AN EXPOSITION WITH Practical Observations CONTINUED Upon the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Chapters of the BOOK OF JOB: Being the substance of XXXV. Lectures, delivered at Magnus near the Bridge, London. By JOSEPH CARYL, Preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn. JAMES, Chap. 1. Ver. 2, 3, 4. My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing. LONDON: Printed for L. Fawn, L. Lloyd, and M. Simmons. 1656. To the Christian READER. TO Those chief of this CITY, who have been the Moovers, and are the Promoters of this Worke. Sirs, YOur continued care and labour of love, engages a like degree of both, for the growth of this Infant work. And therefore (though in the midst of manifold diversions) these pieces are ventured out. We live in an Age (O that we could live it) wherein the hand of Providence works gloriously, yea terribly: Having then, got three or four steps further into this Book of Providence, it will not be unseasonable, to show you the Prints of them. Especially seeing this History of Jobs affliction, looks so like a prophecy of ours; and (almost in every line) gives us some lineament of our present troubles and distempers, of our hopes and fears. In the three former Chapters we had a Narrative of the case, and of those occurrences out of which the Question here debated receives its state. As also the bringing together of the Interlocutors, or persons maintaining this Discourse: As we may always observe in the writings of the Ancients, whether Natural, Moral or Divine, which are composed into Dialogues or Disputes. This great Divinity act (one of the greatest surely and most solemn, I think the first that ever was held out, in such a formality, in the world) is principally spent, upon that noble problem, How the justice and goodness of God can be salved, while his providence distributes good to the evil, and evil to the good. A Question started and touched in many books of the holy Scriptures; but is here (ex professo) purposely handled: First, in a very long Disputation, between Job the Respondent, and his three Friends Opponents; Then in a full determination, first, by Elihu an acute and wise, then by God himself, the most wise and infallible Moderator. The Method here observed is after the manner of the Schools (pro and contra) every one of the four disputants, having his several opinion; and each one his arguments in favour of his own. Which, yet, are not presented in that affected plainness of the Schoolmen, with their downright (videtur quod sic, probatur quodnon) This I affirm, this I prove, this I deny, this disprove. The penmen of the holy Ghost never discuss Questions so, no, nor any of the old Philosophers. This Covert carriage of their opinions, and close contexture of their arguments, Answers, and Replies about them, render the Book somewhat dark and obscure to the Readers meditation. And therefore, it will be a design not unprofitable (if that end offered at, may be attained) briefly to draw them forth, and set them before you in a more open light. And doubtless, what they hold, and by what mediums they manage their proofs, may (by the blessing of God upon serious thoughts and frequent reviews) be made out to a very great plainness. Towards which, it is observable, that, there are many threads of the same colour and substance, mixed and interwoven by the Disputants throughout this whole Discourse. And, that, though the three Opponents with one consent, set up Job, as their common mark to shoot at; yet they take up very different stand, if not different levels, varying each from other in some things, as well as all (upon the main) from him. The reason of the former is this, because there are some common principles, wherein they all agree: which, if we abstract, with what is spoken in the illustration of them, taking in also those conclusions, which springs from them as their first borne: Then the remainder will show us that proper & distinctive opinion, which each of them holds about this grand Question of providence; the events & distributions whereof, seem so cross-handed in giving trouble and sorrow to godly men, joy and prosperity to the wicked. There are three principles, wherein Job concurs with his three friends; and a fourth, wherein they three concur against him. The three, wherein all four agree, are these: First, That, all the afflictions and calamities, which befall man, fall within the eye and certain knowledge of God. Secondly, That, God is the Author and efficient cause, the orderer and disposer of all those afflictions and calamities. Thirdly, That, in regard of his most holy Majesty, and unquestionable Sovereignty, he neither doth, nor can do any wrong or injury to any of his creatures, whatsoever affliction he lays, or, how long soever he is pleased to continue it upon them. These three principles and such conclusions, as are immediately deducible from them are copiously handled and insisted upon by them all. In persuance whereof, they all speak very glorious things of the Power, Wisdom, Justice, Holiness & Sovereignty of the Lord. In proclaiming every of which Attributes, the tongue of Job like a silver Trumpet, lifts up the name of God so high, that he seems to drown the sound of the other three, & makes their praise, almost, silent. But Jobs three friends proceed to a fourth principle; which, He utterly denies, about which, so much of his answer, as is contradictory to their objections & rejoinders, wholly consists. That, their fourth principle seems to be bottomed upon two grounds. First, That whosoever is good, and doth good, shall receive a present good reward, according to the measure of the good he hath done; and, That whosoever is wicked, and doth wickedly, shall be paid with present punishment, according to the measure of his demerits. Seondly, That if (at any time) a wicked man flourish in outward prosperity yet, his flourishing is very momentany, and suddenly (in this life) turns to, or ends in visible judgements. And, That, if (at any time) a godly man be withered with adversity yet, his withering is very short, and suddenly (in this life) turns to, or ends in visible blessings. Upon these two grounds or suppositions, They raise and build their fourth principle, from which, They three make continual batteries upon the innocency of Job. We may conceive the position in this frame. That, whosoever is greatly afflicted, and is held long under the pressure of his affliction, that man is to be numbered with the wicked, though; no other evidence or witness appear or speak a word against him. Hence The peculiar opinion of Eliphaz rises thus; That, all the outward evils, which overtake man in the course of this life, are the proseeds of his own sin, and so from the process of God's justice. He gives us this sense, for his, in express terms, Chap. 4. 8. They that plough iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same; which he applies parsonally to Job (Chap. 22. v. 5, 6.) Is not thy wickedness great, and thine iniquities infinite, Thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and and stripped the naked of their clothing, etc. The whole scope of his speech bends the same way; and is, as if he had said, to Job; Though thy carriage hath been so plausible among us, that we are not able to accuse thee of sin, yet these judgements accuse thee, and are sufficient witnesses against thee; These cry out with a loud voice, that thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, etc. Though we have not seen thee act these sins, yet, in these effects we see thou hast acted them; The snares which are round about thee tell us, thou hast laid snares for others, & he that runs may read how terrible, how troublesome thou hast been to the poor, in the terrors which have seized thy spirit, and in the troubles which have spoiled thee of thy riches. Bildad the Shuite speaks second; His opinion is not so rigid, as that of Eliphaz. He grants, that afflictions may fall upon a righteous person, yet so, that if God send not deliverance speedily, if he restore him not quickly to his former estate and honour, than (upon the second ground of the fourth princple) such a man may be censured, cast and condemned as unrighteous. That such was Bildad's judgement, in this case, is clear Chap. 8. 5, 6. If thou wert pure and upright, surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous, Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end shall greatly increase; And vers. 20, 21. Behold God will not cast away a perfect man, etc. till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing. As if he had said, I cannot assent to my brother Eliphaz, affirming, That every man afflicted, is afflicted, for his wickedness, I (for my part) believe and am persuaded, that a godly man may be afflicted for the trial & exercise of his graces, etc. but, than I am assured, that God never lets him lie in his afflictions, for, as soon as he cries and calls, the Lord awakes presently, makes his habitation prosperous again, and increases him more than ever. I grant the Lord may cast down a perfect man, but, he will not (in this life) cast him away; no he will speedily fill his mouth with laughing, and his lips with rejoicing. Zophar, the third Opponent differs from the two former in this great controversy, affirming, That, the reason of all those afflictions, which press the children of men, is to be resolved into the absolute will and pleasure of God; that, we are not further to inquire about his wisdom, justice or mercy in dispencing them, his counsels being unsearchable, and his ways past finding out. Thus he delivers his mind (Ch. 11. 7, 8.) Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou by searching find him out to perfection? It is as high as heaven, what canst thou do? Deeper than hell, what canst thou know? vers. 12. Vain man would be wise, though man be borne like a wild Ass' colt. In the rest of his speech, he comes nearest the opinion of Bildad, vers. 14, 15, 16. and gives out ●s hard thoughts of Job, as either of his brethren, numbering him among the wicked, & assigning him the reward of an hypocrite (Chap. 10. 29.) This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God. These (I conceive) are the Characteristical opinions of Jobs three friends, about his case. All consistent with those four principles, which they hold in common, all equally closing in the censure and condemnation of Job, though in some things dissenting and falling off from one another. But what thinks Job? or how doth he acquit or extricate himself from these difficulties? very well, His sentence is plainly this. That, The providence of God, dispenses outward prosperity and affliction so indifferently to good and bad, to the righteous & the wicked, that no unerring judgement can possibly be made up, of any man's spiritual estate, by the face, & upon the view of his temporal. He declares this, as his opinion, in clear, resolute and categorical terms, (Ch. 9 v. 22, 23.) This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked, if the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent. Which opinion hath no quarrel at all with any of those three principles, held by Job jointly, and in consort, with his three friends, but only with their fourth: which he throughout refutes as heterodox & unsound in itself, as uncomfortable to the Spirits, and inconsistent with experiences of the Saints. In the Strong hold and Fortroyal of this holy truth, Job secures himself against all the assaults, and scatters all the Objections of his Opponents: resolving to maintain it to the very death; he will lay his bones by this position, say his unkind friends, what they can against him, & let the most wise God, do what he pleases with him. That, he was a sinner, he readily grants; that, he was an hypocrite, he flatly denies. That, the Lord was righteous in all his deal with him, he readily grants. That, himself was righteous, because the Lord had dealt so with him, he stately denies. How perfect soever he was, he confesses, that, he needed the freegrace and mercies of the Lord to justify him, but withal, asserts, that he was perfect enough, to justify himself against all the challenges of man. In these acknowledgements of his sinfulness, and denials of insincerity. In these humblings of himself before God, and acquitting of himself before men: in these implorings of mercy from the Lord, and complain of the unkindness of his brethren, the strength of Jobs answer consists, and the specialties of it may be summed up. 'Tis true that through the extremity of his pain, the anguish of his spirit, and the provocation of his friends, some unwary speeches slipped from him. For which, Elihu reproved him gravely and sharply, of which, himself repent sorrowfully and hearty, all which, the most gracious God passed by and pardoned freely, not imputing sin unto him. Thus (Christian reader) I have endeavoured (as heretofore of the whole Book, so now) to give a brief account concerning the Argumentative part of it: And to represent how far in this great Controversy, the Answerer and his Objectors agree in judgement, and where they part. If this discovery administer any help, as a Thread to lead your meditations, through the many secret turn, and intricacies of this dispute, the labour in drawing it out is abundantly satisfied. And if any further light, subservient to this end, shall be given in from the Father of lights, that also in its season may be held forth and set upon a Candlestiks. What, is now received, together with the textual Expositions upon this first Undertaking between Eliphaz and Job, I leave in your hands: praying for a blessing from on high, to convey truth home to every heart; desiring earnest prayers for the Spirit of grace and illumination to be poured out, according to the measure of the gift of Christ, upon April 28 1645. Your very affectionate Friend and Servant in this work of the Lord Joseph Caryl. AN EXPOSITION Upon the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Chapters of the Book of JOB. JOB Chap. 4. Verse 1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said. 2. If we assay to commune with thee wilt thou be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking? 3. Behold, thou hast instructed many, & thou hast strengthened the weak hands. 4. Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. 5. But now it is come upon thee and thou faintest, it toucheth thee and thou art troubled. 6. Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, the uprightness of thy ways and thy hope. JOBS complaint ended in the former Chapter: in this a hot dispute gins. Job having cursed his day, is now chid himself. And he had such a chiding, as was indeed a wounding, such as almost at every word, drew blood; and was not only a Red upon his back, but a Sword at his heart. Job was wounded first by Satan, he was wounded a second time by his Wife, a third time he was wounded (not as it is spoken in the Prophet, in the house of his friends, but) in his own house by his friends; Zach. 13. 6. these last wounds are judged (by good Physicians in soule-afflictions) his deepest and soarest wounds. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said. Eliphaz, being (as is supposed) the elder and chief of the three, first enters the list of this debate with Job: concerning whose name, person and pedigree, we have spoken before at the eleventh Verse of the second Chapter, and therefore referring the Reader thither, for those circumstantials of the speaker, I shall immediately descend unto the matter here spoken. If we assay to commune with thee wilt thou be grieved? etc. The whole discourse of Eliphaz may be divided into three general parts. 1. The Preface of his Speech. 2. The Body 3. The Conclusion The Preface of his speech is contained in the second Verse, If we assay to commune with thee wilt thou be grieved? etc. The Body of his speech is extended through this fourth and to the last Verse of the fifth Chapter: It consisteth especially of two members, or two sorts of matter, in which Eliphaz deals with Job. The first is reprehensory, by way of conviction and reproof. The second is exhortatory, by way of counsel and advice. First Eliphaz reprehends Job. This work of reprehension gins at the third Verse of this Chapter, and is continued to the end of the fourth Verse of the fift Chapter. And to show that he did not reprehend him upon passion, he grounds this reprehension upon reason, and strengthens his reproof with Arguments. And there are four reasons or special Arguments, which Eliphaz takes up to make this reprehension convincing, the naming of them will give light to the whole, before we come to particulars. The first Argument is contained in the words I have read to the end of the sixth Verse. And it is taken from the unsuitableness of his present practice, to his former precepts. Or from the inequality of the course, he now took under affliction, to the counsel he had given others under affliction. His second Argument beginning at the seventh Verse and carried on to the twelfth, is grounded upon a supposed inequality of God's present dealing with him, in reference to his former deal with godly men. Eliphaz thought thus, surely Job is an Hypocrite, otherwise God would have dealt with him, as with an innocent; Remember (saith he) I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent; I will convince thee by all examples, by whatsoever is upon Record, in the History of all Ages, that thou art an Hypocrite, a wicked person; for see, if thou canst find an instance in any Story, of an innocent person perishing. That is his second Argument. His third Argument is continued from the twelfth Verse to the end of this fourth Chapter; and that he might make the deeper impression upon Jobs spirit, he brings it in with a dreadful Preamble: a Vision from God, at once terrifying and instructing him, thus to reason down the pride of man. The Argument itself is couched in the seventeenth verse. It is drawn from an evidence of presumption in all such, as shall dare to implead God's justice or plead their own: as if Eliphaz had said, surely thou art a proud and a wicked person, for there was never any godly man upon the face of the Earth, no nor any Angel in Heaven that durst be so bold with God as thou hast been; Shall mortal man (saith he) be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? Behold he put no trust in his servants, and his Angels he charged with folly. His fourth Argument gins at the fifth Chapter and ends with the fourth Verse; and it is taken from the unlikeness of Jobs carriage under his afflictions, to that which any of the Saints in any age of the World did ever show forth under their afflictions. He that caries himself so, as none of the Saints ever carried themselves, gives an evidence against his Saintship, Call now to the Saints, either those now living upon the Earth, or search the Records concerning all the Saints that ever lived, consider, and see whether thou canst observe or read any parallel of thy complaints, and unreasonable expostulotions. So much for the sum of his convictions. Then Eliphaz turns himself to admonition and exhortation in the following part of that fifth Chapter; and there are two Heads of his admonitory exhortation. First, he admonishes him, to seek unto God and to call upon him, Vers. 8. I would seek unto God, and unto God, would I commit my cause. I give thee no other counsel than I would take myself. If I were in thy case, I would not stand thus complaining and cursing my day, but this I would do, I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause. This admonition is enforced by divers Arguments to the seventeenth Verse. The second head of his exhortation beginneth at the seventeenth Verse, and it is to prevail with him, patiently to bear, and quietly to accept his affliction, or the punishment of his iniquity: in pursuance of this he shows him many benefits and blessings, attending those who graciously comply with the correcting hand of God upon them. Behold (saith he Verse 17.) happy is the man whom God correcteth, therefore despise not thou the chastning of the Almighty; he concludeth all from his certain knowledge and infallible experience of what he had said (Verse 27.) Lo, this we have searched it, so it is; Backed with a warranty, that if he obey, his own experience shall quickly teach him this truth; Hear it, and know thou it for thy good. So much concerning the Division or Parts of this first Speech or dispute made by Eliphaz in answer to the former complaint, poured out by Job against the day of his birth, and the night of his conception, in the third Chapter. The six Verses (lately read) contain (as I said before) the first Argument; we have the Preface in the second Verse, and the Argument itself in the four following. The point which Eliphaz desires to prove and clear is this; that Job was guilty of hypocrisy, of close hypocrisy at the least, if not of gross hypocrisy. The Medium or reason by which he would prove it, is the unsuitableness of his present practice to his former Doctrine. His actions under sufferings contradict what himself had taught other sufferers. And this speaks him guilty, The Argument may be thus form. That man's religion is but vain and his profession hypocritical, who having comforted others in, and taught them patience under affliction, is himself (being afflicted) comfortless and impatient. But Job, thus it is with thee, thou hast been a man very forward to comfort others and teach them patience, yet now thou art comfortless and impatient. Therefore thy religion is vain, and thy profession is hypocritical. Is not this thy fear? Here is a goodly religion indeed, a proper piece of profession: and such is thine, this is all thou art able to make out. Thus you have the Logical strength or the Argument contained in the words. We shall now examine them in the Grammatical sense of every part, as they lie here in order. And first for the Preface. If we assay to commune with thee wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking? The words import, as if Eliphaz had said thus unto Job; we thy friends have all this while stood silent, we have given thee full liberty and scope to speak out all that was in thine heart, let it not grieve thee, if we now take liberty to speak ourselves: and indeed a necessity lies upon us to speak. Two things Eliphaz puts into this Preface, whereby he labours to prepare the mind of Job, readily to hear and receive what he had to say unto him. First, he tells him that he speaks out of good will and as a friend to him. If we assay to commune with thee wilt thou be grieved? Pray do not take it ill, we mean you no harm, we would but give you faithful counsel, we speak from our hearts, not from our spleen, we speak from love to thee, let it not be thy grief. Secondly, he shows that he was necessitated to speak, as love provokes, so necessity constrains, who can withhold himself from speaking? either of these considerations is enough to unlock both ear and heart to take in wholesome counsel. What ear, what heart will not the golden key of love, or the iron key of necessity open to instruction? when a friend speaks, and he speaks as bound, when kindness and duty mix in conference, how powerful! If we assay, or try. The word signifies properly to tempt, either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tentav●t in bonum vel in malum, periculum fecit, expertus est. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A ly●um quasi Graculum vel loquuto●ium dictum, quod Deus inde responsa daret. for good or evil; and because in temptation, an assay or experiment is made of a man, how bad or how good he is; Therefore the word is applied to any assaying or experimenting of things or persons. This very word is winning and gaining upon Job. We will but try a little if we can do thee any good, or bring lenitives to thy sorrows, we will not be burdensome or tedious; we will but assay to commune with thee. The word notes serious speaking. The place where God communed with his people, in giving answers from Heaven, is expressed by this word, 1 Kings 6. 19 The Oracle he prepared in the house within, etc. or the communing-place where God spoke. Wilt thou be grieved?] The word signifies to be extremely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fessus corpore vel animo, insanivit, furiit. wearled even unto rage or fainting. Here Elipphaz seems to hint at Jobs former distempered speeches. If we speak, wilt thou promise us not to fall into such a fit of passion, as even now thou wast in. And yet whatsoever comes of it, or howsoever thou takest it, I must discharge my duty and my conscience; therefore he adds, who can withhold himself from speaking? That is, no man can withhold himself from speaking in such a case as this: to hear thee speak thus would even make a dumb man speak; Christ saith in the Gospel, If these should hold their peace the stones would cry; there is such a sense in these words: if we thy friends should hold our peace, when thou speakest thus, the very stones would cry out against thee for speaking, and against us for holding our peace. The Hebrew word translated withhold, signifies to shut up a thing so as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clausit co●●cuit 1 Kings 8 35. that it cannot come out: It is applied to the locking up of the Clouds that they rain not; to the holding in of fire that it cannot break forth; Jer: 20. 9 where the Prophet very elegantly fits it to the restraining of speech, which is the very point in hand. His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, I was weary with forbearing. So it implies that the friends of Job had as it were a fire in their bosoms, which they could no longer restrain, they were as Clouds full of water, full of dew and rain, they were not able to suspend themselves from dissolving and showering upon Job, both reproof and counsel, advices and exhortations. We may observe from this Preamble, That it is wisdom to sweeten reproof with friendly insinuations. Reproof is a bitter Pill; it is a wholesome yet a bitter Pill, and there is need to wrap it up in Gold and Sugar, that pleasing both eye and it may be taken down the better. It is the Apostles counsel to his Galatians, Gal. 6. 1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken with a fault, ye that are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness. The word restore, is an allusion to the Art of chirurgery, in setting a bone out of joint; soft words and a soft hand fit the Patient's mind to endure that painful operation. By falls into sin, the soul breaks or disjoints a bone, he that will set such a mind▪ must handle it gently. We may observe the holy skill of some of the Saints in prayer, preparing God for receiving of Petitions, by prefaces and humble insinuations (as it were) getting within him. Thus did Abraham, Gen. 18. when he prayed for Sodom, Let not my Lord be angry if I who am but dust and ashes speak unto thee. There is such a spiritual art in winding a reproof into the bosom and spirit of a man, Let it not trouble thee that I thus speak, take my words in good part, If we assay to commune with thee wilt thou be grieved? Secondly, observe, That it is no easy thing to bear reproof. To take a reproof well is as high a point of spiritual wisdom, as to give it well. When we reprove the sin, we should love the man; but there are few men who can love their reprovers. You know what is said in the Prophet, They hate him that reproveth in the gate. Reproofs are usually entertained with hatred, and ill taken by evil persons; reproof is not always taken in good part, by those who are good. It is but need to have some way made for its due entertainment, by the best tempered spirits. Wilt thou be grieved? it may be wearisome and troublesome unto thee, but I pray let it not. Thirdly, observe from the Preface, That in some cases it is our duty to speak and reprove whether men are troubled or no. How should I be pleased if thou wouldst receive my speech in good part? but I cannot withhold myself from speaking, though thou art displeased; take it how you will, I must speak, these reproofs must out. When we see plainly that God is dishonoured, and that the soul of our brother is greatly endangered, we must then speak (as God chargeth the Prophet) whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. In such cases we must adventure to save men by Ep. Judas v. 23 fear, plucking them out of the fire. Lastly, observe, That when the heart is full it is a very hard thing, not to give it vent at the lips by speaking. When the heart is full of matter, the tongue will be full of words; the tongue must bring forth the treasures that are laid up in the heart: Who (saith Eliphaz) can withhold himself from speaking? The Prophet Jeremiah, Chap. 20. 9 thought to stifle the message of God in his heart, I said I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, he began to take up a resolution to withhold himself from speaking, but (saith he) his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay, I could not hold it any longer. So the Apostles, Acts 4. 19 We cannot but speak that which we have heard and seen, it is impossible for us, the Lord hath spoken who can but prophesy? Amos 3. 8. that is, who can withhold himself from prophesying when once the Lord bids him speak. Words are the conceptions of our minds, and when our thoughts are formed and organised as it were, and grown to perfection, when those children come to the birth a little strength will bring them forth. Or rather, great strength cannot keep them, from being brought forth. It is as possible for her that is with child to withhold the birth, as it is for those that have pregnant conceptions or an errand from God, to withhold themselves from speaking. When David kept silence (it is a strange connexion) he roared, Psal. 32. 3. When he held his peace from good, his sorrow was stirred, Psal. 39 2. Pangs took hold on him as upon a woman in travel, which made him roar. His heart waxed hot & the fire burned, till he spoke with his tongue. He was then delivered. Our English phrase of Delivering a man's mind, may hit this sense well. Their hearts are barren, whose mouths are always shut. Who can withhold himself from speaking? But what is it that he could not forbear? He could not forbear to tell him, that (as he supposed) he acted against his own principles. Behold thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands, etc. Behold.] This word is sometime used in a way of derision, as Ecce doctorem egregium! Ecce medicum aliorum qui seipsum curare nesciat. Gen. 3. 22. where God saith concerning Adam, Behold the man is become as one of us, do you not see what a God he is? how like a God he looks? so, Behold thou hast instructed many, (some make that the sense) see now your great Teacher, your learned Doctor; he that hath been so forward and busy in teaching others, see in what disorder, how uncomposed he is himself: he would needs physic his Neighbours, but knows not how to cure his own distempers. But rather take it by way of ásseveration. Behold, as if he should say, this is a thing clear and certain, all that are about thee, can witness it, that thou hast instructed many, and that thou hast strengthened the weak hands. But how art thou changed? thou art not like the man thou wast. Here are four special acts of spiritual charity, so we may call and distinguish them. First, instructing of the ignorant; secondly, encouraging of the weak and slothful; thirdly, supporting of those that are ready to fall; and fourthly, comforting those that are ready to faint. In these four duties Job had been very conversant. 1 Indoctos docere. . Instruction of the ignorant, Behold thou hast instructed many. 2 Torpentes excitare. . Encouragement of the weak and slothful, Thou hast strengthened the weak hands. 3 Labentes erigere. . Supportation of the weak, Thy words have upholden him that was falling. 4 Maestos consolari. . Consolation of those who were ready to faint, Thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. Here you see the four uses, which Job made in his counsels; First, 2 Tim. 3. 