signum relinquunt per aviuÌ„ volatuÌ„ navium transmissionem significantur Sanct. And it is frequent in Authours to expresse those things which passe away not leaving any tract or print behinde them by the motion of a ship in the sea and of an Eagle in the air Hence note That The best of worldly things when they are gone are as if they had never been There are two motions which will certainly leave a mark behinde them First motions in sin 2. In holinesse Every step we tread in the waies of sin or of holinesse leaves a print a remembrance behinde it but when the riches and honours the pleasures and contentments of this life are past nothing remains of them It is said Dan. 8.5 which may serve for the illustration of this place in the vision of the He-goat that he touched not the ground that He-goat was a type of Alexander the great who set up the Grecian Empire and he is compared to a He-goat which did not touch the ground because of his speedy conquests When man or beast runs upon the ground with extreme speed we say they do not touch the ground When the Hare leaves a deep tract the hunter knows she runs slowly and is almost spent Alexander conquerd the world sooner then a man could well travell over it And as Alexander came in so he passed out both in his person and posterity For within a short time no man could tell what was become of the Grecian Monarchy the conquests of Alexander could not be found no more then the way of a ship in the sea or of an Eagle in the air or of a man running so fast that he leaves no print behinde him Secondly Taking both these similitudes in the ordinary notion as they import the swift passage of Jobs prosperity T is questioned How Job can be excused for speaking thus sleightly and undervaluingly of his temporall estate which was so raised and so enriched that
knowledge of us beyond ours though he know us better then we know our selves yet no man can tell the Lord Thou knowest that I am not wicked but he who knows that he is not The excellency of our condition consists in being godly the comfort of it consists in knowing that we are godly When David offers himself to the triall Psal 139.24 Search me O Lord and see if there be any way of wickednesse in me He speaks not as doubting whether he were wicked or no but as being assured that he was not As if he had said There are many weaknesses in me I know but I know not of any wickednesse He that offers himself to Gods search for his wickednesse gives a strong argument of his own uprightnesse The best of the Saints may be at a losse sometimes for their assurances and not know they are good They may stand sometimes hovering between heaven and earth yea between heaven and hell as uncertain to which they shall be accounted Yet many of the Saints are fully perswaded they are Saints and sit with Christ in heavenly places while they are wâ—ndering here upon on the earth A godly man may know this two vvaies First By the vvorkings of grace in his heart Secondly By the testimony of the Spirit with his heart First By the vvorkings of grace in his heart 1 Joh. 2.3 Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments and chap. 3.14 We know that we are passed from death to life because we love the brethren There may be such workings of grace in the heart as may amount to an evidence of grace What our being is is discernable in our workings The word is as clear as light that our justification may have a light or evidence in our sanctification though no cause or foundation there Grace is the image of Christ stamped upon the soul and they who reflecting upon their souls see the image of Christ there may be sure that Christ is theirs Christ hath given all himself to those to whom he hath given this part of himself Secondly This may be known by the testimony of the Spirit with the heart 2 Cor. 5.5 He that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God God sets up a frame of holinesse in every believer He hath wrought us and how are we assured that he hath Who also hath given us the earnest of his Spirit The graces of the Spirit are a reall earnest of the Spirit yet they are not alwaies an evidentiall earnest therefore an earnest is often superadded to our graces There is a three-fold work of the Spirit First To conveigh and plant grace in the soul Secondly To act and help us to exercise the graces which are planted there Thirdly To shine upon and enlighten those graces or to give an earnest of those graces This last work the Spirit fullfils two waies First By arguments and inferences which is a mediate work Secondly By presence and influence which is an immediate work This the Apostle cals witnesse-bearing 1 Joh. 5.8 There are three that bear witnesse in earth The Spirit and the water and the bloud The Spirit brings in the witnesse of the water and of the bloud which is his mediate work but besides and above these he gives a distinct witnesse of his own which is his immediate work and is in a way of peculiarity and transcendency called the witnesse of the Spirit Hence that of the Apostle Paul We have not received the spirit of the world but we have received the Spirit which is of Christ that we may know the things that are freely given us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 The things freely given may be received by us and yet the receit of them not known to us therefore we receive the Spirit that we may know what is given us and what we have received The Spirit doth as it were put his hand to our receits and his seal also whence he is said To seal us up to the day of redemption Ephes 4.30 Sixthly Observe A godly man dares appeal to God himself that