16. of Instruction; Secondly, of Exhortation; Thirdly, of Admonition; Fourthly, of Consolation: Job was a perfect Preacher, he applies the word to all the services and ends of it, respecting the several conditions, tempers, or distempers, of those with whom he had to do. Further, some take the three latter to be, but as explications or branches of the first; Behold thou hast instructed many, namely, concerning the nature of afflictions, and their duty in the bearing afflction; yea, thou hast instructed them so fare, that thou hast strengthened the weak hands, upholden those that were falling, and strengthened the feeble knees. I come now to the opening of the several expressions. Thou hast instructed many.] The word which we translate instructed, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 E●udivit, castigavit ut patres & praeceptoris solent pueros. Respondet Graecorun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 docere verbi. & verberibus. signifieth both to correct and to teach; and the Hebrews give the reason of it, because usually with instruction, correction is joined; and so the same Greek word signifies both to teach and to chasten: As there is a voice of the Rod, instruction in correction, so a Rod sometimes goes with the voice, correction is helpful to instruction: In either or both the senses, we may understand it here, thou hast instructed many, thou hast taught and directed, thou hast (where need was) chastened and corrected many. Many.] We have heard in the first Chapter, that Job prayed for his Children, for his Sons and Daughters; but now we see Jobs piety extended further, than his own children. Yea, the word may well be carried out, beyond his own family. He prayed for his children, and not only did he pray for them, but also teach and instruct them, and not only them, but others, he enlarges his School, he instructs many; it is an indefinite word, a word of number without a number. Jobs School of holy discipline was a large one, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Debilis, laxus, hinc Rephaim significat mertuos, ex eo quod in illis omne robur & vires naturales elanguerunt. he set up his School where ever he came; he was an universal Teacher, an Apostle of the old World; thou hast instructed many. And thou hast strengthened the weak hands.] The word signifies, Remiss hands, or the hands that hang down, lose and lax. Hence by a Metaphor it notes one, that is negligent or idle; a man with his hands hanging down and his arms lose, is the emblem of idleness or of sadness. Thou hast strengthened the Manus l●ssae & dejecta b●ach●a pertinent ad hab●●um aut molliter aut segni●er ambulantis, aut cur●ere non valenti●. E contra vero adducere brachia, manus comprimere, fortiter j●ctare cubi●os, strenue currentis est. weak hands; that is, those that were idle or grieved, negligent or dejected. Hence the word (Rephaim) is used, to signify those that are dead; and the re●son is, because all strength, natural vigour and activity departed, when life departeth: Giants also are expressed in the Hebrew by this word, because they are such dreadful persons, that their very aspect or sight terrifies the spirit, makes the hands hang down and the knees of beholders feeble; they called those mighty men, weak, from that effect wrought upon others; because they made others weak and tremble at their approaches. Hence, when Goliath the Giant challenged and defied the Host of Israel, it is said, that all the men of Israel when they saw the man, fled from him, or fled from his face (he overcame them with his looks) and were fore afraid, 1 Sam. 17. 24. This weakness of hands (as we find instanced in Scripture) arises four ways. First, from sloth and idleness (as we noted before) some have strong heads, but they have weak hands, they are sufficiently instructed, but they cannot act, or they are unactive, and an unactive man is a weak-handed man. Secondly, weakness of the hands cometh from fear, and so that phrase, to strengthen the hands, notes encouraging of a person, as Zech. 8. 9, 13. Fear not, let thy hands be strong; that is, let not fear weaken thy hands: and Jer. 38. 4. the Princes came to the King and begged of him that Jeremiah might be put to death; and they give the reason from this, For (say they) he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in the City, and the hands of all the people; that is, he discourages them, makes them believe they shall never be able to stand out against the King of Babylon, but that he shall certainly take the City; this is called weakening of their hands: So Isa. 35. 3. Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees, say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not. So ye see, weakness of the hands is caused by fear; when the bands of the heart are dissolved (as it were) and loosened by fear, the hand must needs be dissolved and loosened from labour; the hand is not able to work at all, when fear works much upon the heart. Thirdly, weakness of the hands ariseth from irresolution, when a man is not resolved what to do, not settled upon a business, than his hands are weak. Hence it was the counsel of Achitophel to Absalon, that he should go up upon the house top, in the sight of all Israel, and abuse his father's Concubines; and he giveth the reason of it, than (saith he) shall the hands of all that are with thee be 2 Sam. 16. 21. strong; his meaning is, than they will be so resolved to stick to thee, that they will do their utmost; he grounds his counsel upon the present irresolution of the people, he doubted whether Absaloms' party would adhere cordially to him or no, therefore (saith he) do an act which may render thyself and all that are with thee irreconcilable to the King; this will unite them to thee, and their hands will be strong. If once they be out of hope to be received into the King's favour, thou mayst be out of fear, that they will return to the King's obedience. In any lawful and good design it is best to raise up resolution and engage it to the highest. Where the heart is strongly resolved, the hands will act strongly. The reason why men are slow and dull in great undertake, is, because they are off and on, full of neutrality and indifferency, in what they undertake. Unsettled spirits can never settle actions. A double minded man is James 1. 8. unstable (and weak-handed) in all his ways. Lastly, there is a weakness of the hands (which is I conceive most proper to this place) arising from sorrow and grief; from the weight and burden of affliction, or from a sudden surprise of trouble. As it is said of Balteshazar (Dan. 5. 6.) who seeing the hand-writing upon the plaster of the wall, presently changed countenance, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. Thou hast strengthened the weak hands; that is, those whose hands are weak by reason of manifold trials and tribulations: thou hast spoken words to them, which have been as sinews to their hands, and strength unto their joints. In this sense the Apostle uses both the expressions of the Text, Heb. 12. 6. where having treated about the nature of afflictions, together with the fruit and benefit of them, he concludes thus, wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees; as if he should say, it is probable that affliction hath made your hands hang down, that sorrow and grief have loosened your spirits and your loins too, therefore now be of good cheer, lift up your hands that hang down, and the feeble knees. Thy Symptom or effect of sorrow is elegantly Columbis pr● cantu gemitus est & inamoenun murmur. Sanct. in Ezek. cap 7. described, Ezek. 7. 17. where the Prophet having showed that many should mourn as Doves of the Valleys, adds, all hands shall be feeble and all knees shall be weak as water. Thy words have upheld him that was falling.] Some afflictions lie so hard and heavy upon us, that they do not only weaken, but cast down: Job stood ready to uphold such as were ready to fall; timely advice may catch a man before he is quite down, and prevent his fall. The word which we translate falling, signifies in its first sense, to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Impingere & quod saepe consequitur ruere, cadere. stumble or strike the foot against a thing, and so it is put for that which is the consequent of stumbling, falling: he that strikes his foot or stumbles at a thing, is in danger of a fall. So Isay 40. 30. The young men shall utterly fall, it is this word, but doubled, falling they shall fall, that is, they shall utterly fall. There is a threefold falling mentioned in Scripture. 1. There is a falling into sin, Gal. 6. 1. If a man be overtaken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praecipuè significat peccata actualia, à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ad verbum praeter cadere, cum scil. ultra rectam justitiae lineam cadimus, de erratis etiam levioribus usurpatur, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in compositione minuit sensum. in a fault: that word (like this Hebrew in the Text) signifies, a fall taken by stumbling or by tripping upon any thing, that lies in the way. In this sense we understand the fall of Adam, the fall of Angels, and the falls of the Saints. 2. There is a falling into affliction, a falling into trouble: So Prov: 24. 16. The just man falleth seven times a day; that is, he meets affliction at every turn, he falls into trouble almost at every step. Seven times a day, is very often in the day, or often every day. 3. There is a falling under trouble. And of persons falling so, we are chief to understand this Text. Many fall into trouble, who yet (through the strength of Christ) stand firmly under trouble. Others no sooner fall in, but they fall under it. The shoulders of some are not able to bear a light affliction, and the afflictions of others are so heavy, that no shoulders are able to bear them; the back breaks, the spirit sinks under the load. To such as these Job lent his hand, his shoulders: his counsel was as a staff in their hands, as ligaments to their loins and knees. Job was well skilled in setting props and buttresses of holy advice, to such tottering souls. Thou hast upheld him that was falling. We may take the words in all, or either of these three interpretations, yet most properly of the latter. Thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. The Hebrew word for a knee signifieth (in the root) to bless or to pray, because in blessing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Genu quod flecti solet in Benedictionibus et salutationibus. and praying for one, or in saluting, we use to bow the knee. And here, what we translate the feeble knees, is word for word the bowing knees; because when knees bow and buckle or double under us, it proceeds from weakness and feebleness: hence the bowing knee is called the feeble knee. Dan. 6. 5. it is said of Belshazzar, his knees smote one against the other; he fainted, his spirits sank within him, than his knees (as a Symptom of his fear) beat one against another. The hanging down of hands, notes a kind of despair in regard of present evils: and feeble quaking knees, seem to refer to some expected evil. Taking the words with that difference, Jobs work of love appears more full; he not only upheld in present troubles, but laboured to strengthen against such as were to come. Thou hast instructed many, and instructed them many, even all these ways. We may note. First, That to teach, instruct, and comfort others, is not only a man's duty but his praise, for here Eliphaz speaks it in a way of commendation, though with an intent to ground a reproof upon it. Job himself speaks of what he had done in that kind, as a defence of his own innocence, Chap. 29. vers. 21. etc. Unto me men gave ear and waited, and kept silence at my counsel, after my words they spoke not again, and my speech dropped upon them; and they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide, as for the latter rain. This was his practice, and this was the praise of Job. That which the Apostle speaks as a special qualification or gift of a Bishop, 1 Tim. 3. 2. is an excellent, a noble qualification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. in any person, of what rank or degree soever, to be apt to teach. Secondly, Consider who Job was; he was a holy man, one that had much acquaintance and communion with God. Now though his friends mistook what was in his heart, yet they hit right upon his practice; and we knowing both what his heart was, by the testimony of God: and what his practice was, from the testimony of men, may ground a second point upon it. That such as know God in truth and holiness, are very ready to communicate the knowledge Quae autem est ce●●●or eleemosyna, quod majus opus miserecordiae, quam docere rudes segnes ad bene agendum extimulare, labentem erigere, maestos cons●lari. of God unto others. They who know God themselves, are desirous that others should know God too. David (Psal 51. 13.) promiseth and professeth, that he would communicate his experiences of God's love, in pardoning his sin, when he had tasted the sweetness of a pardon. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee: when my heart hath learned more of God, others shall learn more of God from my mouth. This is spiritual charity, and it is the most excellent and noblest charity of all. Charity to the soul is the soul of charity, charity to the better part, is the best charity. In this sense also Job was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame, by guiding them to see, Job 29. 15. and by directing their feet to walk, in the ways of God. To give knowledge is better than to give Gold. Instruction is the highest alms. Thirdly, if we consider Job (of whom all this is affirmed) as he was a great rich man, we may note thus much; That honourable and great men, lose nothing of their honour and greatness by descending to the instruction of others, though their inferiors. Some think it belongs only unto Ministers to instruct; What we instruct? They resent it as a disparagement: they trust out that work wholly into the hands of others. Where shall we find an Abraham (a great Prince in his time) of whom God gave this Testimony, I know him that he will command his children, etc. and they shall keep the way of the Lord: and because he was willing to teach others, God condescends to teach him: Shall I hid from Gen 18. 17, 18, 19 Abraham that thing which I do. They receive most knowledge, who are most ready to impart it. And we find before this, Abraham so successful in teaching, that he had an Army of scholars in his house. The Text saith, when he prepared for that expedition to rescue his Nephew Lot, that he armed three hundred and eighteen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 14. 14. Prov. 22. 6. of his trained, catechised, or instructed servants. The word signifies, to train in the Principles of Religion, as well as in the postures of war: being the same used in the Book of Proverbs, for teaching a child the first elements of holy knowledge. And that place of Genesis may very well comprehend both. Fourthly observe, That charity, especially spiritual charity, is very liberal and openhearted. Job instructed not only his own, but he instructed others, he instructed many; he did not confine his doctrine and his advice to his own walls, but the sound thereof went wheresoever he went; he instructed many. And if Job who had no special, no direct calling to it, were a teacher of many: what shall we think of those, whose calling and business it is to teach, and yet teach not any at all? their trade, their profession is to teach, yet they are so far from teaching many, that they teach none, and which is worse, they hinder teaching: they stop the mouth of the teacher, and (if they can) the ear of the learner, they take away the key of knowledge. They neither open the door themselves, nor suffer those that would. This is the very spirit of wickedness. And blessed be God, whose mighty power hath so graciously cast out and dispossessed so many places of the Kingdom of these wicked spirits. Further, taking those other parts of his instruction, as they respect persons afflicted, who are here described by weak hands, and feeble knees, ready to fall, unable to stand. Observe first, That sore afflictions do exceedingly indispose for duty. Sore afflictions make weak hands and feeble knees: the weak hand and the feeble knee are (as I said before) emblems of one unfit for any business; unfit to work, unfit to walk, when the hand is weak and the knee is feeble, what is a man fit for? Great sufferings unfit us for action. Hence it is that the Lord moderates the afflictions of his people, sweetens the bitterness, and takes off the oppressing weight of them. God promiseth to come Isa. 57 16. with reviving, and that he will not contend for ever with his people. Why? A principle Reason is, Lest their spirits should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. Lest the spirits should fail; that is, lest they should fail in their duties: the spirit cannot fail in the essence of it, the spirit is of an eternal constitution; but it faileth in the duty often. And if afflictions lie too hard and too long upon a people, their spirits fail, their faith fails, their courage fails, their labours cannot be laborious, to carry on and carry out their work. Therefore when Job saw any under afflictions, he endeavoured to put courage into their hearts, and so strength into their hands. Secondly, In the general we may note further, That the words of the wise have a mighty power, strength, and prevalence in them. You see how efficatious the words of Job were; Jobs instructions were strengthuing, thou hast strengthened the weak hands and feeble knees; his words were as stays to hold them up, that were ready to fall: Eliphaz doth not only say, thou didst instruct many, & in instructing thou didst intent, it was thy design and aim to strengthen the weak hands, but he speaks of what Job had effected & wrought; thy words put sinews into the hands and knees of men that were weak and ready to fall, thy words were as props to hold and bear up the spirits of those that were sinking. Words wisely dispensed and followed, with the blessing of God, what can they not do? God doth the greatest things in the World by a word speaking? as at the first he made the world itself by a word speaking; so he hath done the greatest things, and wrought the greatest changes in the World, by a word speaking. When a word goes forth clothed with the authority and power of God, it works wonders. How hath it raised up sinking spirits? how hath it made the fearful undaunted, and the weakhearted courageous? God by his word in the mouth of a weak man overthrows the strong holds of sin, and by a word brings every thought of man, into subjection to Jesus 2 Cor. 10. 4. 5 Christ. By a word he stops the mouth of blasphemy, and evil speaking; by a word speaking, he makes a man deny himself; by a word he opens the eyes of the blind, and makes the lame to run and leap like a Hart, in the way of holiness. And I could wish that the word which I now speak, might (through the blessing of God) have such an effect upon your spirits. O that it might strengthen all weak hands and feeble knees, O that it might uphold all who are ready to fall; we are cast upon knee-feebling, hand-weakning, yea, heart-weakning times: the sight of those things which our eyes do see, and the hearing of those things which our ears do hear, cause many to fear, and the spirits of some to fall. Now a word invested with commission from God, to go and comfort, will master all our sorrows, and dispel all these fears. If the Lord breathe upon a word, that word will breathe lively activity into a very carcase. Look to those many and gracious promises, made to those that mourn, and comfort will flow in. Promises are the treasures of comfort: promises hold the Church's stock, they are the patrimony of beleivers; it is their privilege and their honour, to be called heirs of the promise. While Heb. 6. 17. Christ and the Promise lives, how can Faith die, or languish, eyeing a promise. So much of the first branch of the minor Proposition in the third and fourth Verses. The second branch lies in the fifth Verse. Now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest, it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. Thou hast instructed many, thou hast strengthened the weak hands, etc. but now it is come upon thee, etc. That is trouble and affliction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lassus fuit corpore vel animo, prae lassitudine nescivit quid ageret. are come upon thee. And thou faintest.] The word signifies an extraordinary fainting; when a man is so wearied and spent, that he knows not what he doth, when his reason seems tired, as much as his strength. So that the words, Now it is come upon thee thou faintest, may import thus much; thou art in such a case, that thou seemest to be besides thyself, thou knowest not what thou dost, thou speakest, thou knowest not what. The word is translated in the first Verse by grieved: in other Scriptures by mad and furious. (Prov 26. 18.) As a madman who casteth firebrands, etc. And whereas we say (Gen. 47. 13.) the land of Egypt fainted by reason of the famine, many render it, the land of Egypt was enraged or mad because of In sanivit terra Egypti, nan propter famem nimiam insanit homo. Furebat terra, i. e. tumultuabantur anno quinto famis mentem ill●s adimente sane. Jun. in loc. the famine; want of bread turns to want of reason, famine distracts. The Egyptians were so extremely pinched with hunger, that it did even take away their wits from them, and scarcity of food for their bodies, made a dearth in their understandings. So there is this force in the word, Thou who hast given such wise and grave instruction unto others, from those higher principles of grace, now it is come upon thee, thou art even as a mad man, as a man distracted, not able to act by the common principles of reason. It toucheth thee.] It is the same word which we opened before; the Devil desired that he might but touch Job, now his friend telleth him he is touched. And thou art troubled.] That word also hath a great emphasis in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it. It signifies a vehement amazed trouble; as in that place (1 Sam. 28. 21.) where when the woman, the Witch of Endor had raised up Samuel (in appearance) as Saul desired, the Text saith, that when all was ended, she came unto Saul, and she saw, he was sore troubled: think what trouble might fall upon a man in such a condition as Saul was in, after this acquaintance with the visions of Hell, think what a deep astonishment of spirit seized upon him, such disorder of mind this word lays upon Job, Now it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. Observe hence first, To commend a man with a But, is a wound instead of a commendation. Thou hast instructed many, But, etc. How many are there who salute their friends very fair to their faces, or speak them very fair behind their backs, yet suddenly (as Joab to Amasa) draw out this secret Dagger, and stab their honour and honesty to the heart. As it is said of Naaman, 2 Kings 5. 1. He was an honourable man, and a mighty man of valour, but he was a Leper. So, etc. Observe secondly, Great afflictions may disturb the very seat of reason, and leave a Saint in some acts, below a man. Some acts of holiness represent the Saints as madmen to carnal men. So Paul appeared to Festus, and so to many of his Corinthians, 2 Ep: cap. 5. v. 13. For whether we be besides ourselves it is to God. Workings of Grace are sometime so fare above reason, that they seem to be without reason. So some acts of infirmity represent the Saints to carnal men, as madmen. A gracious man works so much below reason sometimes, that he seems to be without reason. Thirdly, note, That when we see any one doing ill, it is good to mind him of the good which he hath done. Eliphaz saw Job fainting, enraged as a madman, or as a man astonished, he tells him of the wise and grave counsel and instruction he had given before, consider what thou hast done. As in the Revelation Christ speaks to the Church of Ephesus, (Rev: 2. 5.) Remember from whence thou art fallen, and do thy first works; when the Church did ill, than he tells her, what she had formerly done well. So the Apostle, Ye did run well, having begun in the Spirit, will ye end in the flesh: when he saw them run upon fleshly ceremonies and ordinances, ye began in the spirit (saith he) consider that, and end as ye began. As in dispute and reasoning, a false conclusion cannot be derived from true premises, so neither can it in practice or in living. Holy premises conclude in holiness. He never began well, that ends ill. Fourthly, observe, That the good we have done is a kind of reproach to us when we do the contrary evil. When a man's latter actions contradict his former, or when his actions contradict his professions, the former good is a stain or blemish to him; It had 2 Pet. 2. 21. been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, then after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment given unto them. Further, take this likewise, It is an easier matter to instruct others in trouble, than to be instructed or take instruction ourselves in our own troubles. Even Job, holy Job could give those counsels of patience, and meekness, and quietness under the hand of God, which he could not follow to the full, when it fell upon himself. For though he did not fail to that height, which Eliphaz implieth in this reproof, yet fail he did. He had set others a Copy, which he could not write by or imitate when his own turn came. A good man may quickly give counsel, above his own strength to practise. Observe lastly, It is a shame for us to teach others the right way, and to go in the wrong ourselves. Eliphaz seeks to shame and convince Job upon this very ground, thou hast done thus and thus, thou hast taught others patience, and thou art mad thyself: art thou not ashamed to complain and cry out of thy afflictions, when thou hast bid others be quiet and cheerful under them? It is an excellent thing when our words are made visible, by our actions: as he said in the Church story, The faith which is seen, is a great deal better, than the faith which is heard; so we may say in another kind, the wisdom which is seen in bearing of affliction, is far better than the wisdom which is heard. Physician heal thyself. He saved others, himself he cannot save, say the Jews to Christ. Man may justly be reproved with, thou teachest others, thyself Turpe est doctorem cum culpa redarguit ipsum. thou canst not teach. When the same fault which we reprehend in others, may be reprehended in ourselves, our fault is doubled, and the act not only sinful, but shameful. The Apostle convinces the Jews mightily by this Argument, Rom. 2. 19 Thou art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, etc. Thou takest upon thee all this, Thou therefore (saith he) that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? He goes on, pressing it upon them, as matter of shame and blushing that their actions ran so cross and contradictory to their own professions. Thus we have opened the minor proposition or assumption of the first Argument, couched in these two Verses; thou hast comforted, instructed, and taught many, yet when trouble cometh upon thee, thou knowest not how to order thyself. Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, the uprightness of thy ways, and thy hope? Thus he gathers the conclusion, and from hence infers Job a hypocrite in Religion, or irreligious. Is not this thy fear & c?] As if he had said, thy fear, thy confidence, thy uprightness, thy hope, thy religion, call it what thou wilt, is but thus much, or is but this. Is not this thy fear?] In the first Verse of the first Chapter 'twas shown what the fear of God is; part of Jobs character being thus given, A man fearing God. Now Eliphaz by this first point of his Interrogatories, taxes Job, in the first part of his character or commendation, Thou art reported to be a man fearing God, is not this thy fear? Fear is taken either for the whole compass of God's worship, or for that awfulness of affection with which we worship God, which we ought to mingle and mix in all our actions and duties. Therefore (saith the Apostle, Heb. 12.) Let us have grace to serve him with reverence and godly fear. And Psalm the second, Serve the Lord with fear. God is to be served in love, and yet God loves no service which hath not this ingredient, Holy fear. Fear is the most proper affection which we creatures, dust and ashes who are at such an infinite distance from God, can put forth in his worship. God condescends so fare as to be loved by us, yea he calleth for our love as a friend, or as a father, as a familiar, as one in near relation: but considered in his Majesty, glory, and greatness, fear is the most suitable affection in our approaches unto God. The name of God in some languages, is derived from fear, and God is expressly called Fear by Jacob, Gen. 31. in that dispute with Laban, where he telleth him, Except the fear of his father Isaac had been with him, etc. Verse 42 And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac, Verse 53. that is, by that God whom his father Isaac feared: Jacob was a man so holy, that he would take nothing into his mouth to swear by, but only the holy Name of God. Religious swearing is one of the highest acts of worshipping, as vain swearing is one of the highest acts of profaning the name of God. Thy confidence.] The word which we translate confidence, signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inconstantia, levitas per Antiphrasin, constantia, considen●ia. also and that most properly, folly, inconstancy, levity; when the Prophet Jeremy reproveth the idolatry of those times, & speaks to worshippers of Idols, he expresses it by this word, They are altogether brutish and foolish, Jer. 10. 8. And holy David (Psalm 49. 13.) speaking of wicked men, who make riches their portion, and who lay out all their endeavours, in the raising of an outward estate, gives this account of their practice in the 13 Verse, This their way is their folly: this is the course that worldly men take, and they think it is a very wise course, but indeed their way is their folly. Some translators read that text, this their way is their confidence, as here in Job; and so they make the sense out thus; this way of worldly men in gathering riches, in heaping up abundance of these outward things, is their confidence, that is, they have nothing else to trust unto, they have nothing beyond the world to trust unto this their way is their confidence. So again, Prov. 15. 26. A foolish man or a man of folly despiseth his mother. And once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more, Psal. 85. 8. where the Psalmist goeth up like Habakkuk to his Watchtower to hearken for an answer of his prayer, I will hearken what the Lord will say, for he will speak peace unto his people, but let them not return again to folly. So some read it in this Text of Job, is not this thy fear, thy folly? that is, was it not mere folly for thee to brag and boast of thy fear. sc. That thou didst fear God, etc. But the word is often taken in a contrary sense, as we translate, for constancy or confidence, and sometimes for hope; and thus Job 31. 24. If I have said to gold, thou art my hope, or my confidence; and Chap. 8. 14. speaking of the Hypocrite, whose hope shall be cut off, the same word is used; and Prov. 3. 26. The Lord shall be thy confidence, and he shall keep thy foot from being taken; and (not to heap many places) Psal. 78. 7. That they may set their hope in God. In this sense it is generally understood here, Is not this thy fear and thy confidence, sc. all the trust thou hast placed in thy God. Fear and confidence are acts of natural worship. Confidence or Trust is the resting of the soul upon another, here the resting of the soul upon the Word, or promises of God, upon the power, faithfulness, and truth of God: an act thus put forth by the soul, is confidence. Now saith Eliphaz, is not this thy confidence? thou hast spoken much of resting and trusting upon God and his Word, upon his power and faithfulness; is not this that which thou hast all this while talked of? See what a goodly confidence it is! Doth it look like a proper piece of grace? Confidence is an act beyond faith; a soul confiding walks in a higher Region of grace and comfort than a soul only believing; there may be believing, where there is not this confiding. As patience is hope lengthened, so confidence is hope strengthened. Assurance is the highest degree of faith, and confidence is the highest degree of assurance. It carries with it, first cheerfulness opposite to sorrow; secondly courage, opposite to fear and despondency of spirit; thirdly, boldness & adventurousnesse opposite to cowardice. Confidence having a good cause and a good call, will take a Bear by the tooth, or a Lion by the beard. Fourthly, it notes boasting, or a kind of spiritual wise bragging, opposite to sinful modesty or concealment of what God hath done for us. Or take it thus. Confidence is the noblest exercise of faith, which looking steadily upon God in himself, and in Christ, through the promises, raises the soul above all fears and discouragements, above all doubts and disquietments, either about the removing of evil, or the obtaining of good. Hence confidence is well called the rest of the soul, therefore such as attain to confidence are said to be in peace, in perfect peace. Isay 26. 3. Him wilt thou establish in perfect peace, whose heart doth trust upon thee. And this act of confidence or trust is proper and peculiar to God, no creature must share in it. This is worship commanded in the first precept, Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. Whatsoever we confide in unless it be in subordination unto God, we make it our God. And it is one of the highest acts of the soul, not only as we respect the taking in, our own comforts, but also the giving out, glory unto God. This confidence is well coupled with holy fear, the more we fear God so, the more we trust him; such fear is the mother and nurse of confidence: But confidence is directly contrary, yea contradictory to carnal fear; he that trusts God indeed, leaves both soul and body, temporal and eternal estate with him, without ever sending a fearful thought, or a jealous look after either. It follows: And the uprightness of thy ways.] It is the word used in the description of Job, Cap. 1. 1. There it is in the concrete, perfect, here in the abstract, uprightness: We may read it, Is not this the perfection of thy ways? Uprightness is the Saints perfection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Linea regula, sic veteres He braei deducunt. Videtur Moses non sine magna emphasi hoc verbum usurpasse, nimirum ad experimendam infinitam verbi Dei potentiam, qui fl●xum illud & vagum elementum, totam superficiem ●e●rae occupans tanquam ad amussim & perpendiculum in unum loc●m coegit Paulus Fagius, in prim. eaput Gen. in this life. Uprightness may have a double notion, First, as it respects the sincerity of our hearts towards God; Secondly, as it respects the justice and equity of our actions, towards man. In both senses we may extend it here; Thou hast been reported for a perfect man, now if thou art perfect in thy being thou wouldst be perfect in thy working; if thou wert upright in thy nature, thou wouldst be upright in thy actions; Now consider thy uprightness or perfection, is not this the perfection of thy ways? is not this all, even that lately discovered in thy impatient complain? And thy hope.] That word is derived two ways. First from a root which siguifieth a line, rule or measure; so in Gen. 1. 9 Let the waters under the Heavens be gathered together into one place, the word signifies a gathering together by rule, as if God by that act, had measured out the water (that unruly, turbulent, wand'ring element) and had brought it into compass, by a rule or line, which it could not exceed or go beyond, without permission or commission from himself: thereby giving us a mighty proof of his almighty power and infinite wisdom. So some translate the word here, taking it to be derived from that root, Is not this thy rule? Is not this the rule, that thou hast heretofore walked by, whatsoever thou hast pretended? is not this the uprightness of thy ways the course or measure by which thou hast directed, squared thy actions? But secondly, rather the word is derived from (Kavah) which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth to expect, hope or wait: and it notes a very vehement Expectavit. Significat magna intention & corporis erectione expectare, atque id est quod Paulus Graeco verbo dicit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. intention both of body and of mind, in waiting, expecting or hoping; when a man waits (as it were) stretching forth his spirit or his mind, putting himself out exceedingly to hope or wait for a thing Psal. 37. 9 and Isa. 8. 17. the same word is used with the same emphasis. And that Greek word which the Apostle Paul hath (Rom. 8. 19) comes up fully to it, The earnest expectation of the creature, etc. So the meaning here may be thus conceived, Is not this thy hope, or thy earnest expectation? Is it not come to this now? Thou hast boasted much of thy hope, what treasures thou hadst laid up in that, beyond all thy present possessions, is not all shrunk up to this, yea changed into despair? thy desperate speeches give me ground to think so. Is not this thy hope? So much for the words. There are four interpretations given of this Verse. First, Some make out the sense, by a different construction of the first particle in the Hebrew, which, they translate, not (as we) Is not? but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where is? so the vulgar and divers others, reading it thus, Where is thy fear and thy confidence, thy patience and the perfection of thy ways? As if he had said, what's become of all those graces, of which thou hast spoken, and with which thou hast been reported to be most richly endowed? where are they at this time? in this day of thy trouble, in this day of thy trial? Taking the words in that sense, they yield us these Observations. First, That times of trouble are special times for the use of our graces. It is as if Eliphaz had said, Thou thyself and all that knew thee have spoken much of thy grace, but now is the time to use it, where is it? show it me now, where is thy fear and thy confidence? if a man have been reported very skilful at his weapon, when he comes into danger, then is the time to show his skill: and we may say to him, where is thy skill now? where is thy art now? so we say to a man that hath had store of Weapons and Arms in his house, when the enemy approaches, where is your Sword now? where's your Gun? where's your Artillery? So here, Now, that thou hast most need of thy graces, where are they? bring them forth, are they to seek now? Is thy righteousness as the morning dew, and as a cloud vanished away? Times of trouble will put every grace to a stress; and we had need look to it, that we have not our graces to seek, when we have most need to use them; that when it shall be said unto us, where is your faith? where's your hope? we may be able to hold them forth, and answer the question in our actions, here they are, here is my fear, here is my confidence, here is my hope, here is my uprightness; I can make proof of them, and render them visible in my life: I can (through the strength of Christ) act them, and walk according to the rule of every one of these graces. Secondly, From the ground of this argument, which is, that true grace holds out and perseveres unto the end: For hereby (saith Eliphaz) I will convince thee for an hypocrite, and that thy grace is but a shadow of grace, because it is decayed and gone. This being the ground of conviction by these words, where is thy fear? Observe, That false grace, or a show of grace, fails us when we have most need of it. A hypocrite seems to stand in grace, till he falls into trouble. When good is in sight, he supposes he hath a great stock of faith; He is joyful in believing any thing, when nothing pinehes him: And when he enjoyeth what he desired, he hopes as much as is promised: But when outward comforts are withdrawn and eclipsed, when he must live upon a word, and relieve himself upon invisibles, when he hath nothing in the creature to support him, and must trust what he cannot see: then this fancy of faith, this vain hope, and pretended confidence disappear, and where are they? how much charity will some make profession of untlll a real object of charity present itself? then excuses are made, they have but little for themselves, times are hard they may be suddenly cast into straits▪ they know not what a day may bring forth. False charity, and false hope vanish when they should act their parts, and make good what they have professed. As Christ speaks of the two houses, Matth. 7. One built upon the rock, the other upon the sand: these two houses were alike skilfully and strongly built in all appearance; while the Sun shone, and the weather was fair, none could discern, but that the house upon the sand, was built as well, and might have stood as long as the other upon the rock; but when the rain fell, and the floods came, when the winds blue and beat upon the house, than it fell, the foundation failed, and all the fair superstructions came down into the dust Where is the hypocrite with all his faith and fear in a wet windy day? is he not like a house founded on the sand? Or is not he and his goodly outside of holy fear and hope like the Apples of Sodom (reported in History) which are fair to the eye, but touch them and they crumble to ashes in your hand, so is the faith and the fear, the hope and confidence of hypocrites: Where are these? they are not where, for they never were. Take the words in a second construction, and so they are thus rendered, Is not thy fear thy confidence? and the uprightness of thy ways thy hope? So Mr Broughton, Is not thy Religion thy hope? and thy right ways thy confidence? and then the sense is, as if Eliphaz had thus spoken unto Job, Doth it not now plainly appear, that Satan charged thee rightly, that thou servest God for ends of profit and outward comforts, seeing thou art thus impatient and unquiet, when the hand of God takes away thy profit and outward comforts? Is it not a clear argument, that thou heretofore didst obey God, only to gain by him, or because thou wast confident he would protect and save thee harmless, he would bless and prosper thee with increase? Was not the uprightness of thy ways this hope? that is, didst thou not look to thrive by upright dealing with men, and fair carriage in all thy actions? thou hadst no love to Religion, none to Justice, thy love was to thy purse, thy profit; and thou didst believe, at least hope, that profit would come in at the door of the Sanctuary, or else thou hadst never gone so often thither. This is the second sense, praedicating the first term of the second, Is not thy fear thy confidence? and is not thy uprightness thy hope? surely ' 'tis. This is a fair exposition of the words, and from it we may observe. That, A hypocrites profession of Religion is grounded on his confidence to gain by it. Is not thy fear thy confidence? thy Religion was nothing else but a hope to be rich. It was Satan's objection, and now Eliphaz (resuming and managing Satan's argument) makes it his conviction. And it is a truth in the general thesis, that the Religion or the fear of hypocrites, is nothing but their confidence; they consider the word of promise, which God hath given to those that serve him; they in their thoughts survey the land of promise, and taste the milk and honey of it: they read that God will give both grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly, therefore that they may be under the influence of these promises, or upon a confidence that they shall receive golden showers out of these precious promises, and dig abundant treasure out of these heavenly mines, they fear and worship God, they are upright in their ways, and honest in their deal among men: Christ found it was love to the loaves, not to his doctrine, which brought so many after him, Joh. 6. They liked a miracle to feed them, more than a Sermon to instruct them: And were affected with the meat which endures to everlasting life, only in subordination to the meat which perisheth. How many say, at least in their hearts, at this day, if I cast myself into such and such courses of holiness, shall I not have credit and custom, good acquaintance and profitable correspondence? In many men their wickedness is their confidence, that is, the very reason why they are so wicked, is, because they are confident they shall get by their wickedness; So those entisers said to the young man, (Prov. 1. 11.) Come let us lay wait for blood, Ego furtum facere volui nulla compuisus egg state sed fastidio justitiae; nec ea re srui volebam quam furto appetebam, sed ipso furto & peccato. Aug. l. 3. Confess. c. 1. & paulo post. Eram gratis malus, amavi defectum meum, non illud ad quod deficiebam. there was their wickedness; now at the twefth verse, you shall find, that the rise of their wickedness was this confidence, we shall find all precious treasure, we shall fill our houses with spoil. Some (I confess) have such a spirit of wickedness, that they are wicked for wickedness sake: and they love the very sin itself, more than the ends of profit or pleasure, which may possibly follow the sin; but others act the sin, out of confidence they shall advance themselves by it: And so there are many, so refined in their aims and heightened in the ways of holiness, that they are holy for holiness' sake, and religious for religions sake; yet there is a generation, whose Religion is nothing but this confidence; I will cast in my lot with the godly, I will take their way, shall I not fill my house with treasure, and raise an estate by it? The Apostle speaks of such, (1 Tim. 6. 5.) Men supposing that gain is godliness, and they are godly only that they may gain by it. Whereas they whose hearts are perfect with God, love godliness, for God's sake; and they are holy, not out of confidence of gaining by it, but out of a delight in acting of it; there is a beauty, an excellency in holiness which takes their hearts; And they are above, not only this poor confidence, to be enriched by it; but also above that rich, that heavenly confidence, to be saved by it, to get Heaven by it. The fear of some, who are above the former, is yet but equal to this confidence; they see there is no other way to be saved, to go to Heaven but this. Now I say, holiness in the height and purity of it, keeps under the respect of Heaven itself; it is so much above these things below, that it is above those things above: That is a second sense. Thirdly, The words are understood by divers of the Hebrew writers, for a direct and simple assertion, and they give it thus. Will not, or would not thy fear be thy confidence? and the uprightness of thy ways thy hope? As if Eliphaz had thus said unto him; Job thou hast pretended much holiness and Religion, fear and uprightness: why art thou so disquieted, now, that the hand of God is upon thee? why art thou so amazed under these sufferings? would not that fear be thy confidence? and would not that uprightness of thy ways be thy hope? surely it would, if thou hadst any such fear as thou pretendest: this fear would be thy confidence, and this uprightness thy hope; thou wouldst be very bold, and by hope cast Anchor upon the goodness and faithfulness of God, in the midst of all this storm: thy heart would be poised, settled and established, notwithstanding all these shake. Would not thy fear be thy confidence? It would. Hence observe; First, That they who fear most in times of peace, have most reason Timidum esse ad ●ala patrand● genus est fortitudinis & fiduciae. to be confident in times of trouble. They who fear most (in one sense) fear least, they who fear God most, fear creatures least, and creature-troubles lest. We have this point in so many words, (Prov. 14. 26.) In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence. The fear of the Lord is the cure of all other fears. They who are most fearful of the evil of sin, are most courageous among the evils of suffering. To be fearful thus, raiseth the highest acts of confidence, Psal. 112. 7, 8. We read of one that will not be afraid for any evil tidings, his heart is fixed; Who is this confident man? this fearless man? It is this divine coward (as we may call him,) you shall find him so expressed, vers. 1. Blessed is the man that feareth God, he shall not be afraid for any evil tidings. Exod. 20. 20. When the people of Israel were much amazed and astonished at the giving of the Law, Moses comes to cure them of that fear; but what is the medicine? Fear not, for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sinne not. As if he had said, when God hath put his fear into your hearts, such fears as these will be removed and vanish: when your hearts are filled with this fear of God, you will have confidence to hear, and see the thunder and lightning of Mount Sinai, you shall not fear, no not this terrible tempest, in which the Law itself is given. So when the people were in a fear another time, Samuel thus bespeaks them in that shaking fit, 1 Sam. 12. 20. Fear not, only fear the Lord. If you will be confident in such a time as this (for by prayer he procured thunder and rain in that time of wheate-harvest) fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord will be our confidence in the wettest day, in the most tempestuous and stormy night that ever fell upon the secure, sinful world. A man fearing God is the only dread-nought. Secondly, We may observe from the other branch, (for the sense is the same) And would not thy uprightness be thy hope? The uprightness of a man's ways in good times, doth mightily strengthen his hope in evil times. When a man can look back, and approve his heart to God, that he hath been upright in peace and plenty, how full of hope will he be in trouble and in wants? It was that which Hezekiah pleaded before God, in the day of his trouble and trial, 2 King. 20. 3. I beseech thee O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth and with an upright and perfect heart. This was it, when he lay upon his sickbed, and as he thought, upon his deathbed, that put life into him, and bore up his spirit. A fourth interpretatian is taken from our reading: Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, the uprightness of thy ways, and thy hope? So the words contain four distinct affrming Questions, Is not this thy fear? Is not this thy confidence? Is not this the uprightness of thy ways? and is not this thy hope? This is thy fear, etc. As if Eliphaz had said, Job, without doubt thou hast showed all thy goodness at once; or, Is not this all that thou art able to make out and show? Is not this all that thou canst say for, all the testimony thou canst give of, thy religion and holiness? Hast thou not showed all? Surely thy great boast of Religion is nothing but this. Eliphaz seems to call Job to make a further or clearer proof of his grace; Is not this thy fear? or if this be not, show me somewhat else: Thou art a man very famous in the world, much talked of, and highly commended, for fear and for confidence, for uprightness and for hope; what hast thou more to answer that report, and save thy own credit, with the credit of thy friends, who have been so large in their commendations of, and testimonies concerning thee? Note hence; First, Afflictions discover that unto us, which before we knew not. Is not this thy fear? thou didst not know of what make or constitution thy fear was, until now: That's Eliphaz his supposition; and it is a truth; That some hypocrites know not, that their graces are false, till they are brought to such trials. They carry false, counterfeit coin about them, and suppose it currant money, till they come to the balance, or a touchstone. Some are active hypocrites, who go about, intentionally to deceive and put a fair mask over a filthy face Others are passive hypocrites, who are miserably deceived by the collusions of Satan, and the base treachery of their own spirits. Many a man is brought to see (which before he could not, by reason of those mists of hypocrisy) what his fear is, what his faith, by those changes which affliction works in him. Secondly thus. We ought to make our graces visible in our actions. Is not this thy fear? Show me what thy fear is, if this be not, make proof of it; The Apostle bids Timothy, 2 Tim. 4. 5. Make full proof of his Ministry. It may be said to some Ministers, is not this your Ministry, if it be not, make full proof of it; Or as the Apostle James, in a case near this, James 2. 14. 18. Show me thy faith by thy works, so we may say, Show me thy fear by thy works. Is not this it? if it be not, make it appear what it is; The tree is known by the fruits; do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? or, do men gather crabs from vines, or sloes from figg-trees? As an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit, so neither doth a good tree bring forth evil fruit. If thou sayest thou art a vine, make proof of it, by the fruit thou bearest, or else I must conclude, thou art but a thorn or a thistle. We may question many for this grace, and for the other grace they pretend unto: For their actions have not the least print or impression of such graces upon them; If any one should hold forth much faith and confidence in God, and this man should run or take unlawful courses, to help himself, might we not say, Is this thy confidence? Or if one speaking much of confidence in God, for the accomplishing of a business should yet sit still, and do nothing himself, might we not say, Is this thy confidence? this is to tempt God, not to trust in him. Once more if a man should profess much confidence in God, and yet be taken up altogether about the creature, swallowed up with creature-thoughts, or swallowing in creature-delights, seeking to, and engaging this creature, and that creature, with neglect of God, may we not say, Is this thy confidence? Hope is an anchor of the soul, but thou art driven with every blast, in this thy hope? Hope makes Heb. 6. 1●. not ashamed, but thou, either art, or oughtest to be ashamed, is this thy hope? The fear of the Lord is clean, but thou art defiled, Rom. 5. 5. is this thy fear? Then again consider this, when Job carries himself thus in his trouble, Eliphaz telleth him, what is not this thy fear? thou art surely but an hypocrite, for if thy fear were true, it would have preserved thee from these impatient complain and distempers. Hence observe; That true fear, holy fear, preserves the soul, and keeps it holy. Holy fear, is as a golden bridle to the soul, when it would run out to any evil: It is like the banks to the sea, which keeps in the raging waves of corruption, when they would overflow all. If thou hadst fear indeed thou wouldst never thus break the bounds of patience. The fear of the Lord is to departed from evil, that's the definition of it; therefore if thou hadst any fear of God indeed, thou wouldst never have done this evil, Curse thy day. Prov. 14. 27. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to departed from the snares of death; that is, either from sin, which is spiritual death, or from damnation, which is prepetuall death; the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to departed from both these snares of death; where this fear is not, we are ready to join with every evil, and so to fall into the jaws of every death. Abraham (Gen. 20. 11.) argues so, The fear of the Lord is not in this place, therefore they will kill me; when we perceive a bent of spirit, to devise evil, and a readiness of the hand to practise it, (we may conclude) the fear of the Lord is not lodged in that heart. Fourthly, observe, That trust, or confidence in God, settles the heart in all conditions. Is not this thy confidence? Thy confidence certainly is but a shadow, for if it had been real, thou hast been established and upheld, notwithstanding all that weight of affliction that lies upon thee. When there was an unquietness upon the soul of David, he first questions his soul about it, Why art thou disquieted O my soul; and then directs, trust in God, Psal. 42. 11. So the Prophet promiseth, (Isa. 26. 3.) Him wilt thou establish in perfect peace, whose heart doth trust upon thee. They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, Psal. 125. 1. He that is carried and tossed thus about, with every wind of trouble and gust of sorrow, shows he hath not cast out this anchor of hope, upon the Rock Jesus Christ. But here a question must be answered, for the clearing of all, and likewise for discovering the strength or weakness of this argument brought by Eliphaz, in this particular case of Job. Eliphaz taxed Job with hypocrisy; because his graces did not act, or they did not act like themselves, like graces; he gave not proof of them at that time. Hence the doubt is, Do a man's fall or declinings from what he was before, or what he did before, argue him insincere? Is there sufficient strength in this Argument for Eliphaz to say, Job thou hast been a comforter of others, thou hast professed much holiness heretofore, and now thou art come to the trial, thou canst not make it out thyself; therefore thou hast no grace, therefore all thy religion is vain. For the resolving of that, I answer first, that the proposition is not simply true, that every one who faileth or declineth or falleth off from what formerly he was, or held forth, is therefore an Hypocrite, or that his graces are false, and but pretences; there may be many declinings and failings, many breaches and backslidings, and yet the spirit upright. Indeed falling away and quite falling off, are an argument of insincerity and hypocrisy; for true grace is everlasting grace, true holiness endures for ever. Therefore we are here to consider, whence these failings were occasioned in Job, and how a failing may be expressed, and continue, so, as to conclude insincerity or hypocrisy. First, it was from a sudden perturbation, not from a settled resolution. Job was not resolvedly thus impatient and unruly: an unexpected storm hurried his spirit so violently, that he was not master of his own actions; Job had not his affections at command, they got the bridle (as it were) on their necks, and away they carried him with such force, that he was not able to stop or stay them. Secondly, it came from the smart and sense of pain in his flesh, not from the perverseness of his spirit. If the taint had been in his spirit, than Eliphaz had a ground, a certain ground to have argued thus against him. Thirdly, Jobs graces were hid and obscured, they were not lost or dead; the acts were suspended, the habits were not removed; when the grace which hath been showed, is quite lost, that grace was nothing but a show of grace, painted fear, and painted confidence: but in Jobs case there was only a hiding of his graces, or a veil cast over them. Lastly, We must not say he falls from grace who falleth into sin; nor must it be concluded that he hath no grace who falls into a great sin: It follows not, that grace is false, or none, because it doth not work like itself, or because it doth not sometimes work at all True grace works not always uniformly; though it be always the same in itself, yet it is not always the same in its effects; true grace is always alive, yet it doth not always act, it retains life, when motion is undiscerned. Wherefore they who do not work like themselves, or do not work at all (for a time) in gracious ways, are not to be concluded as having no grace, or nothing but a show of grace. And so much be spoken concerning this first Argument contained in these six Verses, the conviction of Job, from his failing in the actings of his grace, the putting forth of that fruit which formerly he had born and showed to the world. JOB. Chap. 4. Vers. 7, 8. Remember I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? Even as I have seen, they that plough iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. IN these two Verses and the three following, Eliphaz coucheth and confirmeth his second Argument wherein he further bespatters the innocency of Job, and hopes to convince him of hypocrisy. The Argument is taken from the constant experience of God's deal in the world, Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? We may give it in this form. Innocent persons perish not, righteous men are not cut off. But Job, thou perishest, and thou art cut off. Therefore thou art no innocent or righteous person. The major proposition is plain in the seventh Verse; for that question, Who ever perished being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? is to be resolved into this Negation, No innocent person ever perished, nor were the righteous ever cut off. And Eliphaz conceiveth this to be so clear a truth, that he challengeth Job to give one instance to the contrary, out of his own experience; he appeals to experience (which is a strong way of arguing) Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? show me the man, and withal he professeth, that he could give many instances or examples out of his own experience, that wicked men have perished and were cut off, this he doth in the eighth Verse, Even as I have seen, they that plough iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same; which he enlarges in the three following Verses, by the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed, etc. This in general for the sum and substance of the Argument. We will now consider the words, and examine the strength of it in particulars. Remember I pray thee.] He handleth Job tenderly in words, he speaks gently and winningly to him, Remember I pray thee. To remember noteth often in Scripture a serious consideration of things present, and before us, Eccles. 12. 1. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth; that is, seriously bethink thyself at the present, of God and his ways, and how thou oughtest to walk holily before him. But properly to remember, is the calling to mind of things which are past: and so Eliphaz in this place directs Job to search the Records; Go and inquire into all the Monuments of Antiquity, look the Registers and Histories of the Ages past, and see if thou canst find any such thing as this, A righteous man perishing. Memory is the soul's store-house, there we lay up Observations, and from thence fetch them out, as occasions invite. Hence Christ Matth. 12. 57 compareth every Scribe which is instructed for the kingdom of Heaven to a householder which bringeth forth out of his treasury things both new and old. This treasury is the memory, there holy truths and profitable examples are stored and reserved. Remember I pray thee. In that Eliphaz sendeth Job back to former experiences, we may note, That it is our duty to lay up and record the deal of God, whether public or personal, whether with the godly or with the wicked. It is our duty to observe what God doth, Psal. 111. 4. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered; as if the Psalmist had said, God hath not wrought such great things in the world, whether respecting persons or Nations, that we should write them upon the water, or in the sand, which the next puff of wind defaces and blows out; but he hath made his wonderful works to be remembered; he will have them written in brass, with a pen of Iron, and with the point of a Diamond, that all ages may hear the judgements and loving kindnesses of the Lord; he hath made his wonderful works to be remembered, or he hath made them so, as that they are most worthy to be remembered. David was a great observer of experiences (Psal. 31. 35.) he telleth us, that he had (as it were) collected notes concerning Gods deal all his days; and it is to the very point in hand, I have been young and now am old, yet never saw I the righteous forsaken; himself carefully observed the dealing of God in this Psalm: and in the next (Psal. 37, 35, 36.) he gives the like direction to others; thus I have done, do you take the same course too, I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green Bay-tree; then he goes on, Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; I have considered the estate of wicked men, let all observe the estate of the godly; Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright. The works of God expound his Word in his works his Word is often made visible. That's an excellent expression, Psal. 111. 7. The works of his hands are verity and judgement; The acts of God are verity, that is, God acts his own truths? As the works of our hands ought to be the verity and judgements of God, (every action of a Christian should be one of Christ's truths) so it is exactly with God himself, the works of his hands are his own verity and judgements. When we cannot find the meaning of God in his Word, we may find it out in his works: his works are a Comment, an infallible Comment upon his Word. Yet we must take this Caution; the deal of God in the surface and outward part of them, appear sometimes contrary to his Word, contrary unto his promise, but they only appear so, they are never so. When a man reads a promise and finds much good stored up in it for the righteous, and then looks upon the state of the righteous, and seethe it full of evil; here is a seeming contrariety between the Word and the Works of God, but it is only a seeming contrariety, as we shall see somewhat further anon. Therefore in that Psalm 111. 2. where he saith, The works of God are verity and judgement, he adds, The works of God are sought out: if you will have the verity or judgement that is in the works of God, you must not only look upon the outside of them, but you must seek them out, study them, study them as you study the Scriptures, and then you will find out the meaning of them, and see how exactly they square with every part of the Word. Why doth Eliphaz send Job to experience? the ground is this; the works of God are like the Word of God; therefore if thou canst not make it out by experience from his works, thou canst hardly make it out, as a Position from his Word, that righteous persons are cut off. Remember now I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? Here are four terms to be opened, perished, cut off, innocent, righteous. We will consider first what we are to understand by perishing, and by cutting off. Secondly, whom we are to understand by innocent and righteus persons. And then apply the whole sentence, by showing wherein the truth of this proposition stands, that a righteous man or an innocent person cannot perish or be cut off. The word which we translate perished, hath divers significations. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First, a returning to nothing, an utter consumption, which is to perish as a beast, Psal. 49. 20. the Holy Ghost describing a man who is not acquainted with God in his great estate, compares him thus; Man being in honour, and not understanding (sc. the things of God) becometh like the beasts that perish; not that he perisheth as a beast doth, but he is like a perishing beast; the similitude is not in perishing, but in his qualities who perisheth, he hath but such qualities, he is (upon the matter) even of as gross a temper as a perishing beast. Secondly to perish signifies to die. The dissolution of man, or the dis-union of soul and body, Isay 57 1. is thus expressed, the righteous perish, that is, they die, as it is explained afterward, they are taken away from the evil to come, they rest in their beds, sc. in their graves: so Matth. 8. 25. Master save us we perish, say the Disciples, when they thought they should all be drowned. Lord help us, or else we all die presently: and so we translate Job 34. 15. where Elihu speaking of the power of God, thus describes it; If he should but show himself, all flesh (saith he) shall perish together, that is, all flesh shall die, they are not able to stand before God's power and greatness: the word which he useth there, strictly taken, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to expire or give up the ghost, yet we translate it, all flesh shall perish together; that is, they shall all give up the ghost and die, if God should appear in his power and greatness. Thirdly, by perishing we may understand outward afflictions and troubles falling upon, either godly or wicked: these are called a perishing (Josh. 23. 13.) Joshua tells the people, If you will not obey and walk according to the Commandments of God, ye shall quickly perish from off this good Land; that is, ye shall be removed by outward afflictions from your Land, you shall go into captivity And so, if I perish, I perish, saith Esther, Chap. 4. 17. that is, if I bring trouble and affliction upon myself, let it be so, I will venture it; A Syrian ready to perish was my father, Deut. 26. It is meant of Jacob a man much versed in trouble, as he himself acknowledgeth, Few and evil have been the days of my pilgrimage. Fourthly, to perish, notes eternal misery; as it is put for the miseries of this life, so for the life of misery, for that life which is an everlasting death. John 3. 