he is not wicked He dares stand before God to justifie his sincerity though he dares not stand to justifie himself before God Job had often laid all thoughts of his own righteousnesse in the dust but he alwaies stands up for his own uprightnesse God is my witnesse saith the Apostle Paul Rom 9.1 whom I serve in my spirit in the Gospel of his Sonne I serve God in my spirit and God knows that I do so I dare appeal unto him that it is so God is my witnesse When Christ put that question and drove it home upon Peter thrice Simon Lovest thou me Lord saith he Thou knowest all things Thou knowest that I love thee Joh. 21. As if he had said I will not give testimony of my self thou shalt not have it upon my word but upon thine own knowledge It were easie for me to say Master I love thee with all my heart with all my soul but I refer my self to thy own bosome Thou knowest I love thee So when Hezekiah lay as he thought upon his death-bed he turned himself to the wall desiring God to look upon the integrity of his life Lord remember how I have walked before thee in truth Isa 38.3 I do not go to the world for their good word of me I rest not in what my Subjects or neighbour Princes say of me Lord it is enough for me that what I have been and what I am is laid up safe in the treasury of thy thoughts This brings strong consolation when we take not up the testimony of men nor rest in the good opinion of our brethren but can have God himself to make affidavit or bear witnesse with us and for us That such a man will say I am an honest man that such a man will give his word for me is cold comfort but when the soul can say God will give his word for me The Lord knows that I am not wicked here 's enough to warm our hearts when the love of the world is waxen so cold and their tongues so frozen with uncharitablenesse that they will not speak a good word of us how much good soever they know by us Seventhly Consider the condition wherein Job was when he spake this he was upon the rack and as it were under an inquisition God laid his hand extream hard upon him yet at that time even then he saith Lord thou knowest that I am not wicked Hence observe A man of an upright heart and good conscience will not be brought to think that God hath ill thoughts of him how much evil so ever God brings upon him The actings of God toward us are often full of changes and turnings but the thoughts of God never change A soul may be afflicted till he is weary of himself yet he knows God is not weary of him Whomsoever he hath once made good he cannot but for ever esteem good
past that vvhich vvas from the beginning and shall be to the end yea to that vvhich hath no end eternity is alwaies before him God is said to remember or to forget vvhen he acts like a man vvho remembers or forgets but there is no act either of forgetfulnesse or of remembrance in God Remembring implieth two things in God First A serious attention to the person and consideration of the thing vvhich he formerly seemed to slight or lightly to passe by We also remember by minding and thinking upon vvhat is present as well as by recalling what is past Secondly To remember notes a speedy supply of our wants or actuall deliverance out of dangers God remembers us when he favours us he remembers us when he pities us he remembers us when he relieves us Who remembred us in our low estate Psal 136.23 that is who brought us out of our low estate The needy shall not alway be forgotten Psal 9.18 not alway no nor at any time the Lord doth not at all forget any much lesse such needy ones as that Scripture intends The meaning is they shall not alway be undelivered their estate shall not lie for ever unconsidered and their cry unattended to God will not deal with them nor suffer others to deal with them as if he had forgotten them Hannah was long under that affliction of barrennesse and when the Lord gave her conception it is said He remembred Hannah 1 Sam. 1.19 his thoughts were ever upon her and upon her petition but when he granted her petition then he remembred her indeed As we then remember God when we obey his commands so God remembers us then when he fulfils our requests Remember I beseech thee As it is our duty to remember the Lord so it is our priviledge that we may put him in remembrance It is a priviledge and a very great one to be a remembrancer to the king of heaven The Prophet describes such an office Isa 62.6 Ye that make mention of the Lord or nearer the Hebrew Ye that are the Lords remembrancers keep not silence and give him no rest Great Princes have an officer called their Remembrancer and they need remembrancers It is at once their honour and their weaknesse to have them They cannot retain all businesses and preserve a record within themselves of all affairs within their Kingdoms It is an honour to God that he hath remembrancers but it is his greater honour that he hath no need of them Himself is the living record of all that hath been done or is to be done Knowledge is above memory and he that knows all things is above remembrancers God is willing we should speak to him after the manner of men but we must not conceive of him after the manner of men We must not think he hath forgotten us though we may beseech him to remember us There are four things which the Saints usually move the Lord to remember First His own mercies Remember O Lord thy tender mercies was Davids praier Psal 25.6 Hath God forgotten to be gracious was Davids question and infirmity Psal 77.9 yet God acts sometimes as if he had forgot his nature or had need to be minded to do what he is God can no more forget himself then deny himself no more forget