16. God so loved the world, that he gave Omnimodam rei perditionem significat, o●p●●ni●u● enim generationi. his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life: perishing is opposed to everlasting life, and therefore implies everlasting death. Fifthly, to perish, notes utter desolation, and total ruin. A cutting off, or a destroying the very name and remembrance of a person, or of a people. He that speaks lies shall perish, Pro. 19 9 that is, he shall be utterly destroyed. In this sense the word is used for the Devil, because he is a destroyer to the utmost, as Christ is a Saviour to the utmost. He is called Abaddon from Abad (the word here used) Rev. 9 12. and Apollyon, his business is to destroy totally and eternally. Thus also Antichrist, The firstborn of the Devil (2 Thess. 2. 3.) is called the son of perdition: take it actively, he is a destroying son, one that destroyeth bodies and souls, as in Scripture a bloody man is called Ish dammim, a man of blood; and passively, he is a son of perdition; that is, a man to be destroyed both body and soul. These two latter senses, namely, eternal destruction in Hell and utter destruction in this life, are joined together. Prov. 15. 11. Hell and destruction (or Hell and perishing) are before the Lord: and Chap. 27. 20. we have the same words again, Hell and perdition or Hell and destruction are never full. So that to perish (in a strict sense) notes even in this life an utter extirpation; so some render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abscondit, ne amplius auditur vel videatur, per metonymiam sublatu●, doletus succisus. Sublata enim è medio non apparent amplius sed absconduntu●. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it here, Who ever saw the righteous plucked up by the roots, so as there should be no remembrance, no remainder of them. The other word which is joined in the Text, cut off, carries the same sense; though it signifies properly to hid a thing, yet it is so to hid it as it appeareth no more, or so to hid it, that it can neither be heard of, nor seen any more. Hence by a Metonymy it signifies to take away or to cut off, because things that are taken away and cut off, are as things hidden and seen no more. Here then is the height of the sense, either to take it, for perishing in Hell, or for such a perishing in this life, as is joined with total desolation and desertion. Then for the terms, innocent and righteous. The word we translate innocent, signifieth empty. And it is therefore applied to an innocent person, because innocent persons are emptied of malice and wickedness, their hearts are swept and cleansed, purged and washed; there is in some sense a vacuum, a holy vacuum in the hearts of holy persons: they are freed from that fullness of evil which lies in their hearts by nature, that filth is cast out. Every man's heart by nature is brim full, top full of wickedness, as the Apostle describes the Gentiles, Rom. 1. 29. being filled with all unrighteousness; and it is a truth of every man's heart, it is a Cage full of unclean Birds, a stable full of filthy dung, he hath in him a throng of sinful thoughts, a multitude of profane guests lodging in him. Now a person converted, is emptied of these, these guests are turned out of their lodgings, the rooms are swept and emptied, therefore an holy person is called an empty person: Emptied; not absolutely emptied of all sin, but comparatively, there is abundance cast out; so that considering how full of sin he was, he may be said to be emptied of sin, and that his malice is cast out. In the fourth of Amos, the Prophet threatens cleanness of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 teeth it is a suitable judgement, that unclean hearts and lives should be punished with clean teeth) or innocency of teeth; for it is the word of the Text. Famine is elegantly so called. Want of bread makes empty or clean teeth. And where were the righteous (that's the other term) cut off? One may put the question, where were the righteous? surely Job had very good eyes, if he could find any righteous man upon the earth, he might seem to have clearer eyes than the Lord himself, if he could find any righteous; God looked down from heaven, and he saw none righteous, no not one, Psal. 53. 3, 4. Yet here Eliphaz bids Job inquire about the righteous, where they were cut off. To clear that. By righteous here, we are to understand not righteous persons in a strict and legal sense, but in a Gospel mollified sense: righteous with an allay, righteous by way of interpretation, and not in the strictness of the letter. And so men are called righteous, first in reference to the work of regeneration. There are none righteous in the root or original, in their first setting and plantation in the soil of the world; but there are righteous persons as regenerate, and transplanted into the body of Christ, as wrought and fashioned by the Spirit of Christ. Secondly, there are none righteous, that is, none exactly, perfectly, completely righteous, but inchoatly, and intentionally, so many are righteous and are called righteous in the language of the Scripture. Thirdly, there are none righteous, that is, none righteous by way of merit or desert, none are so righteous as that they can challenge any thing at God's hand, of right, the most righteous person is an unprofitable servant; he hath nothing to plead before God but free grace. Nothing to show unto God but Christ's fullness, and his own emptiness, the riches of Christ, and his own poverty. Yet there are righteous in God's acceptance, he accounteth and accepteth them for righteous, and honours them to be called righteous. Lastly, we may answer it thus, there are none righteous in themselves, or from themselves, none have any righteousness of their own making: but the Scripture shows us those who have righteousness, and are righaeous in another and from another; we have the righteousness of justification in Christ, and the righteousness of sanctification from Christ: righteousness is both imputed to, and floweth into the soul by virtue of the union which is promised in the covenant of grace with Christ the righteous, with the Lord our righteousness. In these respects there are righteous persons, and of such we may understand this enquiry, where were ever the righteous cut off? The righteous by regeneration, the righteous by inchoation, the righteous by acception, or the righteous by imputation; where were any such righteous in all the world of whom thou canst say, they have ever perished, or have been cut off? Having opened the sense of the single terms, we will look to the sense of the proposition, and consider wherein we may clear the truth of it, that innocent persons do not perish, or that the righteous are not cut off. Take perishing or cutting off in the first sense, namely, for annihilation and returning to nothing; and so, neither righteous nor unrighteous, guilty nor innocent can perish; no man shall perish so, man is of an everlasting make. Then take perishing in the second sense, as perishing is put for dying and going out of the land of the living, thus all righteous and innocent persons perish and are cut off, namely, by the sword and of death: we may say all, God indeed hath made some few exceptions out of the general rule, but the Statute is plain, It is appointed unto all men once to die; Enoch was translated, and so was Elijah, and many shall be found alive when Christ cometh to judgement, who shall not die; they shall be but changed, and have a metaphorical, not a proper death; This makes some small abatement from, but doth not cross the general rule, that all must die. Take perishing in the third sense, for some temporal outward suffering in the world, either from the hand of God immediately, or mediately from the hand of man. Thus righteous and innocent persons may perish too, that is, they may fall under fore and great afflictions: thus righteous Abel perished, and thus Jacob was a Syrian ready to perish, and thus the godly party among the Jews, in the time of the captivity perished, thoy perished from off the Land, as it was threatened, Josh. 23.) with the rest of the wicked; of which the two baskets of figs, one bad, and the other good, were a famous type, Jer. 24. 3. And in regard of this outward, present, temporal perishing, we find it often, that the righteous perish, while the unrighteous flourish; Psal. 73. 12. Behold (saith David) these are the ungodly, that prosper in the world; and at the fourth verse, All the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. As sure, or as soon as I rise, I have a whipping, and my breakfast is bread of sorrow, and the water of adversity; these prosper, and I perish: And the Prophet (Jer. 12. 1, 2.) expostulates with holy submission about this flourishing estate of the wicked, and perishing estate of the godly: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper, etc. And in the next verse, Thou hast planted them, yea they have taken root, they grow, yea they bring forth fruit: What a gradation is here of the flourishing prosperity of wicked men, while the righteous seem to whither? Thou hast planted them; but every tree that is planted, doth not take root, but these take root,; Every tree that taketh root, doth not grow up to any strength, but these take root, and they grow: there are trees that grow, yet they bring not forth fruit, but these bring forth fruit also; Yea (saith he) they bring forth fruit; these were flourishing trees indeed, yet in the mean time, thousands of righteous persons perished in and by outward troubles. Sometime (we find on the other hand) that the wicked perish in outward troubles, while the righteous are delivered, and have Arkes provided to save them in a common deluge. God makes that difference sometime, even in this life; he pulled Lot out of Sodom, while Sodom perished by fire: And righteous Noah was saved in the Ark, while the world of the ungodly perished by water. And lastly, Both the righteous and the wicked, may be wrapped up in the very same outward perishing condition, yet always with a difference; though both alike perish, yet their perishing is not alike. As it is with the righteous and wicked in regard of sin, so of sufferings: they may both commit the same sin for the matter, as it is a transgression of the Law, but a righteous man can never sinne as the wicked; he sins not, with such formalities of sinning, he hath not such a heart, such a temper and bent of spirit, as a wicked man hath in sinning: to sin so, is utterly inconsistent with the new nature. Thus also it is with the perishings, afflictions, and troubles which they fall into; God sometimes sends the very same affliction for the matter, as suppose poverty, want, imprisonment, captivity, and the like, upon the one, as upon the other: But are the righteous smitten, as God smites those that smite them? Surely no, in measure he debateth with them. Isa. 27. 7, 8. They sinne not against God with the same heart, or at the same rate as the wicked do: and God never strikes them with the same heart, or at the same rate as he doth the wicked; he cannot do it, the strength of his love to them, makes this imposition for him. Therefore, though as the Preacher resolves the case, Eccles. 9 1. No man knoweth either love or hatred, by all that is before him: In the matter of events, love or hatred are not visible; yet in the manner of events there is much love and hatred visible: and the spirits of such as are under those events, may discern love or hatred, when no eye can: One seethe hatred, and another seethe love, abundance of love mixed in his cup of sorrow. God never gives his own, a cup of pure wrath to drink; there are always some ingredients of comfort and sweetness put into it. This is the third sense, how righteous ones may, or may not perish. Take perishing, in the fourth sense, as perishing is an eternal destruction; and so the proposition of Eliphaz is true throughout, strictly true; That no righteous, ever perished, or were cut off; an innocent person is, in that sense, past perishing; a righteous man is passed cutting off. Joh. 10. 28. I do give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Rejoice in this, ye righteous, ye are beyond perishing, ye are passed perishing, while ye live in a perishing world. Lastly, Take it in the fifth sense, and so you may have a further truth, which I conceive, is that which Eliphaz purposely aimeth at; take perishing, for outward present destruction, joined with a total desertion; and in that sense the proposition of Eliphaz is true also; No righteous man, no innocent man ever perished, or was so cut off with any temporal judgement: The Apostle is direct for it, (2 Cor. 4. 8, 9) We are in trouble on every side, (we see trouble which way soever we turn) but we are not distressed, we are perplexed (we are in the briars as well as ungodly men) but not in despair, (we are in hope still, and if there be hope for us, God is for us:) We are persecuted, but not forsaken, (God is near us, though all the world stand aloof,) we are cast down, but not destroyed, we shall up again. So that while he admits of perishing in the former sense, respecting outward afflictor, yet he denies it constantly in this latter sense, so as to be cut off quite from the comforts and supports of God. That observation of David, may be thus understood, (Psal. 37. 25.) I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, (he doth not say, in my experience I never saw the righteous afflicted, but, I never saw him left or forsaken in his afflictions) and I never saw his seed begging their bread: he puts in that, because begging of bread, especially in the Commonwealth of Israel, and in the state of the Jews, was a note of utter dereliction; for though God had told them, that they should have the poor always with them, yet he had given an express Law, that there should be no beggar among them; therefore, saith he, I have not seen the righteous so forsaken, that they should be forced to live by begging. If any say, that David himself begged, he asked bread of Abimelech Casus transitorii non reddunt mendicum. and of Nabal. I answer. It is a good rule, and it resolves the case; Transitory cases, and sudden accidents, make no beggars: we must not say, David was a beggar, or begged his bread, because once he was in a strait, and asked bread of Abimelech; and in a second strait, sent to Nabal; In such sudden cases, the richest man in the world, may be put to ask a piece of bread. A good man may fall into such wants, but good men are rarely, if ever or at all left in them. Now to apply it particularly to the intent of Eliphaz in this place. We have given three interpretations, in which we have showed, how righteous men may perish; and two, wherein the righteous cannot possibly perish; in both which, the words here spoken by Eliphaz, are a truth. And concerning the fifth and last, I conceive, Eliphaz is particularly ro be understood: For he speaks not here of the eternal estate of Job (though that be involved) when he concludeth him a wicked man; but he speaks of the deal of God in temporals: He looked upon Job as a lost man, a man utterly forsaken of his God; as a man of a forlorn hope, cut down, and plucked up, root and branch; when he saw his stock consumed, his children slain, his body diseased, and his spirit so distempered. And so the minor, or the assumption only is false, the proposition true; Righteous men do not perish thus, innocent persons are not thus cut off; but thou Job perishest and art cut off: Hold there, that's false; Job in the sense Eliphaz intended, perished not, was not cut off; for in the sequel, God gave him both comfort and deliverance: Love was mingled with the affliction, strength was ministered to bear the affliction: and at last a gracious way was made out of the affliction. The blessing of God, caused him to spring out again: though his goodly branches were broken, and his fruit plucked off, yet his roots were not plucked up. It will not be unnecessary, for the clearing of this Scripture, to subjoin a reason, why in the Old Testament, or under the old Covenant, there was so much stumbling at the afflictions and troubles of the righteous; for it put even a David, a Jeremiah, and a Habakuk Psal. 73. Jer. 12. 1. hard to it, for an answer, when they saw such under sufferings; the reason was this, because God in those times, made more special temporal promises to his people, in case of obedience, than he hath done in the time of the Gospel. Read Deut. 28. Levit. 27. and other places, where you shall find, how all the promises run upon things, that concern the outward man; they shall be blessed in their basket and in their store, they shall have this and that, and all outward things abundantly; and the curse threatened, was the loss and deprivation of those outward blessings in case of disobedience: For God did win and carry them on, in that nonage of the Church, by outward and temporal promises; hence they were much troubled and offended, when they saw righteous men under heavy pressures and breaking afflictions. Now since the coming of Christ in the flesh, and the pouring out of those special spiritual blessings upon his people, by the Holy Ghost, he doth not feed us so much with these outward hopes, or enjoyments. Therefore in the Gospel, we read what hard meat he giveth his people: foretelling them plainly, If any will follow me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross: There is scarce such a word in all the old Testament as that: he which will follow me, shall find a cross, and be sure of persecution; They were but children, such words and sights might terrify them; therefore they were (as it were) dandled on the knee, and alured by sensible comforts, a land flowing with milk and honey, if they did obey; and they heard of rods and stripes in case of stubbornness and disobedience; Say to the righteous, it shall be well with him, for they shall eat the fruit of their do: Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with him, etc. Isa. 3. 10, 11. David saith (indeed) many are the troubles of the righteous, but (it is not put among the terms of their state or service) It is not said, if ye will be righteous, ye shall have trouble. Moses never told them, If any will be my disciple, let him taka up his cross, etc. So then, God's deal and dispensations being most in outward things at that time, they were very apt to stumble at the cross. And there is greater reason why they should stumble at a molehill, than we at a mountain of trouble: God having told us, that seeing he hath given us such excellent things in Christ, such glorious mercies, and transcendent privileges in the Gospel, we may well take afflictions and troubles into the bargain, and never shrink or strain at them, but rather take them well. So much for that verse, The righteous are not cut off, neither do innocent persons perish. Eliphaz having given Job his turn to search his experiences, brings forth his own, in the next words: Even as I have seen, Vers. 8. they that plough iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same; As if he should say, Job, I know you are not able to give me one instance of a righteous man's perishing, but I could give you many and many instances, I could write whole books concerning wicked men perishing, and of the ungodly cut off; This he carries under a metaphor, and by continued metaphors, makes up an elegant allegory, in those terms of ploughing, sowing, reaping. Even as I have seen.] That word notes, a curious observation; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat non simpliciter videre, sed curiese inspicere. not a light transitory glance of the eye, but a critical consideration of any thing. As it is said, Gen. 1. 4. God saw the light that he had made, God saw it discerningly, for he found it was very good: And so it is said, Gen. 34. 1, 2. that Dinah went forth to see the daughters of the land, that is, curiously (though vainly) to observe the manners and fashions of the people; and in the fame verse, Hamor the son of Sechem saw her, he saw her so exactly, as to be taken with her beauty, his eye entangled his heart, and both entangled his life. So here, Even as I have seen, that is, by a diligent inspection, and judicious consideration of what I saw. And what was that? Mystical Husbandry. They that plough iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same. They that plough iniquity.] The word which we translate to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 F●dit fundam, ●ravit. Pe● metaphoram fodit cogitation, vel intentus fuit rei ali●ui conficiendae sicut arator praeparat terram ante semina●orem▪ blow, signifies the use of any kind of art or manufacture; as the work of a Smith, or of a Carpenter, in Iron, wood or timber; And as the art, so the Artist or handicraftsman (Isa. 44. 12.) is expressed by this word: The Smith with his tongs, worketh in the coals. And Zech. 1. 20. It is put for a Carpenter, The Lord shown me four Carpenters: Now here it is applied to the Ploughman, and to his ploughing. So Hose. 10. 13. Ye have ploughed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity, ye have eaten the fruit of lies▪ And this ploughing of iniquity, or ploughing of wickedness, takes in both the outward act of sin (to blow iniquity, is to commit and practise iniquity) and the inward act of sin, to blow iniquity, is as much as to devise and meditate iniquity. Prov. 3. 29. Devise not (Heb. plough not) evil against thy neighbour. So Prov. 6. 18. A heart that deviseth, or ploweth, wicked imaginations. And Prov. 21. 4. The ploughing of the wicked is sin; That is, whatsoever they devise, or whatsoever they do, inside and outside, the cloth and linings of their garments are all sin. Likewise this word denotes, not only speculative evils, but also secrecy of practice; or a plot carried and acted secretly. Thus (2 Sam. 23. 9) it is said, David knew that Saul secretly practised evil against him; The Hebrew is, he knew that Saul ploughed evil against him. So that it may be taken, either for the meditating of evil, or for a politic close way of effecting any evil or wicked design. And the Scripture elegantly calls the musing or meditating of sin, ploughing, because a man in meditation, (when he would accomplish any wickedness) turns up (as it were) all the corruptions that are in his heart, and all the conveniencies that are in the world, to attain his end. As a man that meditates upon any holy thing, upon Christ, or Freegrace, etc. turns up all the graces and abilities, that are in his spirit, he ploughs up his heart, that he may fetch up the strength, and enjoy the sweetness of them. So then this ploughing noteth two things chief; First, the pains and labour which wicked men take in sinful courses, every one that sins doth not plough sin, or is not a worker (which is an equivalent phrase) of iniquity. Secondly, it implies the black Art and hellish skill of wicked men in sinning. To plough is a skill, & so is some kind of sinning (though to sin in general, be as natural as to see, and needs as little teaching as the ear to hear (some men (●s we may say) are bunglers in sinning, others are their crafts-masters at this plough, and can lay a furrow of iniquity so straight, do an act of filthiness so cleanly, that you can hardly see any thing amiss in it; Those words in the New Testament, To commit sin, to work iniquity, an abomination, or a lie, Rev. 21. 27. etc. are answerable to this in the Old Testament, a plougher of iniquity. And some translate this Text so; the vulgar reads it thus, They Qui operantur iniquitatem. who work iniquity; all which expressions set forth and elegantly describe such, who sinne resolvedly, industriously, cunningly, curiously, such as have the art (and will spare no pains) to do wickedly. These have served an apprenticeship to their lusts, and are now as Freemen of Hell, yet still Satan's Drudges, and active Engineers to plot and execute what God abhors. Note this further, that ploughing in Scripture refers both to good actions and to bad; there is a ploughing for good, the Metaphor is so applied, Prov. 4. 27. Do not they err that devise evil? (that plough evil) but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good, (to them that plough good) the same word is used in both; and it intimates (as before) both the pains and the skill which a godly man bestows and shows about holy things: the great work of repentance is often allegorized by ploughing, Break up the follow ground: and our obedience to the Gospel, whether in the profession or preaching of it, is called ploughing, Luk. 9 62. He that putteth his hand to the plough and looks bacl, is not fit for the kingdom of God. Grace is as active and as accurate as Lust can be. It follows, And sow wickedness, reap the same. Eliphaz goes on with the Metaphor, after ploughing comes sowing, and after seed time, reaping time or harvest. Sowing in Scripture is divers ways applied unto the actions of men. First, there is a sowing which is the work of charity, when we dispense and drstribute to the help of the poor, especially to the Saints; so 2 Cor. 9 6. He that soweth sparingly; that is, he that giveth unto the poor sparingly. Secondly, sowing is applied to the preaching of the Gospel, to the scattering of the Word in at the ears, and into the hearts of men, Luke 8. 5. A sour went out to sow. Thirdly, sowing is applied unto the burial of the dead, 1 Cor. 15. 42. that which is sown in weakness, the bodies of men are as seed in the earth, they shall spring up again. Fourthly, sowing is applied to repenting tears, they that sow Psal. 126. 5. in tears; that is, they that go on repenting and mourning, shall reap in joy; they shall have sheaves of comfort. And fifthly, it is applied generally unto any action good or bad, Gal. 6. 8. He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption, and he that soweth to the spirit, etc. Sowing (as ploughing) is used in regard of doing good and evil, sow to yourselves in righteousness, saith the Prophet; and here on the other side, They that plough iniquity and sow wickedness. Here is the progress of sin: sin goeth on gradually, there is not only a ploughing but a sowing; sin is the seed, and there is a seminal virtue in every sin, it will spring up again and bring forth an hundred fold more in misery, to the whole man, flesh and spirit, than ever it gave in delights unto the flesh. The word which we translate [wickedness] signifies weariness, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seminant dolo res. Vulg. labour, perverseness; because wicked persons weary and toil themselves in serving and satisfying their lusts. Numb. 23. 21. I have seen no perverseness in Israel. God did not find them laboriously and industriously wicked at that time. To do wickedly is a wearisome employment, a hard labour. The vulgar Latin renders it by sorrow; and sow sorrows. Reap the same.] The Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 37. telleth us, That the Husbandman soweth not the same body, that shall be, how then is it said, they sow wickedness and reap the same? when they come to the harvest, what shall they have? The same saith Eliphaz. It is true, A man that soweth, doth not reap the same, individually, or numerically; that is, the very same particular seed; but he reaps the same specifically, the same in kind; that's the meaning here, their crop or harvest shall be like their seed time, Gal. 6. 7 Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap, the same in kind, not the same in number. Prov. 22. 8. He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity. It is not the sin itself, which is reaped, but the fruit, the product of that sin; that, they shall reap; the punishment of sin is the fruit of sin, and it is called the same: Punishment is a visible sin. Thy way and thy do have procured these things unto thee, this is thy wickedness, Jer. 4. 18. The bitter things procured by wickedness, are called wickedness. As the sweet fruits of our good works, are called our works. Rev. 14. 14. Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord, for they rest from their labours, and their works follow them: their works follow them, how? Not their works in kind, the very same individual works, which they have done here follow them not (for they are transient acts and have no subsistency) but the fruits of those works, and the blessings, which lie in the promise for such as do those works, these fruits, these blessings follow them: the blessings annexed to faith, obedience, and holiness, these follow them. So now, when it is said of a wicked man, what he ploweth and soweth, he reapeth the same, it is to be understood of the same thing in the issue and consequents of it, those curses, those treasures, that harvest of wrath, which lie in the threaten against him, these are reigned down upon him▪ and are made the portion of his cup. Again [the same] that is, the same in degree; if he have sown much, he shall reap much, if he have sown but little, he shall reap but little, he shall have his due proportion. The justice of God doth neither commute nor compound penalties with wicked men: as it will not wrong or overcharge, so neither will it favour or spare them in their sins. God spared not his Son, when he was in the place of sinners, Rom. 8. 32. much less will he spare any sinner, who is not in his Son. So much for the opening of these words. We shall now observe some things from them. Even as I have seen, they that plough iniquity. Hence we learn, first, That to be a wicked man is no easy task; he must go to plough for it: It is ploughing, and you know ploughing is laborious, Beli●l, de luci potest à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 q. e Non & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 q. e. lugam, ut significatur impatien●ia Jug●. Hie●on. yea it is hard labour. Wicked men in Scripture are called Sons of Belial, that is, such as will not endure the yoke; they will not endure God's yoke, or the yoke of Christ, though it be an easy yoke: but they are content slavishly to yield their (otherwise) proud and delicate necks to Satan's yoke, to tug and sweat at his plough all their days. There is a promise in the Prophet of a time, when Swords shall be turned into ploughshares, and spears into pruning-hooks; that is, men shall leave fight and go to working, they shall have peace: and it is but too too discernible, that many would break their swords, into these mystical ploughshares, and their spears into sinning-hooks; they would have peace, why? that they might leave fight and go to sinning, that they might work wickedness more quietly, and keep close to their trade, the ploughing of iniquity without disturbance. Secondly observe, That there is an art in wickedness; it is Ploughing, or as the word imports an artificial working. Some are curious and exact in shaping, polishing, and setting off their sin: so the Holy Ghost intimates, Rev. 21. 27. Whosoever worketh abomination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and maketh a lie; there is but one Verb in the Greek, and so we may read it fully enough in our language, Whosoever worketh abomination and a lie; to work an abomination or a lie, is more than to do an abomination or tell a lie. As when we say such a man is a Clockmaker, it notes art, as well as action. So to say such a man is an Abomination-worker, or a Lye-maker, notes him not only industrious, but crafty, or (as the Prophet speaks) wise to do evil. Thirdly, note from these metaphors of ploughing and sowing, That wicked men expect benefit in ways of sin, and look to be gainers, by being evil doers. They make iniquity their plough; and a man's plough is so much his profit, that it is grown into a Proverb, to call that (whatsoever it is) by which a man makes his living or his profit, His plough. And when we say, there are many candles burning and never a plough going. It is to tax unthriftiness or careless spending, without honest care of getting. Every man tills in expectation of a crop; who would put his plough into the ground to receive nothing? The Apostle argues from this as a dictate of nature, (Cor. 9 10.) He that ploweth, ploweth in hope. And James 5. 7. The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, having bestowed his labour, he doth not count it labour lost. It is even so with wicked men, when they are sinning, they think themselves thriving, or laying up that in the earth a while which will grow and increase to a plentiful harvest. What strange fancies have many to be rich, to be great, by ways of wickedness. Thus they blow in hope, but they shall never be partakers of their hope: yea, they shall be ashamed of their hope, their sin will deceive them. And that which will make their poverty most burdensome, is their hope of riches, the expectation they had to gain, will make their loss, their breaking, and their undoing intolerable. Fourthly, observe from these Metaphors, That every sinful act persisted in, shall have a certain sorrowful reward, it shall assuredly be answered with judgement, tribulation, and anguish. Assuredly it shall. Are not ploughing and seedtime an assurance of the harvest? They that go forth vainly rejocing, bearing that poisonous seed, shall doubtless come again, and bring their sheaves of sorrow with them. That which God promised (Gen. 8. 22.) in regard of natural husbandry, he hath threatened in regard of this mystical husbandry: after the flood he promised, that while the Earth remained, Summer and Winter, Seedtime and Harvest should not cease. So it is here, only with this difference, the Lord useth all means to dissuade and prevent the seedtime of sin. But when notwithstanding all those threaten, men will be sowing iniquity, he hath made an everlasting Decree (as firm in its kind, as that about the waters of Noah) that Harvest shall follow, and every such soul shall both reap and eat, the fruit of his plowings and sowings. Fifthly, observe, That the punishment of sin may come long after the committing of sin; the one is the seedtime, and the other a reaping-time; there is a great distance of time between sowing and reaping. The seeds of sin may lie many years under the furrows. A man may commit a sin in his youth, and not find the harvest of it, till his old age. How many (as Job complains, but in a worse sense than he) in their old age, are made to possess the sins of their youth, and feel that which they have forgot. The Husbandman (in that place before mentioned, James 5. 7.) waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it: and through the long patience of God, some wicked men (though they thought their sins not sowed, but buried for ever, and never desire to see or hear of them, yet) in a sense some wicked men (I say) wait long for the noxious fruit of their own hearts. Sometimes indeed the seedtime and harvest of sin, are found in the same hour: and while a man hath scarce ended his sin, his punishment gins. The Prophet describing the plenty and prosperity of the Church in the latter days, tells us, That the ploughman Amos 9 13. shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes, him that soweth the seed. The returns of sin are to some as quick and plentiful, judgement rides post after them, the reaper overtakes the sour, or the man reaps, as soon as he hath sowed: wrath arrests him in the very act of sinning. And we may say as Elisha in another case, is 2 King. 6. 32. not the sound of his Master's feet behind him? The sound of punishment is at the very heels of sin. That black Ox comes as swift as a Leopard, treading upon his heels: And though sometimes it comes slowly as an Ox, yet always it treads hardest, when it comes slowest. A wicked man may commit evil an hundred times, Eccles. 8. and his days (of peace) be prolonged, for his harvest of wrath (like Habbakuks' vision of mercy) is for an appointed time, but in the end it will not lie, (though he would tarry for it) it will not tarry. The natural harvest belies (sc. fails) some men's hopes, but Spem menitia seges. this mystical harvest, shall not belly his fears (if he have any,) it shall belly his presumption, how much soever he hath. Sixthly, observe, That the punishment of sin shall be proportionable to the degrees of sin. He shall reap, the same, saith the Text, the same in degree. So the Scripture speaks, and so experience teacheth concerning natural sowing; a man's harvest is gradually such, as is his seedtime, if he have sown much (in an ordinary course) he shall reap much; The Apostle alludes to this, where he speaks of the seed of charity, If ye sow sparingly, ye shall reap 2 Cor. 9 6. sparingly; on the other side, if ye sow plentifully, ye shall reap plentifully. Sometimes through the judgement of God, (which can easily break through the principles of nature) it cometh to pass▪ as it is, Hag. 1. 6. Ye sow much, and reap little; God makes the harvest thin and lean, when the seedtime was thick and plentiful; but in regard of sinning (I speak of such as go on impenitently in their sins, and have not Christ to take off their sin from them) such persons as sow much, shall be sure to reap much; They shall be beaten with many stripes, who impenitently multiply their transgressions. Seventhly, observe, Punishment shall not exceed the desert of sin. They reap the same; The same, equal in degree or quantity, not beyond the degree of sinning. In nature, the corn ●eap't, is more than the corn sown; sometimes a hundred fold, sometimes sixty, sometimes thirty; as Christ speaks, in the Parable of the Sour, Math. 13. But the punishment of sin reaped, is not a grain more than the sin committed. All the punishments of this life, are less than sin, as Ezra confesses, After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquity, etc. Chap. 9 13. And in the life to come, the damned shall not be punished more than sin deserveth; yea I may say (with reverence to his Almighty power) God cannot punish a sin, beyond that proportion which it deserveth; and the reason is this, Infinite power, cannot inflict a punishment, beyond that which infinite Justice doth require; Infinite Justice is offended, and must be satisfied (if not satisfied by Christ) then by the person himself offending: therefore infinite power, cannot lay upon a man, more than his sin doth deserve, though it may easily lay more upon him than his nature can endure. So then, all that wicked men bear in this life, is less, and all they shall bear in hell, will not be more, than the deserts of sin, or the demands of Justice. An objection may seem to lie against this, from that award of judgement against Babylon: Double to her double, according to her works, it may seem that her harvest of punishment must exceed in Rev. 18. 6. double proportion, her seed time of sinning; The Psalmist speaks yet higher, Render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom, their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee O Lord. Render Psal. 79. 12. sevenfold, that is, manifold: That number in Scripture, multiplies the sense into any number; To render sevenfold, may be rendered the greatest number. I answer, Babylon's punishment shall be double, respecting what Babylon shall have acted, but not double, respecting what Babylon shall have deserved; Give to her double; if it be possible, let her have as much blood more to drink, as she hath spilt, for she deserveth to drink an hundred times more. The blood of Saints, is precious blood; one drop of the blood of Zion, is more worth than a whole ocean of the blood of Babylon, therefore give her double; though it be more in quantity, it is not so much in value. And so, reward our neighbours that have reproached thee sevenfold, it is not sevenfold beyond their deserts; for one scorn that a wicked man poureth upon a child of God (and so upon God, for that's the meaning of the Psalm) cannot be recompensed with ten thousand reproaches, poured upon wicked men: Reproach is the due of ungodly men here, and everlasting reproach, shall be their portion hereafter. But the least reproach cast upon God, is an infinite wrong; and the reproach of his people is so much his, that he reckons it as his own: And will therefore take away all reproach from his people, and render to their unkind neighbours, their reproach sevenfold (and that's but equal) into their bosoms. Lastly, When it is said, They shall reap the same: We are taught, That the punishment of sin, shall be like the sin in kind; It shall be the same, not only in degree, but also in likeness. Punishment often bears the image and superscription of sin upon it. You may see the father's face and feature in the child. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap, saith the Apostle, Gal. 6. 7. If a man sow wheat, he shall reap wheat; the harvest tells you what kind of grain was sowed in every field: if a man sow's wheat he, shall not reap tares, and if a man sow tares, he shall not reap wheat. Thus God often returns the sin of man upon him; sin comes to him in its own likeness, and he may read the name of it, stamped upon the affliction; or by the judgement inflicted, interpret the wickedness committed; This was openly confessed by Adonibezek, (Judg. 1. 7.) As I have done, so God hath requited me, just so; and what was that? He speaks out in the former words: Threescore and ten Kings, having their thumbs and their great tooes cut off, gathered their meat under my Table; there was his sowing, his reaping was the same, They caught him (saith the Text) and cut off his thumbs, and his great toes. The very first Law that was formally made and published after the fall, was a Law of retaliation, or of counterpassion, Gen. 6. 9 Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, (what shall he reap?) by man shall his blood be shed; he must reap the same: The Judicials of Moses are plain for this, Exod. 21. 24. Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth, etc. They have moved me to jealousy, saith the Lord, by that Deut. 32. 21. which is not God, and I will move them to jealousy, by those who are not a people. Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange Gods in your Land, so shall ye serve strangers in a Land which is not yours, Jer. 5. 19 God payeth them in their own coin. Who so stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard, Prov. 21. 13. And so concerning the preaching of the word, contemned, (Zech. 7. 13.) Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear, so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of Hosts: They reap as they sowed, they would not hear, that was their sin; they shall not be heard, that's the punishment; they shall see how good it is, to be wilfully deaf, when God commands, by his being judicially deaf, when they complain. The Sodomites, had a fire of unnatural lust among them, and God sent a shower of fire unnature) to destroy them. The Egyptians killed the Israelitish children, that was the seed they sowed, they reap the same; God slew their children, even all their firstborn in one night. Nadab and Abihu, offered strange fire, there was their wickedness, they reaped the same, God by fire from Heaven, in a strange manner, slew them in a moment. Yea, we find the Lord sometimes dealing thus with his own dear servants, he will cause them to reap that, which they have sown, in kind; David had defiled his neighbour's wife, therefore, saith the Lord, I will take thy wives from before thine eyes, 2 Sam. 12. 11. and give them to thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives, in the sight of this Sun. Again, The Lord tells him, Thou hast slain Vriah with the sword of the children of Ammon, therefore the sword shall never departed from thine house. You see, here was sword for sword, and defilement for defilement; even holy David reaped the same, which he had sowed. It is very remarkable, which is reported in the history of the Church, by Socrates, concerning Valens the Emperor, who was a great persecuter Socrat Histor. Eccl. l. 4. c. 3. of the orthodox Christians, and a maintainer of Arianism; The story tells us, that in his wars against the Goths, he was overthrown, and hiding himself in a little cottage, the enemy came by, burned it, and him together; Now see, how God in this, gave him to reap, what he had sown: for when fourscore of the orthodox sailed from Constantinople to Nicomedia, to treat with him, about the points of Arrianisme, and to settle the matter by way of dispute; the Emperor hearing of their approach, while they were in the haven, and before they could come on shore, caused the Ships to be fired wherein they were, and so consumed them all; here was burntng for burning. And it is observed (in the French History) that Charles the ninth of France, who was the Anno 15 72. contriver of that great Massachre in Paris, wherein so many thousand Protestants were forced through a Red sea, a sea of blood, to their rest in Canaan: this bloody King, at last died himself, by a strange eruption of blood from all the passages of his body; thus he also reaped what he had sown, he had poured out blood, and his blood was poured out. It were easy to give you plenty of instances, bearing witness of this accurate justice of God. Examples were frequent in Jobs time, you see Eliphaz had store of these in his notebook, Even as I have seen, they that plough iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same. JOB. Chap. 4. Vers. 9, 10, 11. By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. The roaring of the Lion, and the voice of the fierce Lion, and the teeth of the young Lions are broken. The old Lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout Lion's whelps are scattered abroad. ELiphaz having given an account of his observation, in general, that he had often seen wicked men perish, ver. 8. In these three verses, he illustrates his observation, by an elegant description of the manner how, or the power by which wicked men perish and are cut off; namely, by the blast of God, ver. 9 By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed; and lest any should think, that this blast of God carries away only straws and feathers, light and weak persons into perdition; he adds the weightiest and the strongest; The roaring of the Lion, the teeth of the young Lions are broken: God by his blast can take away or break, the strongest, the mightiest; Lion-like men, men fierce like Lions, and stout like the Lion's whelp. Under the shadow of which allusions, he closely strikes at Job, who was once a great man, the greatest of all the men in the East; a fierce spoiling Lion (in the apprehension of his friends) and yet God brought him down. This in brief, is the illustration of the argument, in these three verses, By the blast of God they perish, etc. Eliphaz (having in the former verse, by the metaphor of ploughing, sowing, and reaping, set forth the actings and expectations, the issues and successes of wicked men) here (as some conceive) continues the metaphor or the Allegory by this expression of blahing, which (we know) is often used in reference to the seed sown; As if Eliphaz had said, when these men have ploughed and sowed, when they are in expectation of a fruitfully and plentiful harvest, than God blasteth the seed and the seedsman too; he sendeth forth his rough wind, which drieth up and withereth stalk and ear, the counsel and the counsellors: And though blasting spoil or prevent reaping in an ordinary sense, yet blasting may be reaping (as here) in a figurative sense: They who sow iniquity, are often punished by reaping disappointments, which is the blasting of their hopes, and the consumption of their confidences. Blasting of corn and fruits, is often spoken of in the old Testament (as 1 King. 8. 37.) If there be in the Land blasting and mildew. Amos 4. 9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: And a people spoiled by the sword, and consumed by war, are compared, to corn blasted before it be grown up, Isa. 37. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herba percussa uredine est percussio sementis vento orientali ingrediente spicas. Adeo ut non perficiant ma●u●ita●em suam, Rab David. in lib. rad. from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the word in the Original, for blasting corn, is different from this in the Text: The root of that, signifies to dry up or cause to whither: This to breathe, as a man breathes with his nostrils: By the breath of his nostrils, or (as we translate) by the blast of his nostrils; So in the description of man's creation, Gen. 2. 7. Moses saith, God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, or, the blast of life. This blasting, or blast of God, is sometime put for a storm or mighty tempest, suddenly raised up, by the power of God. Thus (Exod. 15. 8.) Moses relating the sudden destruction of the Egyptians in the Red-sea, saith, With the blast of thy nostrils, the waters were gathered together, the sloods stood upright as an heap, etc. That is, with the wind, which God sent out, as his instrument, he gathered Anhelavit. the waters to swallow up the Egyptians, and save his own people. And we find the word, (Isa. 25. 4.) used to denote the furious blasting violence of wicked men, in the day of their rage and madness against the Church. When the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall, thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place, etc. By the blast of God.] God in this act of vengeance against the plowers of wickedness, is presented to us in his Name, Eloah; which signifies, the mighty or puissant God; So Mr Broughton translates it, By the breath of the puissant they perish. The strong God, or God in his strength, comes armed against strong transgressors. The effect shows the strength of this blast, For By his blast they perish, saith the Text, it is the word used before, they are not only a little withered or scorched, but they are utterly consumed, they are destroyed, root and branch, head and tail as in one day. The next words in the Text, by the breath of his nostrils they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consumed, are but the repeating of the same thing; yet there is a considerable difference in the expressions. By the breath of his nostrils.] The word (Ruach) which we there translate breath, signifies generally, spirit, ghost, breath or wind; sometime the Holy Ghost, who is breathed from the Father and Son; The breath of God put alone, notes the wrath of God, Isa. 30. 33. Tophet is prepared of old, etc. The breath of the Lord, (sc. the wrath of the Lord) like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. This phrase also, The breath of God's nostrils, signifies the anger and wrath of God. And the anger of God, is called the breath of his Animalia commota spirant vehementiùs, & narium flatu iram indicant. nostrils, after the manner of men and other creatures; because anger breathes out at their nostrils: The naturalists observe that anger inflaming the spirits, and heating the heart, frequent breathing follows (as it were) to cool the fire, and to ease that inflammation; an angry man breathes quick and short: When Saul was enraged and mad with malice against the Saints, he is said, To breathe out threaten and slaughter, Act. 9 1. therefore also, anger is called, the breath of God's nostrils. Further, it is considerable, that the word nostril, is put alone, for the wrath of God: Psal. 95. 11. He swore in his nostril, that In naso enim i●ra apparet▪ ex vehementiore spiratione, & potissimum ex remissione aut dila●atione narium ira conspicitur. is (as we translate it) he swore in his wrath, that they should not enter into his rest. Likewise Psal. 2. 12. If his wrath be kindled but a little; the Hebrew is, if his nose or nostril be kindled but a little; the nostril, being an organ of the body, in which wrath shows itself, is put for wrath itself. Paleness and snuffing of the nose, are symptoms of anger. In our broverbials, to take a thing in snuff, is to take it in anger. Again, in Scripture we find, that slowness to anger, and hastiness to be angry, are expressed by the different frame of the nostrils; as namely, when the Lord is said to be slow to anger, the Hebrew is long of nostrils: (Psal. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 103. 8.) The Lord is slow to anger, or, (Exod. 34. 6.) Long-suffering. In both places, the Original is, long of nostrils, that is, of anger, or long ere he be angry. On the other side, a passionate, choleric man, a man ready to conceive anger, is said to have a strait or a short nostril; He that is soon angry, dealeth foolishly, Prov. 14. 17. The Hebrew is, he that hath a short or a narrow nostril, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Brevis narium. i e. praeceps ad iram. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Sept. Spiritu furoris ejus deficiunt. dealeth foolishly, because such men are most apt to conceive anger; So then, while Eliphaz saith, by the breath of his nostrils they are consumed, it is, as if he had said, by the wrath and displeasure of God they are consumed; and the Septuagint translate it, directly by anger, They are consumed by the breath, or spirit of his anger; so others in the Latin, They are consumed by the spirit of his fury. And both these words, breath and blast, are found together in one place, 2 Sam. 22. 16. At the blast of the breath of his nostrils; the whole verse runneth thus, The channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the earth were discovered, at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils, that is, at the great displeasure of the Lord. So, we see, what we are here to understand, by the breath and by the blast of the Lord. And in this passage, Eliphaz seems to hint at the manner of the death of Jobs children, who were destroyed by the strength of a mighty wind, smiting the four corners of the house so, that it fell upon them: that wind may well be called the breath and the blast of God, both in regard of the wonder and strangeness of it, as also because (though Satan was the instrument) he had the ordering and disposing of it. Satan's breath, all the wind he can raise, cannot blow away a feather, unless the Lord give and continue leave and strength, to do it. Observe first, God can easily destroy wicked men. He doth it by a blast, or by a breath. Though, to themselves and others, they appear as great Mountains, yet before God they are but as dust, or chaff of the Mountains; by a blast or by a breath he scatters and consumes them: So David compares them (Psal. 1. 4.) The ungodly are not so, (not so, how? they are not as a tree planted by the water's side, that is the portion of the righteous; how are the ungodly then?) they are as the chaff, that the wind scattereth or driveth away, the best of them, the most solid of them are no better. And (Isa. 17. 13.) The Nations shall be chased, as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and as a rolling thing before the whirlwind. Though Nations, mighty strong powerful Nations, come out against God, and his people, Fear them not: For if God set himself against them, they are no more before him, than a little chaff, he scatters them by the breath of his displeasure. You know it is no trouble for a man to breath, or to make a blast with his mouth; and this phrase is used, to show with what ease and facility God destroys all the plots and counsels of wicked men; it putteth him to no pain, no sweeting, no travel or labour to do it; men are put to much expense of pains, and run many hazards, to oppose the wickedness of men; but God doth it with a breath. (2 King. 19 7.) When God sent to Hezekiah, to assure him that he would deliver him from Senacherib, he not only promiseth to do it, but shows him how he will do it, even as in this Text, Behold I will send a blast upon him: that's all, I will do, I will not trouble myself much about the business; you must gather armies and make great preparations against the enemy, but I will do it with a blast. And which is yet more speedy. Some understand this blast to note only the will and pleasure, the intent or purpose of God, by the blast of God they perish; that is, if he do but will it, it is done, it is no more for him to act it then intent it. The Septuagint translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. near this sense, by the command of God they perish; as if Eliphaz had said, it is as easy for God to do it, as to say it shall, or to command it to be done. Men can command great things, and talk much, what they will do; and all proves but talking and commanding: one man may command more in an hour, than a Million can do in a year, but with God it is all one, to command & accomplish. It is noted for a high speech, that of Caesar to Metellus, who opposing him, when he came into the Roman Treasury, to take the money there heaped together. Caesar (whose great spirit could not bear opposition) saith to him, Let me alone, or I will lay thee dead upon the ground. And presently, at once to qualify that threat and magnify his own power, adds, Young man it is harder for me to speak this, then to do it. It is most certainly so with God, he can as easily do any thing as speak it. Yet further, we find the easiness of Gods destroying his enemies set forth a degree higher, He doth it by a look; as by a blast of his nostrils, so by a cast of his eye; that's a small trouble, and that's all, that it needs cost God to destroy the strongest, the vilest and violentest foe in the world: thus he consumed the Host of Pharaoh, even with a look, (Exod. 14. 24.) It came to pass that in the morning watch, the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians, through the pillar of fire, and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians. If God hid his face from his people they are troubled, and if he look upon his enemies they are troubled. He darts out both beams of life, and beams of death from his eyes. When a godly man is afflicted, if he can but get the Lord to look upon his trouble, he is delivered. And when wicked men prosper, if God do but look upon their glory they are withered. With such ease doth the Scripture express the destruction of wicked ones, it is by a breath, by a word, by a command, by a look; An intimation from the eye of God, is execution. Secondly note; God can suddenly destroy the counsels and the plottings, the ploughings and the sowings of wicked men. In proverbial speaking, to do a thing suddenly, and to do a thing with a breath, are the same: God can as soon destroy his enemies, as a man can breathe; Psal. 73. 10. How are they brought into desolation in a moment! A blast, you know, is gone in a moment: Isaiah 42. 9 These two things shall come upon thee in a moment, loss of children and widowhood. God can with one breath, blow away both the husband and the children. So (Jer. 4. 20.) the Church of the Jews speaks thus, Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is spoilt, suddenly are my tents spoilt, and my curtains in a moment: God doth but blow upon the Tents, and presently the coards break, and the stakes thereof are loosened. If man be angry, he must sit down and consult, he must lay his plot and contrive a way of revenge; but no sooner is God angry but he can revenge; That wrath cannot want an instrument, which can make one. Infinite wisdom sees all means at once, and infinite power can use them at once. As the grace of God knows not long delays, it comes swiftly, as a sweet blast or holy breath, Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus sancti gratia. Grace is speedy and upon the wing; so likewise the wrath of God knows no tedious long delays: They who do wickedly and stand out impenitently, shall perish suddenly. And though the Lord be slow to anger before he strikes, yet when he strikes, he can do it at once, it is but a blast of his wrath, and a breath of his displeasure, and the stoutest of the sons of men are dried like a leaf. Thirdly note, That God destroyeth wicked men secretly and invisibly. To destroy by a breath, is a close way of destroying. So (Hag. 1. 9) his anger is expressed against his own people, for neglecting his Ordinances and Temple, Ye looked for much, but lo it came to little, and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it, that is I sent an invisible and secret curse upon it. Lastly, we may observe from the manner of this destruction, That the destruction of wicked men, the plowers of iniquity, is unavoidable; it is done by a breath, now the wind bloweth where it listeth, no man can countercommand or stop the wind. The wind is swift, as well as strong, no man can outrun the strome of God's displeasure. He that fleeth of them, shall not flee away (for it is a Amos 9 1, 2. wind that followeth them) and he that escapeth of them, shall not be delivered, it is a blast that is gone out after them: they cannot deliver themselves by art or cunning, by wit or policy; they cannot deceive or cousin the wind: they cannot deliver themselves by power or strength, they cannot conquer or overcome this wind: It comes suddenly, invisibly, irresistibly; who can stand before God when he is angry, yea, who knoweth the power of his wrath or blast. This Eliphaz goes on to show, in the tenth and eleventh Verses, and therefore takes his instance, from those creatures which are mightiest, which are strongest▪ The roaring of the Lion, and the voice of the fierce Lion, and the teeth of the young Lion are broken; the old Lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout Lion's whelps are scattered abroad. The expressions are very various. Here are five words in these Leonum nomina plura sun●, & secundum ae●atis gr●dus distinguuntur. Buxt. lex 1 Arieh, 2 Shacal, 3 Cephir, 4 Laish, 5 Labi. two verses signifying the Lion, yet with a difference and special reference to the several ages, and conditions of the Lion. 1 The Lion, 2 the fierce Lion, 3 the young Lion, 4 the old Lion, 5 and the stout Lion: we have these five several words in our translation, and we give Epithets to four of them; whereas in the Hebrew they are all single terms, as we shall see in a brief touch upon them. First, the Lion (Arieh) which name is given the Lion, to note 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ca●psit decerpsit, alii deducunt ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Leo & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vidot, quasi Leo videns, quia semper est oculis intentue ad praedam. his power in renting and tearing: and Master Broughton renders it so, the roaring of the renting Lion, putting the etymology or notation of the word into the translation. Others derive it, from Arie, a Lion, and Raah which signifieth to see, and then it is as much as the Lion-seer; and the reason of this derivation is given, from the Lion's watchfulness, he is ever intent upon his prey, and as some Naturalists observe, sleeps with his eyes open. So that this word entitles him, either from his watchfulness, The Lion-seer, or from his strength, The Lion-renter. The second is a primitive, signifying sometime a Leopard, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Leo ferox vel immanis mediae aetatis. sometime a Lioness, or shee-lion. We render it a fierce Lion: which may well refer to the former, because a shee-lion, especially when she hath young ones, is exceeding fierce. The third word it is (Cephir) a young Lion, and it is sometime used as an epithet (Cephir Arieth) a young Lion roared on Samson, Judg. 14. 5. The fourth word is (Laish) signifying a Lion, that is grown in years, which perishes for hunger, not being able to hunt and get prey. So the Text, the old Lion perishes for lack of prey. And the fifth word is (Laby) which signifies a Lion in greatest strength and fierceness. And the Critics tells us, it is derived from Quasi leonem cordatum & animosum dicas Buxt. (Leb) which signifieth the heart, as noting a strong hearted and a courageous Lion; and so Master Broughton translates, for stout Lion, the heart-strong Laby. Judah being compared to this Lion by dying Jacob, is set forth by his majestic stoutness; Judah is a Lion's whelp, etc. and as an old Lion, who shall rouse him up? Gen 49. 9 These several sorts of Lion's shadow out unto us, mighty, strong and powerful wicked men, or plowers of wickedness, with all related to them; they, and their families, they, and their wives, they, and their children, all theirs are usually full of Lionlike qualities, and all these shall be destroyed and perish, by the blast, by the breath of God. For, as the Apostle puts the question in another case, about Oxen, Doth God take care for Oxen? So if any should question here, is God angry with Lions? doth he oppose himself against Lions, that he saith here, the Lion shall perish, the young and the old Lions shall be destroyed? No, there is a further meaning in it, somewhat else is shadowed under the name or notion of Lions. First, in Scripture the Lion signifies any one in authority, especially in kingly authority, (Gen. 49. 10.) the tribe of Judah (which was to have the Sceptre and the rule, the Magistracy or government being settled in that Tribe) is compared to a Lion, Judah is a Lion's whelp, from the prey my son thou art gone up, he stooped down, he couched as a Lion, and as an old Lion, who shall rouse him up? As Lions are chief, the most eminent among the beasts of the field, so Kings and Magistrates are chief, the most eminent among the sons of men. Christ is called the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, from the prerogative of his power and the excellency of his Kingly condition above all others, his name being King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Secondly, the Devil is compared to a Lion, he is called a roaring Lion, because of his cruelty and devouring nature, He goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour. And the Lions here in the Text how old soever they be (are whelps of this old Lion) the Devil: not great men in general, but wicked great men, men mighty in power, and mighty in sin, mighty sinners. It is frequent in Scripture to shadow out powerful, wicked, tyrannical men by the name of Lions, and the reason is, because they imitate the qualities and conditions of the Lion. A man acts by reason, and a beast acts by sense or passion: reason is the difference between a man and a beast: therefore when man either acts against reason or without reason, the name of a beast is justly put upon him: and the name of that beast most fitly, whose qualities & passions he most resembles: man in regard of his headstrong unruliness, is compared unto a Horse and to a Mule, Psal. 32. 9 Be not as the Horse or as the Mule which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in wit with bit and bridle. Be not unruly. For subtlety, man is called a Fox; for flattery or filthiness, a Dog or a Swine; and here for rapine and cruelty a Lion. Thus the Prophet Nahum elegantly, Chap. 2. 11, 12. Where is the dwelling place of the Lions, and the feeding place of the young Lions? that is, where is the dwelling place of oppressors and cruel tyrants? And Ezek. 19 1, 2. Take up a lamentation for the Princes of Israel, and say, what is thy mother? a Lioness, she lay down among Lions, she nourished her whelps among young Lions; the tyrannical Princes in Israel, were thus described. And so is tyrannical Pharaoh (Ezek. 32. 2.) Take up a lamentation for Pharaoh King of Egypt, and say unto him, thou art like a young Lion of the Nations. In general Solomon (Prov. 28. 15.) telleth us, That as a roaring Lion and a ranging Bear, so is a wicked Ruler over the poor people. And the Apostle Paul speaking of his escape from the jaws of that persecuting Emperor, saith (2 Tim. 4. 