to be gracious then cease to be yet he gives his people leave yea a charge to move him to do what he cannot but do what he is resolved yea what he is ready to do Mercy pleaseth God so much that he often appears displeased on purpose that we may remember him of his mercy He delights we should desire what he delights to grant Secondly The Saints usually minde God of his Covenant God is ever mindefull of his Covenant Psal 111.5 yet he loves to be minded of it His royall title is The God that keepeth Covenant for ever yet he loves to be desired not to break it Thus Jeremy begs for the Jews the Covenant-people of God Do not abhor us for thy name sake Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory remember break not thy Covenant with us Jer. 14.21 The Psalmist praies upon the same ground Have respect to the Covenant for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty As if he had said Lord Thou hast made a Covenant to preserve and protect thy people but now they are oppressed The dark places that is places full of ignorance and wickednesse which are spirituall darknesse are full of cruelty Holy knowledge hath no such enemy as ignorance Or the dark places are full c. may be thus understood there is no such obscure corner or by-place in the land but their malice searcheth it out for the vexation of thy people We are so far from having liberty to serve thee publikely in the light that we feel the cruelty of bloudy minded men though we do it secretly or in the dark Now Lord it is time for thee to remember thy Covenant Thirdly The Saints use to put God in remembrance of the rage and blasphemies of his and their enemies Thus the Church of the Jews cries unto the Lord Psal 137.7 Remember O Lord the children of Edom in the day of Ierusalem who said rase it rase it even to the foundation thereof When a man is wrong'd who intends revenge he will say to the party wronging him well Remember this or I shall remember you for this Revengefull men have strong memories so hath the God to whom vengeance belongeth He will certainly remember the sinfull revengefull cry of Edom against Jerusalem though the sins of Jerusalem did cry to him for vengeance The Psalmist is as earnest in another place urging the Lord to remember for his own interest as here for the interest of his Sion Psal 74.18 Remember this that the enemy hath reproached O Lord and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy Name As if he had said Pray Lord take a note of this make a memorandum of this That the enemy hath reproached thy Name God will remember it if any of his servants are reproached much more when himself is Fourthly The Saints remember God of their own frailty and that two-fold First Naturall Secondly Spirituall Remember how short my time is wherefore hast thou made all men in vain Psal 89.47 Man is a frail short-liv'd creature and it is some comfort to him that God knows he is so That which Job puts the Lord in remembrance of is his naturall frailty some understand it also of his spirituall Remember I beseech thee That thou hast made me as the clay The LXX reads it Thou hast made me clay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word signifies cement or morter which are mixt of earth water Thou hast made me as tempered clay When the originall of man is described Propriè significat cementum vel terram aqua mixtam it is said The Lord formed man dust out of the ground or
great affliction and now a little comfort would go a great way with him When the people of Israel were in bondage under Pharaoh and his task-masters and had heavier burdens laid upon them they do not so much as move for a totall release from their task but modestly complain There is no straw given unto thy servants and they say to us Make brick As if they had said Let us have straw and we are willing to make brick A poor man cries out for a half-peny for a farthing not for hundreds or thousands He that is ready to starve will not ask good chear or a plentifull feast but let me have a crust of bread or a little water When Dives was in hell what did he desire of Abraham Did he beg to come into his bosome Doth he say Lazarus is in a good place let me come too No he desired but a drop of water and what was a drop of water to flames of fire O how would it delight the damned in hell to think of a cessation but for one hour from their pain What a joy would it be unto them if it should be told them that a thousand or ten thousand years hence they should have one good day or that they might be let alone to take comfort a little They who are low make low demands Think of this ye that enjoy much comfort and swim in rivers of pleasure Let not the great consolations of God be small to you when you hear Job thus instant and importunate for the smallest Let me alone that I may take comfort a little But why is he in such haste for a little comfort One ground is in the former words My daies are few and he backs it with a second in the next If it come not quickly it will come too late I am ready to take my last journey Therefore let me take a little comfort Verse 21. Before I go whence I shall not return even to the land of darknesse and the shadow of death Before I go That is before I die Death is a going out of the world Periphrasis moriendi qui m ritur dicitur abire unde abitionem pro morte veteres usurparunt Drus Christ intimates his death under this notion Joh. 16.7 If I goe the Comforter will come And I go from you c. Dying is a journeying from one region to another Death is a changing of our place though not of our company Before I go Whether Whence I shall not return That 's a strange journey