17.) I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lion; that is, out of the mouth of Nero, who was ready with open mouth to devour and destroy me: or as some (taking it for a proverbial speech noting any eminent danger) I was delivered from the extremest hazard of death: even as a man rescued out of a Lion's mouth, and pulled from between his teeth. And it will not be amiss, for the clearing of this a little further, to give you some special things, wherein the resemblance may be taken, between the Tyrant, the oppressing Ruler, or any oppressing great one, and the Lion; we may draw the picture of a Tyrant by a Lion's face in these respects. 1. In regard of his pride, stateliness, and distance which he affects to hold, towards others. The Lion is a proud and stately creature. 2. Tyrant's resemble Lions in regard of courage and animosity. courageousness in any noble or good way (in which sense Prov. 28. 1. the righteous are bold as a Lion) is the courage of Saints. But to be valiant and courageous in doing mischief, in wronging and oppressing the weak or innocent, is the courage of a Beast. Courage out of the way of truth and justice, is Lionlike cruelty. 3. They are Lions in regard of their strength. Lions are the strongest of creatures: what is stronger than a Lion, say they, in resolving Sampsons' Riddle: and Prov. 30. 30. a Lion which is strongest among beasts: tyranny must have strength to back it. Hence they who mean to oppress, fortify themselves with titles and privileges, with honours and relations. Solomon considering the oppressions that were under the Sun, observes tears on the one side, and strength on the other; On the side of the oppressors there was power, Eccles. 4. 1. 4. They are Lions too, in regard of their subtlety; The Lion is a subtle creature, as well as a strong creature, he hath a great stock of policy, as well as power: though we usually oppose the Lion's skin, and the Fox's skin, yet many times they both meet in one; Some are double skinned as well as double clothed: Hence we have that phrase, Psal. 10. 9 (comparing a wicked man to a Lion) he lieth in wait secretly, as a Lion in his den; which teacheth us, that the Lion waits and watches for his prey; And so do these wicked men, (Psal. 17. 12.) Like as a Lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young Lion, lurking in secret places. 5. They are like Lions especially in their cruelty, in bloodsucking cruelty; the Lion is a devouring beast, therefore when the Devil is called a Lion, it is said, he goeth about to devour. And God himself (when he would be expressed in his resolutions of judgement, so as he will not have mercy upon a man, or upon a nation) is pleased to take upon him this name too, Hos. 5. 14. I will be unto Ephraim as a Lion, and as a young Lion to the house of Judah, I, even I, will tear and go away, and none shall rescue him; that is, I am resolved to execute judgement, to the uttermost upon him; So Chap. 6. 1. The Lord hath torn, which is (properly) the act of a Lion: And Job (Chap. 10. 16.) complains thus to God, Thoa huntest me like a fierce Lion: And (Isa. 38. 13.) Hezekiah fearing, that God would not show him that mercy, to raise him from sickness, cries out, as a Lion, so will he break all my bones. So that when the Lord would express himself in ways of judgement, and resolvedness to go on in judgement, he takes upon him the name of a Lion; But such is the very nature of wicked men: Such the Prophet Micha bespeaks (Chap. 3. 2.) Hear this O heads of Jacob, and ye Princes of the house of Israel, it is not for you to know judgement? who hate the good and love the evil, who pluck off their skins from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; noting Lion-like cruelty in those, who should have been as shepherd's to feed and protect the people. 6. They are compared to Lions, in regard of their terrible roaring, the Lion roareth terribly; so terribly, that when the Lion Animalia fortia vocem edunt gravem ut Leo & Taurus. Arist. Tanta illi v●cis eliciendae natura praestitit instrumenta ut animalia lon gè ipso celeriora solo saepe rugitu capiantur Basil. Hexam. Homil. 9 Leo aliquid nubu habet circa super cilia, sc. aspectum minimè serenum. Arist. roareth, the beasts of the forest tremble. The Naturalists observe, that though many creatures are swifter of foot, than the Lion, yet when he roareth, they fall down, and he overtakes them with his astonishing voice; so tyrannical men, with their roaring words, their loud threaten, often affright and daunt the poor. 7. They resemble Lions, in the sourness and sternness of their countenance, and cloudiness of their brows. Much of man's heart is seen in his face; frowns are as blows; hence we call it, brow-beating: The love of God, is expressed by the pleasantness of his face, and the light of his countenance; So also is the love of man; and we may see what the intent of another is, in his very looks: Many are in this respect, Lion-like men, they have (as Aristotle saith of the natural Lion) clouds and storms hanging about their eyebrows. It was a threatening against the Jews, in case of disobedience, that God would send against them, a Nation of a fierce countenance, which should not regard the person of the old, etc. Deut. 28. 50. Lastly, they are like Lions, in regard of their greediness after prey; They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth, like as a Lion that is greedy of his prey, Psal. 17. 11, 12. Thus you see, both who are here meant by Lions, and likewise, how the resemblance or picture of a wicked man, may be taken from a Lion. Now when it is said, that, the teeth of the Lions are broken, that the old Lions perish, and the young Lions are scattered abroad: By all these expressions of scattering, perishing and being broken to pieces, the Holy Ghost shows us, the utter, full and final consumption of wicked men; they are not only touched, troubled and roused up out of their dens; but these Lions, old and young, are scattered and consumed, They perish. There is an opinion currant among the Jewish writers, that this verse is to be understood, as a description of the means or instruments by which God destroys wicked men, and not (as we) of wicked men themselves, whom God will destroy: Junius agrees with this interpretation of the Jews, translating the two verses in this sense; By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils they are consumed; by the roariag of the Lion; and by the voice of the fierce Lion, and by the teeth of young Lions they are consumed; As if when wicked men (so he giveth the gloss) are not destroyed immediately by the breath, and by the blast of God, than God stirs up the creatures against them, and will destroy them by Lions: We know it was a special judgement threatened in the Law, against the disobedient, (Levit. 26. 22.) that God would send evil beasts among them: The Prophet numbers this, among God's sore judgements: Sword, famine, pestilence and evil beasts are put together. In the history of the Kings, we have a famous 2 King. 17. ●● record, how the Lord sent Lions, who slew some of those Idolaters, whom the King of Bahylon had transplanted into the Cities of Samaria. But I rather conceive the former exposition of the words, to be the truth, and most suitable to the context; and there is this reason to be given, because it agrees best with the purpose of Eliphaz, whose work was, so to describe the destruction of wicked men in general, that he might particularly intimate the destruction, fallen upon Job and his family, with the reason of it. Job was a great man in his time; he was among men, as the Lion among beasts, a chief. His friends thought him a cruel Lion too, and so he is told to his face afterward, by one of them, that he (like a greedy Lion) had taken away the pledge, and the garment from the poor; This Eliphaz would hint at least to Job, and that God had found him out in his Lion-like qualities; that he being a Magistrate, and a man in authority, having dealt hardly and cruelly with others, now the Lord had measured to him, the same measure he had given others; He, the Lion; and she, the fierce Lion or Lioness his wife; they, the young Lions, his children, were all broken, and either perished or perishing. So much for the clearing of the words; I shall now add some observations from them. First, Wicked men, how powerful, how strong soever, shall fall before the wrath and indignation of God. The day of the Lord shall be against every one that is high, and that is lifted up. God desires in a special manner, to be dealing with these, for they, in the pride of their spirits, think themselves a match for God; though indeed, their strength be but weakness, and their wisdom foolishness; yet in their own conceits they are stronger, and wiser than God himself. Hence (like Pharaoh) they send defiance to Heaven, and say, Who is the Lord, Exod. 5. 1. When God sees the hearts of men swollen to this height, of insolent madness, he delights to show himself, and grapple with them, that the pride of man may be abased, and every one that is exalted may be laid low: that he only may be exalted, and his Name set up in that day; David was much troubled, at that murder of Abner, yet he could not take vengeance presently, upon the fierce Lion, that had sucked his blood. Why? his power did not reach it, ye sons of Zerviah (saith he) are too hard for me, (2 Sam. 23. 3.) But there are no sons of Zerviah too hard for God, no Lions so strong, but he can tear them, with infinitely more ease, than a Lion can the tender kid. This should comfort us, when we see great and potent enemies rising up against the Church, what are these before the great Lion, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. If the Lord do but roar, if the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, come against these Lions, they will run like a heard of fearful dear: The Kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief Captains, and the mighty men, are described, trembling at the presence of Christ, when he appeared but as a Lamb, Rev. 6. 15, 16. They cry to the mountains and the rocks, to fall upon them, and to hid them from his face; If when Christ appears like an angry Lamb, the greatest in the world fall before him; what then will these do, when Christ shall appear as a roaring Lion. Secondly observe, how gradually the Holy Ghost expresses the destruction of wicked tyrants; All is not done at once; First the roaring of the Lion doth perish, than their voice, than their teeth are pulled out, next, their prey is taken away, lastly, their whelps are scattered. Note hence, That usually God destroys wicked men by degrees. Here are five steps or degrees of God's justice, against these Lions. First, He stops the roaring of the Lions, they shall not be able to make such a dreadful noise as heretofore; their roaring may be stopped, when their voice is not, though they can speak, yet they shall not yell. In the second place, He breaks the very voice of the Lions; they shall not only not roar, but they shall not so much as speak, either against the lambs, or against the sheep, or for themselves, the voice of the fierce Lion shall be taken away. God is able to silence Lions, and stop their mouths, not only from devouring and roaring, but from speaking. Thirdly, When their voice is taken away and their roaring, yet their teeth may remain: and there will be biting and tearing still, though they have done roaring and yelling; therefore with a third stroke God breaks out their teeth, the teeth of the young Lions are broken. So the Psalmist prays, Psal. 58. 6. Break their teeth in their mouths, break out the great teeth of the young Lions O Lord: that is, take away the instruments, by which they oppress, the means by which they tear and rend, as Lions with their cruel teeth. Fourthly, Christ deals further with these Lions, he not only breaks their teeth, by which they used to hurt others, but he takes away their prey and their meat, they shall not have wherewith to live themselves; they were wont to suck the blood of the slain, and to eat the flesh of the poor; but now the Lord will pluck away their prey, they themselves shall be starved or pinched with hunger. Lastly, Not only shall their meat be taken away, but they themselves shall be scattered and dispersed, that is the last step of their calamity. Their dens shall be broken up, and their lurking places shall be opened; they shall run from place to place▪ from Nation to Nation. This is the judgement of the Lord upon Lions, and the portion of the cruel enemies from our God. Who hath not seen the truth of all this in our days; we have had Lions, roaring Lions, rending, tearing Lions amongst us: It was usual among the Heathens in their persecutions, to cry out, Away with the Christians to the Lions: This we have often Christianos ad Leones. seen, in the figure, poor Christians sent to the Lions, put under the power of men, as cruel, as bloody, as insatiable as Lions: Many a one might say (as David, Psal. 57 4.) My soul is among Lions: When the watchman (in the Prophet) was asked, Watchman what of the night? he answered. A Lion my Lord (Isa. 21. 7.) Our sorrowful watchmen, standing upon their Towers, (considering those sad times) being asked, what of the day? have answered, We see a Lion, a company of Lions. tearing and rending in many parts of the Nation; not bodies and estates only, but souls and consciences. God hath wonderfully delivered his darling from the Lions, his daniel's from the Lion's den: He hath already delivered us so fare, that the Lions dare not roar, as they were wont, the teeth of many of the young Lions are broken, many of the old Lions are ready to perish for want of prey, and not a few of their whelps are scattered abroad; God hath raised up sampson's to tear these Lions, which roared upon us; he hath stirred up Davids to smite these Lions, and rescue the prey out of their teeth: And though many Lions are amongst us, yet they dare not roar, much less, tear as they have done; though the beasts be alive, yet (for the most part) the Lions are dead: they are beasts still, as base, and vile, and bloody in their natures as ever, but their powerful Lion-like strength is abated: That glorious prophecy, is in some sense, and in some part, fulfilled at this day; The wholfe dwells with the lamb, the leopard lies down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child may lead them; they cannot, they dare not, hurt nor destroy in all our mountain, Isa. 11. 6, 8. I am sure, we may set our seal to this truth of Eliphaz, we have seen Lions, and fierce Lions, old Lions, and young Lions, even the stout Lion's whelps, some scattered abroad, some destroyed, some consumed by the mighty power of God. Further, It is here said in the text, That the old Lion shall perish for want of prey: It is a strange expression, Lions have the greatest power to get provision, to satisfy their hunger, yea their appetites and humour, yet these shall want; these Lions, who have all their life time, preyed upon the estates of other men, even these shall want. Note hence the justice of God; Such as have made others want, shall at last come to want themselves, they shall perish for want of prey, they shall have nothing to eat: when thou ceasest to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled, saith the Prophet; and when Isa 33. 1. thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee: We must not understand it, as if wicked men do ever give over sinning, sin, and their desire of sinning, is in a kind infinite: they never say, now we have done, and will sin no more; but the meaning is, when thou canst sin no more, nor deal treacherously any more, when thou hast done thy utmost, and spent thy strength in spoiling others, or taken all their spoil, so that thou hast done spoiling, because there is no more to spoil, than others shall spoil thee; And thou Lion, who hast preyed upon others a long time, shalt not have a bit thyself, but shalt perish for want of prey. It is the promise of God unto his own people (Psal. 34. 10. That the Lions shall lack and suffer hunger, but they that fear the Lord, shall not want any good thing: He expresses it by Lions, to note, that certainly they that fear him shall not want, for if any creatures in the world can preserve themselves from hunger, Lions can; if they do but roar, the very beasts will fall down as a prey before them, but yet (saith God) these even these shall rather perish for hunger, than any one that feareth me shall want. God provides for his lambs, for innocent persons, for those who fear him, though they have no strength to provide for themselves; but the wicked who have greatest power, and have been most active to provide for themselves, shall pine with want; they who have caused so many to be bitten with hunger, shall at last be hungerbitten, and for want of meat, gnaw their tongues. Lastly, Where it is said, that the Lion's whelps are scattered abroad, Observe, God will not only destroy the persons of wicked men, but their families and posterities, they and their whelps shall all be scattered; he will not leave them so much, as a name or a remembrance, (Psal. 36. 6.) I sought his place (saith the Prophet) and he could not be found; there was no print of him, no man could remember, that there was such a man in the world, unless to curse his memory. I shall only give one caution respecting this, and so conclude the point. That which is here affirmed in the general by Eliphaz, concerning the destruction of wicked men, Lions and fierce Lions, is not to be taken as a truth in the universal experience of it; we are not to understand it thus, as if all persons, all Lion-like persons at all times, perish, and are destroyed, and scattered abroad: But Eliphaz speaks of what is usually done: or he speaks of what God can easily do at any time, and of what God may justly do at all times. Lions, fierce Lions, tyrants, oppressors, he both may and can scatter when he pleaseth. Yet we find, that God hath permitted some Lions, to live fully, and to die quietly; they spend all their days in roaring and rending, in tearing and devouring, and yet themselves are not devoured: God often suspends this Justice, but it is for weighty reasons; for, in a word, First, If God should destroy all Lion-like men, the joints of the world would be unloosed, and the bands of humane society broken asunder. God forbade the children of Israel, to destroy all the Canaanites, lest the beasts of the field should multiply, etc. Secondly, If God should hunt all these Lions out of the world, his own people would live by sense, rather than by faith; and seem to be terrified by the visible actings of wrath, rather than alured by the promises of mercy, or tenders of freegrace. Thirdly, He defers them, until they have sucked blood enough, rend enough, and done evil enough, even filled up the measure of their sin, and fulfilled the righteous purpose of God, by their unrighteousness. As these Lions fill their own bellies, so they fulfil Gods counsels, therefore he lets them alone, that they may do his work, though they little think of it, and less intent it. Lastly, Eliphaz speaks of what God did frequently, in those times of the world, wherein they lived; for then God dealt more by outward judgements, then in these Gospel times. As his mercies are now more spiritual, so usually are his judgements. JOB. Chap. 4. Vers. 9, 10, 11. Now a thing was secretly brought unto me, and mine ear received a little thereof. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sieepe falleth on men, etc. THis part of the Chapter, from the twelfth Verse unto the end, containeth the third Argument, by which Eliphaz labours to convince and reprove Job of his impatient complain. In the whole context we may observe two general parts. 1. The Argument itself by which he reproves him. 2. The confirmation or the proof of that Argument. The matter of the Argument, is contained in the seventeenth Verse. Shall mortal man be more just the God? shall a man be more pure than his Maker? The Argument may be form thus. That man carrieth himself rashly, and sinfully, who would seem more just and pure than God, his Maker. But thou Job carriest thyself as if thou wert more just, then God thy Maker. Therefore thou carriest thyself very sinfully and rashly. He confirms this Argument two ways. 1. By an Argument taken from Divine authority. 2. By an Argument taken from reason. His Argument taken from Divine authority lies in the former five Verses of this context, (sc. 12, 13, 14, 15, & 16.) I may give it thus. That is to be received as a truth, which God from heaven immediately declareth to his servant, in a vision. But God hath declared and revealed this to me, in a vision, that he who contends with God, carrieth himself very sinfully. Therefore it is to be received as a truth. The first part of the Argument is unquestionable; that it is a truth which God revealeth from Heaven in a Vision. And that God had revealed this unto Eliphaz, from Heaven in a Vision, he himself at large declareth in those five Verses, describing both the manner how, and the time when this truth was revealed to him. His second Argument from reason, is grounded upon the common logical rule, of arguing from the greater to the less, (Verse 18, 19, 20, 21.) The sum of it may be thus conceived. That which would be folly and sinful boldness in Angels, if they should aspire and take upon them to do, is much more sinful in a mortal man. But if Angels should go about to justify themselves, or stand upon terms with God, it would be sin and folly in them. Therefore it is much more sin and folly in mortal man, to justify himself before God, etc. The Major or the first proposition is undeniable. The second proposition is proved and illustrated to the end of the Chapter. Wherein is showed in what condition man now standeth: how weak and how poor a thing a man is compared unto an Angel; therefore if it would be sin and folly in Angels to compare with God, it must much more be sin and folly in man. So we see how Eliphaz confirms the major proposition of the first Syllogism. The second proposition or assumption which he infers upon Job, But thou Job carriest thyself so as if thou wert more just than God: he proves by that sad expostulation, Chap. 3. And takes that for granted. We may form it thus. He that complaineth of God, as if he had done him wrong, makes himself more just then God. But thou Job, hast made such a complaint, Chap. 3. as if God had done thee wrong in afflicting thee, or in giving and in continuing thy life under such afflictions. Therefore, thou seemest to make thyself more just, then God, or to say that God hath dealt unjustly or injuriously with thee. This I take to be the Logic of the remaining part of this Chapter. And having cleared his manner of reasoning in general, I shall descend to open particulars. Now a thing was secretly brought unto me, and mine ear received a little thereof. I must yet resolve a question before I explain the terms; the question is this. Whether this were a true vision sent from God, or whether it were only feigned by Eliphaz, thereby to gain authority to what he spoke? There are many Expositors of great name, who are very confident that this vision was a fiction or holy fraud; a vision of Eliphaz his own brain, not a vision from Heaven. Some have gone further, maintaining that it was a vision sent from Hell, an illusion of the Devil, thereby to strengthen the hands of Eliphaz, in vexing and troubling Job. It cannot be denied, but that many have pretended visions from God, when they have received none; they have belied the Almighty with their Dreams and Revelations, when they have seen nothing. Thus (1 Kings 22. 11.) Zedekiah the false Prophet takes upon him, to have had a vision from God, by which he would confirm Ahab in his counsel to go up to Ramoth Gilead. And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron, and he said, thus saith the Lord, with these shalt thou push the Syrians till thou have consumed them. And in the prophecy of Jeremiah you have Hananiah the false Prophet, not only speaking the language, but dressing himself in all the formalities of a vision; he comes forth with a yoke upon his neck, and breaks it before the people, and telleth them, thus will God break the yoke of your captivity, and at such a time. The true Prophets complain often of the false, for crying up their deceive, under the warrant of visions and dreams, when all was but a dream indeed, a mere fancy, or studied imposture to misled the people, and gain credit to their lies. While a man hath nothing but ordinary humane authority, for things extraordinary, he is easily rejected. Man is subject to error, he may deceive and be deceived; therefore when they would put a new nothing upon the world, as an infallible truth, and have it swallowed without chewing, received without disputing, then usually they pretended that it was (quid Divinum) a doctrine or message received immediately from God. And it is well observed, that this course of pretending to Divine revelation, was very frequent amongst the Heathen: when their Wise men had a mind to fasten, some unwonted opinion upon the vulgar. Among the Romans, Numa, (to the intent they might be received with greater authority) stamped his laws, with a kind of divinity, and told the people that he had received them from the Goddess Aegeria. As if he had said, these laws, are not such as I have coined and fashioned by my own policy, drawn up or enacted by my own power, I had them from the Goddess. So Plato informs us of another lawmaker (Minos the Cretian) that he used to enter into Caves and solitary places, where (he told the people) he received laws and immediate dictates from Jupiter their God, to govern them by. This drew a great estimation and reverence upon him. Valerius Maximus and Herodotus tells us of those Valer. lib. 1. Herod. lib. 1. other Lawmakers, Lycurgus and Seuleucus, using the like State-stratagems to overrule the people. Lycurgus said, he received his laws from Apollo: Zaleucus and Pisistratus avouch, Minerva for the Directress or Doctress of Theirs. So that both among the people of God, and among Heathens, it hath been very frequent to pretend Divine authority; that they might with the more estimation put off either such points of doctrine, or such rules of policy, as themselves had invented. For this of Eliphaz, howsoever some charge him directly, and Rem in dubio relinquimus videtur tamen potius vera fuisse visio, e●s● ea abata●ur. Merc. others leave the matter in doubt, only turning the scale with a probability, (it seemeth rather that it was a true vision.) Yet I shall adventure to resolve directly, that his was a true vision, as well as a vision of truth sent from God. And the reasons which sway with me are these three. First, if we consider the manner of this vision, the description here made, holds exact proportion with those, of which there is no question, but they were the Oracles of Heaven. When a thing is done as God doth it, it is some argument that God hath done it. I grant, this reason is not demonstrative or infallible, because Satan and our own hearts are very apt to make imitations of holy things, for sinful ends. Satan can transform himself into an Angel of light, and the heart can disguise or shape its own dark conceptions, by the light of divine revelations. Take then a second reason, Eliphaz was a godly man. 'Tis granted on all hands, that Eliphaz and his friends were right in their affections, though they failed in this action. God was angry with them indeed, & told them in the close of this dispute (Chap 42. 7.) That they had not spoken of him the thing that was right, as Job his servant had, yet he bids Job pray and offer sacrifice for them, which he would not have done, unless they had been upon good terms with him in general, and in a present capacity, for mercy and acceptance. Now it being supposed that Eliphaz was a godly man, it is a sin not to be supposed of him, that he would make boast of a false revelation, and with such deliberate gravity put a lie upon God. Thirdly, the matter which he professes to have received in this vision, is a great and a holy truth of God. Man never belies God to confirm the truth of God. When any boast vainly of revelations, it is to confirm their own fancies and delusions. 'Tis rare when men are so zealous for truth, as to improve all that God hath spoken in the maintenance of it; I have not read of any that have feigned a word from God, to maintain that which is really the Word of God. We find all along in Scripture, that when visions from God were falsely pretended, they ever tended to secure the heart in false opinions, or unwarrantable practices. The Apostle Paul found many who falsified the stamp of the Spirit, and forged his hand and seal to establish error (2 Thess. 2. 2.) I beseech you brethren, that you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled either by spirit, or by word, or by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. That gross error was scattered in the Church of Thessalonica, that the day of Christ was at hand, that in those beginnings of the Gospel, there should be an end of all things. To confirm this, false teachers boasted of the Spirit, an immediate revelation from God: or a word immediately from the mouth, or a Letter under the hand of Paul. How active is error to find patronage? It cares not whom it belies, so itself may pass for truth. Thousands love errors, but none will own them by that name. And therefore (because children bear their father's name) they would father them upon the God of truth, or upon men, most eminent for truth. Montanus the Heretic, said he had the Holy Ghost his Paracl●te, dictating those erroneous doctrines to him, beside Histor. Eccl. l. 5 c. 14, 16. his Prophetesses, Prisca and Mavinilla. Mahomet, that Grand hellish Impostor often pretended visions from Heaven. And the story assures us that he cunningly made use of the disease of his body, to persuade his Disciples of the soundness of his doctrine. For being afflicted with the falling sickness, when at any time a fit was upon him he made the people believe that he was in an ecstasy or ravishment of spirit, at the appearance of the Angel Gabriel, who revealed many mysteries to him. And having by long use and familiarity taught a Pigeon to seed at his ear, he by art prevailed with the people, to feed at his poisonous mouth: as if his words had been the inspirations of the Holy Ghost, who (as he affirmed) came then to him, in the form of a Dove, and taught him those secrets. So then, this of Eliphaz was a true vision, because it was the confirmation of a truth. Invented visions are in use only to gain credit to the inventions of man, or the visions of the Devil. Now for the matter and words themselves. Now a thing was secretly brought unto me. We translate [thing,] the Hebrew is [word,] A word was secretly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Factum esse verbum alicut nihil aliud significat quam factam esse revelationem in a●iquo, & Deum cognitione futurorum, instar lumini● mentem illustrasse. Cyril. in 1 cap. Hos. v 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 brought unto me, but it is usual both in Hebrew and Greek to call A thing, A word. Luk. 2. 15. The Shepherds said, Let us go to Bethlem to see this thing, the Greek is, to see this word which is done. Though here, it is proper enough, to say, A word was brought unto me. Now a thing, or a word, was brought unto me, it was brought unto me secretly. The language of the Prophets was, The word of the Lord came unto me. There are two words in our translation, (secretly brought,) but the Hebrew is one; and that word signifies to steal, or to do a thing by stealth; so it may be translated, A thing was brought unto me by stealth, or was stole into me: M Broughton near this, A speech came by stealth upon me; we translate fully to the sense, A thing was secretly brought to me, as if it were whispered into the ear, and sent in closely to the spirit. And it is thus expressed, by way of opposition to another way, in which God reveals his mind unto his people. He sometimes comes openly and speaks aloud, that all may take notice, or because all aught. Isa. 58. 1. Cry aloud, lift up thy voice like a Trumpet. Things are brought openly to the people, secretly to the Prophets; what the Lord speaks in the ear, or to the heart of a Prophet, that he by the Prophet speaks on the house top, to all his people. A thing was secretly brought, or a thing was whispered unto Eliphaz. But he speaks it aloud to Job. This word or this thing, is said to be stolen into him, or to be brought unto him by stealth, for three reasons, which I shall but name and proceed. First, a thing done by stealth, is done suddenly. The Thief hastens to do mischief, he makes no delays. Then secondly, a thing done by stealth is done secretly: a Thief comes closely in the dark; stealth is committed with greatest privacy; and to say a thing is brought by stealth, is as much as to say, it is brought privately. Thirdly, a thing done by stealth, is done unexpectedly. A man seldom looks for the Thief, he is upon him in the way, upon him in his house, before he is ware. A Thief is usually as unexpected, as he is a● unwelcome guest So this word came or was brought in by stealth, because it came, suddely, it came silently, and it came unexpectedly to Eliphaz. And in these three respects, Christ himself is said to come as a Thief, Behold I come as a thief in Rev. 16. 15. the night. As the word of Christ comes to many of his people now, so the person of Christ will come at the last unto all, He will come by stealth, or as a thief, suddenly, secretly, unexpectedly, when the world shall little dream of him, and his Church scarce be awake for him. Note from this, first, That divine truths are infused into us, not borne in us, or borne with us; every thing which is of Heaven, cometh unto us from Heaven; it is either stolen in secretly, or thundered in loudly: sometimes the Prophets and Ministers of Christ, speaking aloud, carry truth into the soul: sometimes God whispers it into the soul; one way or other, truth must be brought in, for it grows not in us: our hearts by nature are not only like white paper, having no inscription, not a letter of Gods will written in them, but they are like paper blotted or blurred, written all over with the corrupt principles, and positions of our own wills. God by his Spirit first crosses or wipes out those, and then writes down his own golden rules, of holy truth and heavenly wisdom. This he doth, first in conversion from sin to grace and holiness, and afterward in all the increases of grace, and growths of holiness, There is not a syllable of the law of God in any man's heart, till the finger of God writes it there; I will put my law in their mind, and write it in their hearts, which is an allusion unto the two Tables of the Law. They were first written by the finger of God, and then put into the Ark: So God first writes the Law in our hearts, and then puts it into our minds; he lays it up in the Ark of our understanding and memory. Secondly observe, That God steals truths into the hearts of his people unawares. As they often expect and wait long for knowledge, so they sometimes know before they expect. A truth either in whole or part, in the matter or clearer light of it, comes like a Thief into the heart, suddenly, secretly, unlooked for: in which case it is ever true, that truth unexpected is doubly welcomed. The way of the Spirit of God is always undiscernible to flesh and blood. The soul receives a thing, and the man knows not how; he can (scarce possibly, not at all) tell where, by whom, or which way it came to him; it was brought, secretly brought; and with a most blessed, gracious slight of hand, conveyed into his heart. Yet sometime truth enters in State, & may be said to make its passage visibly, into the heart of a man. The word comes, not as a company of Thiefs, but as a band of Soldiers, with weapons drawn, and terrible shouts, tearing open the soul, and breaking open the iron gate of the heart, locked and barred with unbelief, to secure that cursed crew of lusts, garrisoned within it. The weapons of our warfare (saith the Apostle) are mighty, through God, 2 Cor. 10. 4. The word is mighty, wonderful in strength, it comes upon the soul as an armed man, to spoil it of all sinful treasures, yea of the very life of sin. Sometimes the Lord proclaims war, as by a Herald of Arms against a man and openly prepares for his siege and battery. He surprises another, and steals him into a happy captivity to himself. A thing was secretly brought unto me, and mine ear received a little thereof. Mine ear caught somewhat of it, so Mr. Broughton. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pa●●c●la, pars, medicum. signifies a part or a portion. Mine ear received a little: yet we are not to understand this, as if Eliphaz had taken in, only some fragments or imperfect notes, of what God delivered, or had heard to halves. For doubtless Eliphaz received all that was brought, he turned nothing back; he said not a little is enough, I need not the rest; that he received but a little, was not from neglect of the rest, but from inability to receive more, or to receive it more perfectly. And though he had not all of every part, yet he had a part of all; it was not a little of this, and none of that: little respects somewhat of every truth, not some one truth. He received, though not all, yet a perfect model of all, that was brought. Further, this speech may have reference unto our present condition, concerning which the Apostle saith (1 Cor. 13.) We know but in part: now when he saith, we know but in part; it is not as if we had but a part of God's will, made known unto us. The Word of God and the works of God are perfect. And the Apostle assures the Church of Ephesus, That he had not shunned to declare unto them the whole counsel of God, Acts 20. 27. The whole (which concerns man) is declared, but we know that whole but in part. Such is our weakness and infirmity, that we cannot take in All of All, no nor any part of all in the full latitude and extent of it; Thus we know but in part; so saith Eliphaz, when this was brought to me, mine ear received but little of it; my narrow ear could drink in, but some drops of that ocean, which was poured out upon me. All that man apprehends, is but little, in respect of what Modestè loqui●ur, qu●si n●n plenè acceper●t, quod sciend●m esset de hac ●e. Quod optimum est & eximiam comprehendere non potest mortalis homo. Mercer. God offers now, or of what hereafter he shall apprehend. Eliphaz speaks modestly and humbly of himself; God brought a thing unto me, and I am such a poor straightened vessel, that I could receive but a little of it; yet somewhat I caught hold of, which I am about to make known unto thee. We may note from this. First, Holy truths, are very pleasant to the ear of a holy person. A thing was brought unto me, and mine ear caught a little of it; As when meats pleasant to the taste, are brought to a man, he puts forth his hand and takes them; or when pleasant music sounds, the ear catches it, or we drink it in greedily at the ear; so when holy truths are revealed, a holy heart catches them: The ear is not more affected with pleasant music, or the palate with pleasant meats, than the understanding spiritualised, is affected with spiritual truths; The ear of a holy man takes in holy things with pleasure, and therefore he is said to catch them, or drink them in, as, with much desire and ravishing delight: David sound more sweetness in the truths of God, then in the honey or honey comb. The spirit of a regenerate man, doth so much catch heavenly Doctrine, that in the Hebrew, the word which signifies such doctrine, signifies also catching or receiving; and a word from the same root, signifies the palate Vide Buxtorf. Lex. in verto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the mouth; which may hint us thus much, that heavenly doctrine, pleases the palate or taste of a heavenly mind; And the reason of it is, because there is a suitableness in the heart of every godly man, with every truth of God; All delight arises from proportion and suitableness, between the object and the organ, in sensitives: between the object and the understanding, will, affections, in spirituals; That, which makes delight to the eye, is the suitableness of visibles to the eye: and that which makes delight the taste, is the suitableness of edibles to the palate: and so that which makes delight to the soul, is the suitableness of intelligibles to the understanding: Hence the reason is clear, why wicked men will not receive the things of God, but instead of catching them, catch at them, snarl and murmur at them, speak, yea rail and fight against them; their hearts are unsuitable to those truths, therefore they distaste them, therefore they relish them no more, than the white of an egg, or a dry stick. Nay, not only have they no pleasant taste, but they have a bitter taste in their mouths, they are as gall and wormwood to them, they are a vexation and torment to them: The truth which the two Witnesses publish, torments Revel. 11. them that dwell on the earth; and then no marvel if instead of catching those truths, to embrace them, they catcht the Witnesses and kill them. Observe secondly; That the ear and heart of man in this state of corruption, are vessels too narrow, to take in or hold all the truths of God. I have many things to say, (saith Christ to his Disciples) but ye cannot bear them now, Joh. 16. 12. Nor could they ever fully bear, so much as Christ had to say. We have line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, and there a little, Isa. 28. 10. because it is but here and there a little, some few lines or precepts, which we are able to learn, and digest into our spirits; whole showers of divine truths, are often reigned upon us (Heb. 6.) yet we drink in but a drop or two; we swim, as it were, in a whole ocean, a sea of holy revelations, but we are narrow-necked-bottles, and how little is it which bubbleth in? mine ear received a little thereof. The truth of God, is like God himself, infinite; Truth is nothing else but the mind of God, and that is infinite; therefore we who are not only finite, but straightened, cannot possibly comprehend it. Thirdly, Mine ear received a little thereof; it was but a little he received, yet he received a little, all did not fall beside his ear, all did not slip away, he caught somewhat: Note from hence, That the ear and heart of a godly man, ever receive somewhat, when the truths of God are revealed. I cannot get in all, my heart will not receive all, my memory will not retain all, but a little it will hold, somewhat it takes in at every Sermon, and from every vision of God; (Sermons are the visions of God, and somewhat of God's mind is brought to you in every holy Sermon.) Natural men are like sieves, like vessels without a bottom, or full of holes, into which these truths being put, run out every drop: the best, in this life, are leaking vessels, much drops out; Eliphaz received a little; How many hear much and receive nothing? They come empty to the Ordinances, and they return empty: their ea●es have been filled with a sound, but their hearts have not caught a syllable, not a word of truth is written in their hearts, not a letter laid up in their minds: And that's the reason, why not a word is to be seen in their lives; How can they hold out the word in a pure conversation, who have not received it into a pure conscience? In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men. The former Verse, shown us the manner how, that thing was brought to Eliphaz, a thing was secretly brought to me; this shows the time when it was brought, it was (saith he) in thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men. In thoughts from the visions of the night.] Some read it, in the Vel post visio nes noctis, sicut dicimus à coena à ●randio, sic Hos. 6. 2. vel ●n cogitationibu● vis●●num noctis, ut Man, Genitivum ind●cet. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thoughts which I had, after the visions of the night. So Hos. 6. 2. From two days, Heb. After two days; or, in thoughts which I had in the visions of the night, or, in thoughts of the visions of the night; The Original bears any of these readings. In thoughts.] The Hebrew word, signifies properly the boughs of a tree; and so some translate; In the bougbes, sprigs or branches of the visions of the night: but we render it well, in the thoughts: And thoughts are called boughs or branches; First, because thoughts grow from the mind, sprout and shoot up from the mind, as branches from the stock of a tree; From the root or stock of a man's understanding, a branch of thoughts grows up, sometimes like a tall Cedar of Libanus, as high as Heaven. Secondly, the boughs and branches of a tree, are many, thick, interwoven, and crossing one another; such are the thoughts of a man, he hath many, even multitudes of them; In the multitude of my thoughts, saith David? The mind puts forth many branches and twiggs, they sprout and shoot forth every way; thousands of various thoughts are moving, upon various objects, and to various ends; some are earthly, some heavenly. The branches of some minds, are but briars and thorns; others bear the Lily and the Rose, their root is in Heaven, and they grow heavenward. Thirdly, thoughts are called branches, because the branch or the bough, brings forth and bears the fruit; the stock or the body of a tree, brings forth fruit, at the branches: So all the fruit of our souls, is borne upon, or from our thoughts; our actions are the fruits of our think: Thoughts are possible actions; look what a man thinketh, that he doth, or would do: And such as our thoughts are, such our actions are, or would be: Thoughts are the firstborn, the blossoms & blooms of the soul, the beginnings of our strength, whether for good or evil; therefore the Hebrew word, is elegantly translated from a bough or a beanch, to a thought. The Hebrew word for speech, prayer and meditation, springs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stirps, f●u●ex. quia Sermo è cord, ut arbor è terra nascitur. Shined. Elegans metaph●●a sumpta à super eminentibus arbo●um ramusculis (& est p●imogenta hujus vo●is significatio) ad phantasmatum extremitates ac velut teneras cogitationum summitates notionem suam extendit. Bold. Quousque claudicatis inter duas prominentias. Merc. Quasi Elias audueret populum, quod duas eminentias sibi constituerent, Deum & Baalem quasi aequales, inter quas nulla est comparatio. 2 Cor. 6. 15. Bold. from a root of the same signification; because speech, prayer and meditation, spring up from the Spirit as a stalk, or branches from the stock of a tree. There is one thing further to be observed from this word (for it is a very elegant word, and therefore I spend a little the more time upon it) In thoughts from the visions of the night; The word signifies, not only a bough, but the highest bough, the top-bough of a tree: A tree hath some under-boughs, and some top-boughes, as the Prophet speaks (Isa. 17. 6.) Two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough: it is the same word, which here in the text, we translate thoughts; as if Eliphaz should say, in my very uppermost, or highest thoughts, in those very top-branches of my budding fancy, which I had from the visions of the night. The highest, the top-branches which grow from the soul of a godly man, are for, or about the highest mercies, top-mercies, for Heaven and heavenly things. A wicked man's highest and uppermost thoughts are for the earth, his thoughts for the earth, out-grow all his other thoughts: But a godly man's thoughts, for Heaven and spirituals▪ outgrow all his other thoughts, his thoughts for Heaven, are the highest and uppermost branches of his soul. We have this word used, in the 1 Kings 18. 21. How long (saith Elijah) will you halt between two opinions? That word which we there translate opinions, is here translated thoughts; hence some render that in the Kings thus, How long do ye halt between two top-thoughts, or high thoughts? As if this were the thing, which Elijah reproved in that people, that they had high thoughts, both of God and of Baal, top-thoughts of both: and they (as it were) set Baal, a dumb Idol, as high in their thoughts, estimations and opinions, as they did the living God. Why do ye halt between two uppermost opinions, highest thoughts, or thoughts of equal height, concerning God and Baal? Your thoughts of your Idol, are as high as of God himself. What! will you make an Idol, equal with God? An Idol is a base thing, a low thing, a thing below upon the dunghill (therefore called a dunghill god) The true God, is on high, he is in the highest Heavens, he is higher than the Heaven of Heavens, and do you debase him thus, by halting between two thoughts of equal height, concerning Him and Baal? They who set up an Idol, make it equal unto God. All false worship is a setting of our posts by God's posts, and of our threshold by his threshold, a making both, of equal height and worth. And to clear it yet further; (Psal. 119. 13.) the same word is used by David, when he professes, I hate vain thoughts, or as some read it, I hate vain things; He calls Idolatrous thoughts vain thoughts, because they are wavering, inconstant or unsettled thoughts, in further allusion to the boughs of a tree: as the top-most and highest boughs of a tree, are shaken with every puff of wind, and waver too and fro with every blast, so are the thoughts Quasi dicat Idolatriam odio habui, quae plura eminentia supremo cultu reveretur, cum sit unum. of Idolaters: or because (as before) Idolatry sets up Too high Thoughts, adoring an Idol as much, or in competition and rivality with the everliving God. The higher our thoughts are of God, the more excellent they are; but the higher our thoughts are of false worship, the vainer they are; and to have as high thoughts of an Idol, as of the living and true God, are the vainest thoughts of all; those high thoughts are low thoughts, the lowest thoughts, thoughts most hateful, I hate vain thoughts. From the visions of the night.] As I have opened that word about the thoughts somewhat largely, so this of the visions, requires more enlargement, yet I shall do it as briefly as I may. Visions were a special way of divine revelation: Heb. 1. 1. God who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spoke to our Fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. by the Prophets, saith the Apostle. God spoke at sundry times, and he spoke in divers manners. Now amongst those divers manners of speaking, speaking by or in visions was one. The Jewish Doctors, observe four degrees of divine revelation. The first they Paulus Fagius, in Exod. 28. called Prophecy, which included vision, and any apparition whereby the will of God was made known. They had a second way of Goodw. Hebr. Antiq. divine revelation, which they called, The inspiration of the Holy Ghost, whereby the party was enabled, without vision or apparition, to prophesy: either as prophesying is taken for the foretelling of things to come, or for the resolving of things in doubt: The Rabbins give us the difference between these two, prophecy and inspiration: In prophecy (though it was from the Holy Ghost) a man was cast into a trance, or brought into an ecstasy, his senses being taken away; but speaking by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, was without any such change in, or impressions upon the body; So David, and other Penmen of the Scriptures, wrote by the immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost, yet without visible apparitions to them, or visible change upon them. Thirdly, God revealed himself, by Vrim and Thummim, which was an answer given by the Ephod, or by the stones that were on the breastplate of the high Priest. These three ways of divine revelation (as they observe) ceased in the second Temple. The Jewish writers having this tradition, That after the latter Prophets, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachy, the Holy Ghost departed from Israel; meaning, the Holy Ghost (not in the ordinary work of sanctification, but) in those extraordinary ways of prophecy, inspiration, and of Vrim and Thummim, went up and departed from them. There was yet a fourth way of divine revelation, which they call Bathcoll, the daughter of a voice, or echo, declaring the will of God immediately from Heaven: such some conceive to be, the voice heard from Heaven, Math. 3. 1. proclaiming the testimony of God concerning Christ, a voice was heard from Heaven, saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. But to pass from these traditions of the Jews, we shall give you the doctrine of divine revelations, more distinctly from the Scriptures. We find (Numb. 12. 6, 7, 8.) three distinct ways, in which the Lord revealed himself of old unto his people. If there be a Prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream; My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house, with him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently; and not in dark speeches, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. This is an illustrious text, describing three distinct ways or degrees of holy revelation. First, by vision which we have here in Job. Secondly, by a Dream, which was when God presented somewhat to them sleeping: This kind of revelation God vouchsafed, not only to his own people and Prophets, but to Heathens also and strangers from his Covenant. Pharaoh had a revelation by a dream (Gen. 41.) concerning the seven years of famine; and Nabuchadnezzar had a wonderful revelation by a dream (Dan. 2.) concerning the state of the four Monarchies. The wise men of the East, were warned in a dream, to return into their Country another way, Math. 2. But with the Saints, these revelations by dreams, were very frequent; Jacob (Gen. 28.) in a dream, as he slept upon a stone, saw a ladder, etc. Joseph, jacob's son, had so many dreams, that his brethren jeered him with it, and called him, the Captaine-dreamer, The dreamer, a Master of dreams, Gen. 37. 19 Joseph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the husband of Mary, was twice warned in a dream, first that he should not forsake his wife, Mat. 1. and then that he should go into Egypt, Mat. 3. Many other the like revelations by dreams, might be instanced in, but I forbear. There is a third way spoken of in this text, and that is, speaking mouth to mouth; my servant Moses is not so, with him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently. This is a more eminent way of heavenly manifestations than the former; Moses had a privilege above the ordinary Prophets. For to speak mouth to mouth, is expounded (by Apparently) I will speak plainly or apparently, not in a vision or in a dream; When a man speaks mouth to mouth to his friend, or (as the Scripture phrases our communion with God, in Heaven) face to face; This is opposed to a more remote or obscure communion. As our seeing God face to face in Heaven, so his speaking to us, mouth to mouth on earth, notes the clearest and fullest revelation: It is to give us his mind, nakedly, without any figure or shadow; or (as Christ is said once in the Gospel) to speak plainly, and not in Parables. And these speakings mouth to mouth, were of two sorts: Either immediate, as himself did unto Moses, or as to others, by the ministry of Angels; God often employed Angels in this service, to declare his mind, and bring messages to his people; This was a kind of speaking mouth to mouth: but Moses had an honour beyond this, with him will I speak mouth to mouth, I by myself, not I, by a created Angel. Visions (to keep to the term in hand) were (you see) a principal means, by which God broke his mind, and unlocked the secrets of his counsels. If there be a Prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision. And to clear this point about visions yet more fully; We may distinguish of divers sorts of visions. First, A vision is sometime put for any ordinary dispensation of the will of God, to his Prophets or Ministers, who as from God, dispense it to his people, (Prov. 29. 18.) Where vision faileth, the people perish, that is, where there are none to publish and declare the mind of God (no not in an ordinary way) to a people, that people are in the ready way to perdition. Without the visions of grace, there is no ordinary way to the visions of glory. Secondly, By a vision, we understand an extraordinary work of God, manifesting his mind to his Prophets, either to assure future successes, or to resolve doubtful Queries: And these were called Visio est omnis doct●ina d●vini●ùs revelata; quia Deus quibuscunque usum est revelare, res ipsas quodam●do videndas & spectandas oculis servorum suo um exhibet ad obsignandam earum certitudinem. Jun. in 1 cap. Isa. visions, because by them things were made so manifest, as if they had been seen before their eyes: and in some of these revelations, a visible representation was made to the eye: visions were often attended with apparitions; In reference to both these sorts of visions, that is appliable, 1 Sam. 9 9 Before time in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spoke; Come let us go to the Seer, for he that is now called a Prophet, was before time called a Seer: Prophets were called Seers, because in visions, they had either an ocular, or an intellectual sight of the mind of God. Secondly, Visions may undergo this division: There was an open vision, and there was a private vision: In the 1 Sam. 3. 1. we have the ground of the distinction, In those days there was no open vision: Open, is opposed to private or secret; the word imports, a vision appearing in public, and the meaning of the text is this; there were no Prophets sent openly, and (as it were) In State, invested with commission, and furnished with messages Fuerantquidem singulares & privatae, visiones cum pijs communicatae, ut cum Manoah. Judic. 13 Sed publi●è Prophetarum o●ne munus jacebat. Jun. in loc. from Heaven unto the people; there was no open vision: yet at that time there were private visions, as to Manoah, Judg. 13. God revealed himself in those dark times, to some of his special servants: And so he hath and will at all times. While he hath a Church upon the earth, he never shuts himself quite in Heaven. Open vision may fail, but all visions shall not fail. So open profession may fail in the reign of Antichrist, in his hour, and in the power of darkness; as it did in the time of Eliah, yet all profession of the truth shall never fail: The Lord hath always his thousands in secret, who never bowed their knee to Baal. In many places, since Christ came in the flesh, there hath been no open vision, no holding forth of the truth of Christ, and yet even in those places, there have been private visions; and a remnant reserved, to whom God hath made known the mysteries, of the Kingdom of Christ: When darkness covers all in appearance, there may be light which appears not: and candles under a bushel, when there are none in the Candlesticks. A Goshen hath light, while Egypt is plagued with darkness; and when the Prophets are benighted, it may be day, with many of the people. Thirdly, Some visions were without any trance or ravishment, (Gen. 15. 1.) The word of God came in a vision to Abraham, speaking to his ear, and bidding him look up to Heaven with his eyes, ver. 5. But often we find, that visions were accompanied with trances: 'Twas so with Balaam the false Prophet, (Num. 24. 16.) He hath said, which saw the visions rf the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: And it was so with some of the true Prophets, Daniel saw a vision, and when he heard the voice, Then (saith he) was I in a deep sleep upon my face, (Dan. 10. 9) Peter was in a trance, when he had the vision of a sheet let down from Heaven, Act. 10. And the Apostle saith, (2 Cor. 12. 1.) I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord, whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth. His soul had so much acquaintance with God, that he became a stranger to his own body; his soul was so busied in receiving knowledge from God, that he was feign to put off the knowledge and care of his body, wholly to God: What the state of my body was, I know not, God knoweth. Fourthly, Some visions were presented only in bare naked words, others were clothed in types and figures, in the shapes of beasts of the earth, and souls of the air, of trees, and stones, etc. As to Ezekiel, and Daniel in their Prophecies, and to John in the book of Revelations: These figures, were as an Alphabet of sacred Letters, which put together and speled, made the mind of God legible to his servants. Lastly, The Scripture in hand, hints us a fifth difference about visions. In thoughts from the visions of the night, that's considerable. There were visions of the day, and visions of the night; thus it is said (Dan. 2. 19) when Daniel expounded Nebuchadnezars dream, that God made it known to him in visions of the night, opposing it to visions of the day. Usually the night was the time for visions; hence (Numb. 22. 18, 19) Balaam the false Prophet (when the messengers of Balack came to him) saith, Tarry this night, and I will show you in the morning, he thought to have a vision in the night: So it is observable, that when Saul and his servant, came to Samuel (1 Sam. 9 19) to inquire about the strayed Asses, he tells him, ye shall eat bread with me to day, and to morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thine heart; he desired a night, intimating, that God used to reveal secrets unto him in the night. So much concerning visions, with the kinds and differences of them. From this doctrine of visions, we may take notice of our privilege under the Gospel. The Apostle saith at sundry times and in divers manners, God spoke unto our fathers by the Prophets, but he hath spoken unto us one way, which exceeds them all, Even by his Son who is the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, Heb. 1. 2, 3. We have a vision which outshines all the visions that ever the Prophets or Patriarches had, from the beginning of the world. Their light was darkness, at most but a shadow, their visions were obscurities, and their revelations, concealments, compared with ours. Our vision is Christ, God manifested in the flesh; Mine eyes have seen thy salvation, saith old Simeon, he had a vision of Christ in person. The land of Judah was called the valley of vision, because God revealed himself to that people, more frequently and clearly, than to all the world beside. Where ever the Gospel is preached, that Land is a valley of vision, a valley of vision fare more lightsome and glorious, than the land of Judah was; the very darkness of the Gospel, is clearer than the light of the Law. That which was made glorious had no glory, by reason of that glory which excelleth, 1 Cor. 3. 10. Only remember, that as our privilege is greater than theirs, so is our duty; A clear light should be answered with a holier life. And we who have more evidence of what God would have done, should make more conscience to do it. Now we are not taught by dreams and visions of the night, We ought to walk as children of the day. Not only is darkness gone, but the shadows are fled away. The true light now shines; even he who enlightens every one that comes into the world. We need not dreams or visions now. Why should we call for Candles when the Sun is up? We need not Starlight when we have daylight, or when the promised Daystar is risen in our hearts, 2 Pet. 1. 19 Here is one circumstance more in the Text about this vision very Sopor est somnus profundior, somnus est plus quam do mi●a●io, & sopor plus quam somnus. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat gravem somnum, imo plus qu●m somnum profundum somnum & quasi lethargū● remarkable; it was not only in the night, but in the night when deep sleep falleth on men, or on sorrowful man, man wearied with labour and travel. This is a more distinct description of the time than the former. It was in the night, and in that part of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men; that is, in the former part or beginning of the night for the first sleep is the deep sleep; and we use to say that a man, especially a weary hard-wrought man, is in a dead sleep, when he is in his first sleep. The word signifies an extraordinary sleep. It is used (Gen. 2. 21.) where it is said, that God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, when he took out his rib and form the woman. The Seventy translate it, ecstasy. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Some compare it to a Lethargy; a man in a Lethargy can hardly be awakened. Such a sleep as Saul was in, 1 Sam. 26. 12 when David came into the trench, and took away the Spear and the Cruse of water from his bolster. Such an one as Ionas was in, while the ship was almost sunk with the tempest, Jonah 1. 5. In both places we have this original word. At the time when such sleep sals on wearied man, Eliphaz had this vision. And be speaks very Tempus erat quo prima quies mor●alibus aegris. Incipi● & dono Divum gratissima se●p●t. In somnis ecce ante occulos maestissimus Hector. Visus adesse mihi. V●●g. 20. Aeniad. elegantly, that this deep sleep falleth on men; because such sleep seems to oppress the spirits, as a heavy weight the body; it falls as heavy as Led upon all a man's senses, and overcomes them: we say ordinarily, a man falls asleep, and it is as true of sleep, that it falls upon a man, and falls with such a weight, that man is not able to stand under it. We say also, a men is heavy to sleep, for sleep like a heavy thing, comes down upon him, and then down comes he. Heathen Poets tell us, that at this time they had visions, or delusions rather. Satan imitates God in what he can, that he may deceive with better success. We may abserve from hence. First, Seeing Eliphaz had this vision when deep sleep falleth upon men, that the power of God's Spirit works through all natural impediments: when tired nature is willing to fall, or cannot stay itself from falling into a deep sleep, than God can awaken us, with his visions, and make us see, when we cannot hold open our eyes. When God will reveal his mind to the soul, he overcomes the imperfections of the body. Sleepiness is an imperfection; if a man be sleepy he is unfit to hear. While the eye is thus shut, the ear cannot be open. That sleeper in the Acts fell down dead, while Paul was preaching. Yet when God comes by his mighty power and Spirit, though a man's ear be shut, he can break through, and get into his heart. The Word hath taken some napping and nodding. Yea, God breaks in by his Almighty power in the revelations of his will, not only when men are in a dead natural sleep, but when they are in a sleep of spiritual death. The Word breaks open the bars of the grave, and loosens John 5. 25. the bands of death. Secondly, for as much as Eliphaz had this vision when deep sleep falleth on men, himself being kept awake, or waking. Observe, That, when we are most retired from the world, than we are most fit to have, and usually have most communion with God. If a man would but abridge himself of sleep, and wake, with holy thoughts, when deep sleep falleth upon sorrowful labouring men, he might be entertained with visions from God, though not such visions as Eliphaz and others of the Saints have had, yet visions he might have. Every time God communicates himself to the soul, there is a vision of love, or mercy, or power, somewhat of God in his nature, or in his will, is showed unto us. David shows us divine work when we go to rest. The bed is not all for sleep; Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still, Psal. 4. Be still or quiet, and then common with your hearts; and if you will commune with your hearts, God will come and commune with your hearts too, his Spirit will give you a loving visit, and visions of his love. When Jacob fearing the rage of his brother, had put himself into the best posture of defence he could, and had sent his wives, and children, his servants and his flocks over the River, the Text saith (Gen. 32. 