indeed That which pleaseth us in our longest journeys while we live is a hope of returning to our own homes again But when we die we take a journey from whence there is no returning Not return Shall not man return when he dieth Is death an everlasting departure an eternall night No Man shall return but he shall not return to such a life or state as he had before Fidem resurrectionis non laedit Pin. He is gone for ever out of this world and out of all worldly interests Job believed a resurrection or a returning from the grave by the power of God and he knew there was no returning by the power of nature or by the help of any creature In that reference we go whence we shall not return So David speaks of his dead Infant I shall go to him but he shall not return to me Indicat nullam esse vim in natura cui pareat mors cui receptacula animarum obediaÌ„t reddereque cogaÌ„tur quem semel receperunt Pin. 2 Sam. 12.25 When once we are shut up in those chambers of death and made prisoners in the grave though all the Princes in the world send warrants for our release we cannot get released The pertinacy and stiffnesse of the grave is such as yeelds to none We are fast shut up when we are shut up there Love and the grave will hardly part with that which they have closed with and are possessed of The grave is one of those three things which are never satisfied or say it is enough Prov. 30.15 And as it is unsatiable in receiving so it is as close in keeping it will part with nothing A grave is the Parable of a covetous man he is greedy to get and watchfull to hold when his money goes into his purse he saith it shall not return The grave hath a strong appetite to take down and as strong a stomack to digest Till God as I may so speak by his mighty power gives the grave a vomit and makes the earth stomack-sick with eating mans flesh Veteres Romani dicere solebant abâ—it reversurus est resurrectionem carnis haud obscurè innuentes Ter. Salve aeternum mihi maxime Palla Aeternumque vale Virg. Aenead it will not return one morsel At the resurrection this great Eater shall cast up all again And as they who take strong vomits are put into a kinde of trembling convulsion all the powers of the body being shaken such will the prognosticks be of the resurrection there was an earth-quake when Christ arose God made the earth shake and commanded it to give back the prisoner because it was not possible that he should be holden of it And when God speaks the word it will not be possible for the grave to hold us prisoners till then it will It was usuall among the Ancients to say of a dead friend He is gone and he will come again intimating a resurrection Heathens not knowing nor believing it call earth Valeant qui inter nos dissidiuÌ„ volunt Terent. An eternall leave-taking or farewell never to meet again Observe from this description of the grave That the statutes of death are unrepealable Death is an everlasting banishment from the world I shall goâ— whence I shall not return This may lie very sad upon their spirits Animula vagula blandula c. quae nunc abibis in loca Aâ—r. who have not a better place then the world to go to when they go from the world To go whence we shall never return and yet where we cannot endure to be a moment is deepest misery Such a man cannot chuse but set out with a sad heart And that 's the reason why wicked men whose consciences are awakened go so unwillingly to this sleep they know whither they are going only they know they cannot return Make ye friends 't is Christs counsel of the Mammon of unrighteousnesse that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations Luk. 10.9 Mammon of unrighteousnesse that is say most Interpreters Mammon gotten unrighteously but surely Christ would not teach any to make men our friends by that which makes God our enemy Quod est falsum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab Hellenistis usu HebraeoruÌ„ dicitur Hens exercit Sacr. They translate better who render it Make ye friends of the false or unfaithfull Mammon that is of that Mammon which will deceive and leave you shortly
somewhat besides the Lord causeth his joy He rejoyces in his green boughs in his goodly branches in his supposed strong root but to rejoyce in God as God he knows not how Davids joy was the opposite of this Psal 4.6 Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me and that will put gladnesse in my heart more then in the time that their corn and wine encreased Let me have the Sun-shine of thy love and then though I have nothing but darknesse and clouds from the world I shall rejoyce But what saith the hypocrite let my corn and wine encrease let the Sunne of outward prosperity shine warm upon me let me have my greennesse of creature-contentments let me have credit and fair repute among men these will put gladnesse in my heart These glad his heart when he hath not a dram of grace or goodnesse there Thirdly The joy of an hypocrite is but for a moment It is a perishing joy This is the joy of his way you see what it amounts to how well it last His greennesse is turned into withering his root rots and his fruit fals off This is his joy He is like those spoken of in the Epistle of Jude vers 14. Trees twice dead and plucked up by the roots That 's the conclusion of the hypocrite he hath a name to live but he is dead twice dead naturally dead in sinne and judicially dead under wrath he was born spiritually dead and his whole life is a passage to eternall death He hath rejoyced a while but he must mourn for ever The portion of hypocrites is weeping and gnashing of teeth Mat. 24.51 Their joy is but for a morning or a day weeping comes at night that night hath no morning after it And out of the earth shall others grow Some read Out of the earth shall somewhat else some other thing grow We out of the earth when these are removed other persons shall grow who shall inherit the place and possesse the dwelling of these prosperous trees For he follows the similitude of a tree when or where one is pulled up another is planted and grows up in it's room Or others shall possesse what he hath gotten In which sense Job speaks Chap. 27.16 17. Alij qui alieni erunt ab eo quasi è terra alia germinabuÌ„t in bona ipsius su cedeâ—tes juxta illud repositâ—e sunt justo opes peccatoris Dâ—â—l Though he heap up silver as the dust and prepare raiment as the clay he may prepare it but the just shall put it on and the innocent shall divide the silver Which words may be a Comment upon these Out of the earth shall others grow that is others shall rise up God will bring a new generation to enjoy his ill-gotten substance and eat the sweet of all his labours Solomon Eccles 2.18 was much afflicted because he knew not who should grow up after him I hated saith he all my labour which I have taken under the Sunne because I shall leave it to a man and I know not what he shall be whether a wise man or a fool It is a part of the vanity which lies upon man-kinde that after all a mans labour and pains he must leave all unto some body he knows not certainly who But there is a greater and sorer vanity upon the hypocrite he seldome staies to take his part He shall not rost that which he hath takâ—n in hunting Pro. 12. that is he shall not have the benefit himself of what he hath but others unthought of shall come out of the ground and grow in his place This is the upshot or summe of all his misery he hath laboured for others in temporall things and he hath got nothing for himself in spirituall things Further the words may carry this sense That When wiâ—ked men are taken away the righteous shall grow in their roome Pull up the bryars and thorns and then vines and fig-trees lilies and roses will grow the better When wicked men are removed good men will prosper Again Out of the earth shall others grow they were not worth the ground they went upon though they were worth a great deal of ground therefore out of the ground shall others grow God will raise up a generation which shall be more faithfull and serviceable unto him There is a fourth sense of this expression Out of the earth shall others grow that is out of the meanest and lowest condition others shall grow and so it carries an opposition between the condition of an hypocrite and of a godly man The hypocrite in his flourishing greennesse shall be cut down to the ground but they whose hearts are sincere and upright though they are as low as the ground though they are upon the earth and are trodden down as mire in the streets yet they shall grow up They who were growing high shall be cut down and they who were below shall grow up such as they feared not nor suspected shall prevail over them They who are lowest even as low as the earth shall be raised built up and set on high in the world when God speaks the word There is an Exposition of this whole context about which because many close with it I shall give a brief account Divers of the learned understand this third similitude not as describing the state of an hypocrite but as an instance in opposition to the state of an hypocrite set forth by the rush and by the spider in the former verses Hence it is that the Italian version begins the sixteenth verse thus But the perfect man is green before the Sun c. And so the sense may be given to this effect As if Bildad had said Though hypocrites wither like a rush or like a flag though they are suddenly swept down like a spiders web yet a godly man is a green tree before the Sunne he is not like a rush without water but like a tree planted by the rivers side which is able to endure the heat of the Sunne yea the hottest Sunne of persecution His branches shoot forth in his garden he is no wilde tree no tree of the forest or of the wildernesse he is a tree of the inclosed garden which if it want the water from the clouds the Gardener will take care to water it with his hand Or his roots are wrapped about the heap about the fountain he is strongly set and he hath water continually to feed and supply his branches Thus the Church is so described by Balaam Numb 24.6 How goodly are thy tents O Jacob and thy tabernacles O Israel as the valleys are they spread forth as gardens by the rivers sides as the trees of Lign aloes which the Lord hath planted and as Cedar-trees besides the waters Thus the godly mans roots are wrapped about the fountain and there he is fruitfull though the Sunne shine hot upon him yet it cannot exhale his moysture faster then the river can supply him with
more And he seeth the place of stones he will live upon a flint having a lively root of faith continually sucking in refreshings from Christ under whose protection and favour he remains strong and abounding in the worke of the Lord. But if he destroy him from his place it shall deny him that is if the wicked of the world attempt to root the godly man up the place that is the men of the place shall take part with them own him and deny to give him up into the hands of those who would destroy him But if the place should not secure him if the power and violence of the enemy destroy and pluck him up yet this is his joy a godly man may be destroyed but none can destroy the joy of a godly man This is the joy of his way he delights in persecution he is as sorrowfull but alwaies rejoycing even in death it self And out of his earth shall others grow He shall have a blessed posterity to stand up in his stead in whom he shall live when he is dead Or if the power of the adversary root him out of this earth in which he lived and drive him from this ground from house and home he shall grow in another earth The originall may bear that sense De terra alia germinabunt Pagn If he be removed from this place he shall grow in another place if you take him from his owne Countrey he can grow in any Countrey and if he be plucked from all Countreys he will grow up to and in Heaven Thus the whole Context may be made out as a similitude of a godly man in opposition to the hypocrite But I rather acquiesse and settle in the interpretation before that it is a third description of the condition of an hypocrite The originall and our translation fairly carry it so Bildad having thus farre prosecuted the point vindicated the justice of God and illustrated his former proof by a threefold similitude shuts up and states the point for God that He is just For he will not hurt the innocent neither will he help the evil doers c. JOB Chap. 8. Vers 20 21 22. Behold God will not cast away a perfect man neither will he help the evil doers Till he fill thy mouth with laughing and thy lips with rejoycing They that hate thee shall be cloathed with shame and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought THese three verses are the epilogue or close of Bildads discourse with Job having in the former parts of the Chapter asserted and with great clearnesse illustrated the justice of God in his dealings against impenitents and hypocrites he now concludes in a mollifying language with the assurance of his favour and goodnesse unto those who return and humble themselves Yet this he interweaves with threats of the displeasure of God seen in the effects of it against the wicked in the twentieth and two and twentieth verses It is as if Bildad had thus said Behold God will not cast away a perfect man Job thou maist perceive by what hath now been spoken that God is no enemy to the righteous nor no friend to wicked men Thou seest what the portion of a wicked man is from God and how just God is in giving him such a portion yet know that mercy shall act as gloriously in the hand of God as justice doth as God is not unjust to favour hypocrites so neither will he be unjust to forget the righteous and the perfect man the hypocrite shall perish but he will fill the mouth of a godly man with laughing and his lips with rejoycing Or if we consider his speech more distinctly we may see two negative acts of justice one toward the perfect the other toward the hypocrite with the effects of both His justice acts towards the perfect man in that He will not cast him away The effect whereof is The filling of his mouth with laughing and his lips with rejoycing His justice acts against the hypocrite thus He will not help the evil doers The effect whereof is That evil doers shall be cloathed with shame and that their tabernacles shall not be We may cast all into a form of argument First to the generall and then to the particular case of Job He that doth not cast away a perfect and a good man is just and righteous in his dealings and administrations But God doth not will not cast away a perfect and a good man Therefore he i◠just and righteous in his dealings and admiministrations Then to the particular case of Job He that doth not cast away any perfect man will not cast thee away if thou art perfect Therefore Job return make thy way perfect before God and He will not cast thee away Or take this inference God will not cast away a perfect man therefore surely thou hast a great deal of imperfection or insincerity in thee because God hath thus cast thee off and laid thee aside The like arguments may be framed upon the other part of his justice in his dealings with the wicked From the generall sense of the Context thus given I come to open the particulars as they here lie in order Behold God will not cast away a perfect man Behold Is here a strong affirmation This is a certain truth God will not The strong God or the puissant will not cast away a perfect man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God hath infinite power but he putteth none of it forth Deus fortis non abutitur potenti◠sua ad conterendun simplicem Pined to this purpose he never laies out himself in opposing those who are perfect and righteous The powerfull God doth not cast away a perfect man Cast away The word which we translate cast away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was opened at the 14th verse of this Chapter and in the fifth Chapter vers 9. Fasti divit reprobavit There it was translated by despising Despise not thou the chastening of the Lord cast not away or cast not off the chastening of the Lord. And in the 14th verse of this Chapter The hypocrites hope shall be cut off he shall cast away his hope or his hope should cast away and abhorre him for so the word bears Non reprobabit innocentem 7◠The Seventy translate it to that sense He will not cast off that is he will not reprobate or disapprove he will not reject or discountenance a perfect man And M. Broughton Loc the omnipotent will not loath the perfect Either of the senses are full enough to the Text. Only take notice that in the words there is a figure for when it is said Meiofis That God will not cast away a perfect man this is not all the meaning as if God made no other reckoning of perfect men then thus that he would not cast them away more is intended then exprest namely that the Lord doth highly esteem and prize righteous men he laies them as