24.) that Jacob was left alone: which is not to be understood, as if his company had left or deserted him: jacob's solitariness was not passive, but elective. He having disposed of all his family, withdrew himself, and stayed alone: and what then? then he had a vision indeed; Then there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day; he spent not the night in carking and caring what should become of him the morrow: No, he retires to pray for a blessing upon his former cares, and a blessing he obtains. It is observable also concerning Isaac, Gen. 24. 36. that he went out into the fields to meditate (or as others read it) to pray. Some foolishly gloss upon it, that Isaac being delighted in Astronomy, went out to contemplate on the Stars. But I believe the walk of Isaac's spirit was above the Stars. It is a sweet O sancta anima sola esto, ut soli omnium serves reipsam, quem ex omnibus tibi el●gisti. An nescis ●e verecunduni h●●ere spo●●um, etc. Bernard. expression of Bernard, If thou wouldst meet Christ in special communion, do thou of ten-times retire thyself. Oh chaste and lovely soul, dost thou not know thou hast a modest Spouse, that will not come to thee in the throng of worldly company and employment. Come my beloved (saith the Spouse, Cant. 7. 11.) let us go forth into the fields, and lodge in the villages. Let us get from the tumult of the Creature. He loves to find his Spouse alone, retired into a Chamber, or into a Closet, or in the fields and Groves, in the Gardens and shady walks, or in thoughts upon thy bed, having ihe Curtains drawn, and all the world shut out. Some have visions in the night when deep sleep falleth upon men, but what are their visions? surely they are visions of darkness, not of light, visions of Hell, rather than visions of Heaven. The Proplet complains of such, who devise evil upon their beds; they plot and contrive mischief upon their beds; or they have visions of uncleanness, visions of covetousness, visions of oppression, black infernal visions. How much better is it to be blind, then to have such visions? to be asleep, then have such waking thoughts? But to lie awake in our beds with thoughts of Christ, is far more sweet than the sweetest sleep. And in the day, could we make more vacations from the world, we should have more business in Heaven. Most men are mudding in the earth all day, and if they wake in the night, earthly care keeps them awake. There are many thousands whom love unto the world keeps awake; but how few are there, whom love to Christ keeps awake? It was an harsh, and (in one sense) an ignorant speech of a wise man amongst the Heathens, who said, There is no man who may not more holily be in any company, than with himself alone: And Nemo est cui non sanctius sit ●●m quolibet esse quam secum. Sen. yet there is a truth in it: For if a man be by himself alone, and deal only with his own heart, probably, he might be as profitably with any company, as with himself: One man's heart in itself, is as bad as another's, and usually it is worst, when it is by itself. Some, like Nabuchadnezzar, being secluded from men, converse only with beasts, those most beastly beasts, lusts in their own bosoms. Dan. 4. 3. But, to be alone from men, to converse with God, to be alone from men, to converse with Christ, is infinitely better than all the society of men. The reason why many receive but little of Christ, little of Heaven, is, because they are so much in the crowd of the Pietas periclitatur in nego●iis. world, so long upon the Rack of earthly care; they seldom let their hearts settle. The Balances must stand at an even poise, before you can weigh aright. If you desire to know, which bears most weight in your hearts, Earth or Heaven, Christ or the Creature, let your hearts stand still. That in Psalm 4. 4. reaches this sense fully, Commune with your own hearts upon your beds, and be still. Our hearts will not be spoken with, unless we be quiet. And as the Picture-drawer cannot take the features of the face, to the life; so neither can we of our hearts, or lives, unless we have the patience to sit for it. JOB. Chap. 4. Vers. 14, 15, 16. Fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a Spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof, an Image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, WE have already given the Logical dependence of this whole Context, from the 12 Verse, unto the end of the Chapter, and therein shown how Eliphaz confirms the principal Proposition (lying in the 17 Verse) by Divine Authority, a Vision received from Heaven. A thing (saith he) was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof, in thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men. Thus the manner of the vision is described in general. The effects of the vision upon Eliphaz, and the particular manner how the vision appeared, are now further described and set forth. This 14 Verse contains one eminent effect of the vision, with the consequents of it; assoon (saith he) as I was in that heavenly rapture and ecstasy, Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. It was very usual, for Prophets and Holy men, to be surprised with fear, at the appearance of Jehovah in his messages, by Angels or other visions. It is natural unto man to fear, at the sight of an Angel: and it is a received opinion among the Jews, that whether God or an Angel did appear, it was present death, which they collect from divers Scriptures (Ex. 33. 20.) when Moses desired to see the face of God, the Lord answered, there is no man can see my face and live. Those words of Gideon import as much (Judge 6. 22.) When Gideon perceived that he was an Angel of the Lord, he said, Alas, O Lord God, for because I have seen an Angel of the Lord, face to face; as if he had said, alas, woe is me, I shall certainly die: And Judg. 13. 21. Manoah concludes it, We shall surely die, because we have seen God, when an Angel appeared to them. Hence also Jacob (Gen. 32. 30.) after his wrestling with the Angel (which was Christ) called the name of the place Penuel, which is, The face of God, for saith he, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved; as noting, that it was a wonderful privilege not to die at such a sight; the very appearance of God, is death to the Creature. And that which Hagar spoke (Gen. 16 13.) may well be interpreted to this sense: when flying from her Mistress, God came to her in the Wilderness, she called the name of the Lord that spoke unto her, Thou God seest me; the reason is added, by way of admiration, for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seethe me? Which words may well be translated, Do I live after him (sc. God) that seethe me; for here one act of life is put for the whole, looking or seeing, for living; Have I seen, or Ex Habrae● ita reddi potest. Etiamnè jam ●●deo s●u lucem han● espicio & vivo, post videntem me. Parens. have I beheld the light, after God hath seen me; that is, Am I alive after God hath seen me. How wonderful! The effect of this vision upon Eliphaz, was not death. but fear, yet no ordinary fear, but fear which looked almost as pale as death; it was fear joined with trembling, and no ordinary trembling, but such a fit of trembling as shook his very bones. We have often spoken of fear, both in this and in the former Chapters; but such a fear as met Eliphaz, we have not met with before. That before was the grace of fear, spiritual fear, but this is the passion of fear, natural fear. And it is natural to man (as some of Est homini naturale conspecto angelo etiam bono timere. Bold. ex Beda, Origen, & chrysostom. the Ancients have observed) to fear thus at the appearance of God by Angels. Fear is caused by the apprehension of some evil imminent or at hand, that's the definition of natural fear. Now when God manifests himself, though the greatest good be at hand, yet the soul hath some misgivings and apprehensions of evil; & hence comes fear: the foundation of this fear is laid in guilt, sin is in the soul, and guilt may be upon the soul; thence natural fear works, when God, who is all holy, manifests himself. And in special, there is much unbelief remaining in the heart, this fear is strengthened by unbelief, Wherefore do ye fear, saith Christ, O ye of little faith? Where there is little faith, there is much fear; and as unbelief prevails, so fear prevails too. Thirdly, this fear arises from the suddenness and unexpectedness of the thing. God (as you may observe in all those Revelations of himself) comes suddenly: that which comes before we see it, causeth fear when we see it: sudden motions without us, work strange commotions within. And fourthly, the overpowering Majesty and super-excelling excellency of God, in any such revelation, causeth astonishments of spirit: a little appearance of God, makes the creature disappear. One drop of the Divine Ocean, swallows up all man, and one ray of that Eternal Light, dazzles him. From any or all these considerations, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Occurrit obviam factus est mihi. it may be, that fear and trembling took hold upon Eliphaz, like an armed man, as soon as the vision appeared: fear met him (saith the Original) or (as the Septuagint) fear came out, and (as it were) stood in the way to surprise and apprehend him. Neither was this bare fear, but fear heightened, fear accompanied with trembling. Trembling of the body is a symptom or sign of great fear; when fear works outwardly, manifesting itself by sad effects upon the body, than fear is in its reign and greatness. There are four special effects which fear works upon the body, & we have three of them here in this Text. The first is, the quaking or the shaking of the members of the body; the second is the shaking of the bones; the third is the standing up of the hair; and the fourth is the paleness and wannesse of the countenance. All except the last appeared upon Eliphaz at the appearance of this vision. First, he trembled in this 14 Verse, Fear came upon me and trembling: these two go often together in Scripture; you shall find trembling coupled with godly fear, as well as with natural fear, Psal. 2. 11. Serve the Lord with fear (with reverential filial fear) and rejoice before him with trembling; that is, let your fear be an exceeding great fear, even such, as fills you with an awful trembling at the presence of the Lord. The Apostle Paul (Phil. 2. 12.) puts them together again, Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. The second effect is shaking of the bones, It made all my bones Quasi dicat tremor non fait supersicialis, sed vehemens & intimus, qui etiam ossa conc●●eret. Aquin. Gel●dusque perima cucur●it, Ossa tremor. Virg. 2. Aeneid. to shake; as if he had said, this fear stayed not in the flesh, but descended, and entered into my bones. I was deeply affected with it. We translate; Which made all my bones to shake; the word in the Hebrew is, it made the multitude of my bones, or, my bones how many soever they are, to shake. The Hebrews have this rule, that the major part is usually taken for the whole, therefore the multude of his bones, or many of his bones, is well translated, all his bones. And the Verb which we render shake, is of the same root with fear, fear came upon me; so that according to the letter we may read it thus, Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to fear. A bone is in itself senseless, and therefore fearless; but to show how extreme and deep this fear was, he saith, it made fear enter into that, which is without fear, and hath of itself no feeling; it made my very bones to fear, as well as my heart to fear, or my flesh to tremble. Habakkuk in the third of his Prophecy, being before God in his prayer-visions, describes the rapture of his spirit, by this and other symptoms upon his body, When I heard, my belly trembled, my lips quivered at the voice, rottenness entered into my bones, v. 16. The third effect follows; Then a spirit passed before my face, and the hair of my head stood up. A Spirit rushed upon me, so the Seventy. Some translate it, A wind passed before me; a gale or breath of wind, as (1 Kings 19 11.) when God appeared to Elijah, it is said, first there came a mighty wind, which rend the mountains, and broke the roots, and some conceive that a wind passed before Eliphaz; but the context will not bear it; those words which follow are not compatible with a wind; v. 16. It stood before me, it stood still, this cannot be understood of the wind, for wind is always in motion: and then it is said, I had an Image before my face, now there is no form or Image of the wind; the wind hath no shape or likeness, therefore it was a Spirit or Angel, not an Aerial wind. And if you say, how hath a Spirit a form or an Image, or how can that be seen? I answer it was not a Spirit abstracted and naked in itself, but a Spirit joined with a form and shape, as is generally agreed: so Angels or Spirits did usually appear to the Ancients, taking a body or some from upon them: and those apparitions, when a body was assumed, were called spirits. (Luke 24. 37.) it is said, that the Disciples were afraid at the appearing of Christ, thinking they had seen a spirit: The Apostles were not so absurd, as to believe, that a spirit in itself, a spirit abstracted, could be seen; but they called it a spirit, because they thought it only the representation of Christ's body, and not the true body: and therefore though an outward shape appeared, they called it a spirit. So here, A spirit passed before me, which yet might have some outward shape, in which it was clothed to the eye. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 N●n significat propriè matum progressivum qualis est animalum, sed motum levem● & slaxum, qualis est caelorum vel venti vel crescentis arboris. A spirit passed before me,] forward, backward, up and down, which is opposed to the words in the 16 Verse, It stood still: here it was transient or in motion. The word used for passing, signifies rather such a motion as is of the Heavens, or of the winds, than that which is properly progressive or the motion of the living creatures. And thence some observe, that the motion of spirits clothed with bodies in their apparitions, is not like the motion of men, who move, lifting up their feet one after another; but it is a passing as a ship moveth with a gale of wind, rather a gliding, than a going: Among the Heathen, this was made the chief difference, to distinguish a Numen, or spirit coming in any Numina venientia ad nos in homines & esse transfo●mant; Ex oculu auté ●●●ari p●ssunt, cum 〈◊〉 oblutu ●n●ueanter ●● palpebras nun●uā concladan●. Et magis ex incessu, qui non ex ●●mo●●one pedum neque transpositione existit. Sed quodam impetu●e●●o & vi expedita, sindentium magis auras quam transeuntiam. Quamobrem statuas quoque Deorum Egyptij ponunt, conjungentes illis pedes & quasi unientes Helioder in Aeth●op●cis. l. 3. Pedes vestis defluxit ad imos. Et vero incess● pa●u●● Dea. Vi●g. l. 1. Aeniad. de Venere. shape, from a natural body. The steadiness of their eyes was one, the not transposing their feet was another, and a clearer evidence. This Spirit passing thus before him, produces the third effect. The hair of my head stood up] Shaking of the bones went before, and now standing up of the hair. A spirit passed before me, and the hair of my head stood up. The Original is, The hair of my flesh, or the hair of my body; flesh is put for the body, as in Gen. 2. 24. They two shall be one flesh. That is (as it were) one body, speaking of man and wife; and Psal. 119. 120. My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, saith David, it is the same word; as if Eliphaz had said, I am so much affected with thoughts of God, that the very hair of my flesh (as in extraordinary fear it useth to do) stood up. The natural reason why the hair stands up in time of fear is this; when sudden fear falleth upon us, the blood goes, or ●astens rather to the heart, and so the outward members wax cold; and the skin, in which the hair is rooted, is pressed more together, which causeth the hair to stand up, though of itself it be a weak and unstable excrement. So we see the general effect of the vision, which was fear, and those three concomitants or symptoms of fear, The trembling of his flesh, The shaking of his bones, And the standing up of the hair of his flesh. From all, take these Observations. First, Forasmuch as Eliphaz falleth into such a fit of fear and amazement, at this manifestation of God to him, we learn, That man is not able to bear the presence of God. Weak and frail man, falls before the greatness, power and majesty of God. Dust and ashes crumbleth away, if the glory of the great God do but shine forth, even in those lesser manifestations of himself. Hence it was, that Job seems to capitulate with God, that he would speak with him, upon two Articles or conditions granted, Chap. 13. 21, 22 First, Withdraw thy hand far from me. Secondly, Let not thy dread make me afraid: Then call thou, and I will answer; or let me speak, and answer thou me. As if he had said, so dreadful is thy presence, that unless thou be pleased to sweeten it to me, fear will presently seize upon me, and disable me to speak. Moses who was a favourite of heaven, and one who shortly after had communion with God, above all that ever lived: yet when Jehovah appeared in that flaming Bush, the text saith, Exod. 3. 6. That Moses hide his face, for he was afraid to look upon God; holy Moses could not bear that glory. Daniel a man greatly beloved of God, and honoured with glorious visions, was yet greatly astonished at those visions, Chap. 10. 8. There remained no strength in me, for my comeliness was turned into corruption, and I retained no strength: and vers. 16. O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength: Vers. 17. Neither is there any breath left in me. I am ready to die, I am not able to bear thy majesty, in these mysteries of thy will, made known to me. How doth Habakkuk cry out in the place afore quoted, of his trembling belly, quivering lips, and of rottenness entering into his bones We find in the New Testament, the Saints swallowed up with the like amazements. Zechariah of whom the Holy Ghost had given such an excellent testimony a little before, for a man that had walked blameless in all the Ordinances of God, yet as soon as the Angel appeared, the Text saith, He was doubled, and fear fell upon him, Luke 1. 12. Yea the blessed Virgin (v. 29. of that Chap.) when she saw him (that is the Angel) she was troubled in her mind. Lastly, John the beloved Disciple, seeing Christ walking in the midst of the seven golden Candlesticks, etc. Fell at his feet as dead, Rev. 1. 17. How should this humble and abase us in ourselves! we that are not able to stand before the gracious manifestations of God, when he comes to reveal himself to us in mercy, how shall we be able to stand before the wrathful manifestations of God? The Apostle tells us (1 Cor. 15. 50.) Flesh and blood cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; by flesh and blood, we are not to understand, the sinful nature of man (as flesh and blood often signify in Scripture, being opposed to spirit) but the constitution of nature or that estate wherein we stand, as men; this flesh and blood is not able to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, that is, it cannot bear the majesty, glory and excellency of Heaven, where God clearly manifests himself unto his Saints; and where we shall see God face to face; and therefore the Apostle argueth all along, as by divers other Arguments, so by this; to prove the necessity of a resurrection, a raising and a new moulding of the body, into a spiritual condition: Why, because our natural bodies are not able to stand under such a weight of glory, as is prepared for the Saints in that Kingdom: Corruption (nature subject to corruption) cannot inherit incorruption; hence it was, that when but a little of God broke forth, the holiest and best of men in the world, fell a shaking and trembling, as not being able to bear, that transcendent majesty, shiningout in those weaker refracted beams of glory. Secondly, Seeing God coming at this time to instruct Eliphaz, and reveal a great truth to him, was pleased to deal thus with him, to make him shake and tremble, we may note, That God usually humbles a man, and lays him very low, before he exalts him in the manifestations of his truth or power. Humiliations prepare and posture the heart for revelations. The reason is, because God delights to have a man humbled, before he be instructed. Paul (though as humble a soul as lived) was in danger to be exalted above measure, through the abundance of revelations, (2 Cor 12.) Even divine knowledge (through our corruption) is apt to puff up, and therefore we had need to have the bladder pricked, and our spirits laid flat, for the receiving of know ledge: Only humble ones are fit to be God's scholars; he will teach none else, he resisteth a proud man, then surely he will never teach a proud man; The mee●e will he teach his way; Ye breaks Psal. 25. 9 our will, before he trusts us with the secrets of his will: When the spirits of men lie in the ●ust, when they tremble and shake, when all their bones are afraid, and rottenness enters into them, than they are prepared vessels, to receive and take in the dew and influences of divine revelation. When ●od made that most memorable manifestation of himself, to the ancient Church, in giving the Law; we read how he terrified them, how he humbled and abased them: How dreadful was the preparation to the giving of the Law? The Apostle describes it, (Heb. 12. 18, 20, 21.) by blackness, and darkness, and tempest, so that they could not endure that which was commanded; and so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake; I confess the Law in itself, was a terrible, a kill letter, and that, which might well make the world shake, and men to tremble: If (as Luther saith) but one precept or sentence of the Law should be left in its full power and strength (man's sin) it would destroy mankind, and make all the world (because guilty) tremble and fall before it; yet it was not barely the matter of the Law revealed, which caused this trembling: that was written in the heart o● man before, and was now published to the Jews, with gracious with Gospel intentions; but it was the manner and circumstances wherein the Law was revealed, which were so terrible. And this terror had this great use, even the humbling of their souls to a willing subjection and obedience to the will of God. When God revealed the Gospel to Paul (as well as when he revealed the Law to Moses,) he made Paul tremble (Act. 9) Paul was smitten down to the ground, God laid him along, unhorsed him, when he came to manifest his Christ to, or (as himself speaks, (Gal. 1. 16.) to reveal his Son in him: And this was to abase him, to break his heart, that he might be made up a chosen vessel, to carry the Name of God unto the Gentiles. And howsoever such Acts 9 15. humiliations are not of absolute necessity, yet they have been very usual, and very useful. When the Lord hath laid the will and wisdom of man in the dust, when he hath made the strongest and stoutest to become as a child or a babe, to quake before him; then he takes him into his School of Instruction, and shows him such things, as none of the wise men, or Princes of this world ever knew, even such things, as eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither have they entered into the heart of man. This made our Lord Jesus break out into that mixed rapture of gratulation and admiration, Mat. 11. 25. I thank thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes. Be as babes before God, and he will give you the wisdom of men, yea of Angels. They who are high built, and p●●acl'd in their own conceits, seldom have the foundation or first principles of saving knowledge laid in them savingly. Thirdly, From this effect of the vision, observe, That fear, is a strong and powerful passion. Fear comes upon a man like a Giant, Fear (saith Eliphaz) came upon me, it came upon me violently. A man were as good meet a bear robbed of her whelps, as this fear: The strongest man in the world, cannot shake your bones, as fear alone will, if that take hold of you. Some of the Greeks, had such amazing thoughts of Fear, it was so terrible to them, that to appease it, they worshipped it for a god, as some worshipped sorrow among the Romans for a goddess, under the name of Dea Angerona. The true God is called fear in Scripture: And Aug de Civ. Dei. l. 5. c. 8. fear was made an Idol God among the Heathens: And if we consider these effects in the Text, trembling of the flesh, shaking of the bones, standing up of the hair, all which this sudden surprise of fear wrought upon Eliphaz, we must needs acknowledge and conclude it to be, a very potent passion. In the first of Proverbs, the Lord threatens those who would not fear him, thus, I will Prov. 1. 27. laugh when your fear cometh: Then he shows the manner how such fear cometh, When your fear cometh as desolation. We cannot well take fear in this place, for the object of fear, for that is desolation itself, and therefore cannot be said, to come as desolation. Then, taking it properly, for the passion of fear: We see, that the fear of trouble, is like the trouble we fear. Fear is even as bad as desolation; Fear pulls all down within, and makes a man like a desolate place, before his place is made desolate. And therefore in these times, we had need take care, that we put not strength to our fears. These are fearing times, we should pray much, that the power of natural fear may be subdued, especially that our natural fear, may be turned into godly fear; godly fear, is the proper cure of natural fear: Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and make him your fear, or else the fear of man will quickly Lord it over your hearts. Such a fear, is more dangerous, than all our dangers: Our enemies shall need no weapons to fight against us, with, but our own fears. Trembling joints, and shaking bones, will make small resistance; and while natural fear is strong, natural strength is, but weak or useless; When from the onset or assault of this fear, a man's hair stands, himself will run. Fourthly, Consider this by way of consequence, That if a time when God cometh to reveal his will to man, be so dreadful, what will that time be (and that time is coming) when God cometh to reckon with man, for the disobeying of that will? Here a truth was but showed Eliphaz, in an extraordinary manner, and behold him shaking, fearing, trembling; Now when God shall come to require an account of man, for resisting or imprisoning the truth; when he shall come (2 Thes. 1. 8.) to take vengeance on all those that have not obeyed the Gospel of truth, what terror, fear and trembling will fall upon the stoutest of sinful men? There must be an appearing of all, but there can be no standing for such, before the dreadful throne of Christ: The ungodly (of what sort of size soever) shall not stand in judgement, Psal. 1. 5. impenitent unbelievers, shall not be able to hold up their heads in that day. Captains and mighty men, who have often conversed with dangers, and knew not what it was to be afraid; Men who (like the Horse, described, Job 39 22.) used to mock at fear, and would not turn bacl for drawn swords, or the glittering of shield or spear, shall at that day shake with fear, and hid themselves like little children. So much for the effects of the vision. Now follows a further description of the vision. Verse 16. It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof, an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying. This verse containeth a second gesture of this spirits appearing in the vision to Eliphaz. The spirit was passing before, here standing, as if he would present himself more fully to his view and observation. It stood still, an image was before mine eyes; but though the spirit gave Eliphaz this fair advantage, yet he made little use of it, for he saith, I could not discern the form of it, that is, I could make nothing of it directly; But when his eye gave him no help, his ear did: though he could not discern or distinguish the form of the spirit appearing, yet he could distinguish the voice of the spirit speaking, there was silence, and I heard a voice saying. It stood still.] To stand, in Scripture, imports not always a settled posture of the body: but it is taken sometime in a larger sense, to note our presence in any place, whether it be sitting, standing or walking, as Mat. 16. 28. Christ saith, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his Kingdom. Yet here the posture is conceived to be, an erect, settled, fixed posture; to the intent, Eliphaz might have his eye more settled and fixed upon it, and likewise that his heart might be better prepared and fitted, for the receiving of that message, which should be delivered unto him by it; when a man speaks, he usually makes a stand; An ambulatory speech, a speech in motion, is not so audible, nor so comely. In apparitions, this posture is frequently mentioned. When our Lord appeared to the Disciples after the resurrection, Luke saith, He stood amengst them, cap. 24. 36. Zacharie, saw the Angel standing on the right side of the Altar, Luk. 1. 11. And while the Apostles were looking up steadfastly to Heaven, at the ascension of Christ, Behold two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, etc. Acts 1. 10. therefore also this spirit being to speak, stood still. I could not discern the form of it. The face of it, so some read, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The countenance or aspect of it, so others. They who rise from the dead, are not easily known by those, who knew them living. When Christ arise (John 20.) it is said that Mary, who was very well acquainted with him in his life (though he stood by her) knew not that it was Jesus, but thought it had been the Gardener. When Christ walked with the Disciples to Emaus, they knew him not, and there a reason is given, their eyes were held that they should not know him; a special act of God's providence suspended their eyesight, and took away (though not the power of seeing, yet) the power of discerning. God hath every sense so exactly in his own hand, that he can let it out, or call it back in any degree as himself pleaseth; he can give a man so much power, as to see another, and not so much power as to discern him; which (by the way) is an argument of the wonderful exactness of God's providence over us, he holds our senses in his hand, 〈◊〉 ●ell as our reason or our wills▪ and saith, thus fare you shall 〈◊〉 hear, and no further; therefore it is said, Verse 31. that their eyes were opened: they were opened before to see him, but now they were opened to know him. And at other times when Christ appeared after his resurrection, his Disciples were at a stand, whether it was he or no: Thomas, though he saw Christ before him, yet he would not believe it was he, until he had put his finger into the hole of the Nails, and into the hole which the Spear made in his side: until he had assurance from another sense, he would not believe his eyes. Ethnicis semper absurdum fuit, ut faciem deorum agnoscerent h●mines quam deo●ū 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 poste●io●es poe●ae ab Homero, Homerus ab Egyptiis vel po●ius ex sacris s●n●ti Moysis l●bris sumpsit. B●ld. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sign●ficat speciem vel sensibilem vel mentalem. If then a body arising from the grave, though it be seen, yet can hardly be distinguished by mortal eyes; how much less is the eye of man able to discern Angels or Spirits, clothed in humane forms. The impressions of glory and immortality, which appear upon bodies assumed by spirits, especially in sudden apparitions, do exceedingly master, if not astonish sense. The Heathens thought it absurd to say, that their Gods could be known by face: For though they were so gross, as to satisfy rhemselves with bodily Gods, yet they believed those bodies were so refined, had such a kind of majestic Divinity stamped upon them, that a mere mortal could not comprehend them. Their doctrine shines a little into this Text. A spirit passed before Eliphaz, he had a sight of it, for it stood still, yet he could not make out what it was, or who it was, he could not discern the form thereof. An Image was before mine eyes.] The word Themounah, which we translate Image, is taken either for a visible or intellectual Image. Sometime it is taken for the form of a thing, which is apprehended visibly by the eye; so in Deut. 4. 15, 16. Take ye therefore good heed to yourselves (for ye saw no manner of similitude, in the day that the Lord spoke unto you in Horeb, out of the midst of the fire) lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make the similitude of any figure, that is, lest you make a visible Image of the invisible God. Secondly, the same word signifies an Image in the mind. Thus God himself who said in Deuteronomy, that they saw no similitude, and thereupon bade them take heed of making any similitude, saith of Moses, that the similitude of the Lord he shall behold, Num. 21. 8. The word similitude in Numbers is the same for Image in the Text, an intellectual image, a representation to the understanding. Moses had this privilege, The similitude of God revealed to his Spectrum & visum vocant latini quicquid corpore apparet forma licet corpus non sit. understanding; but 〈◊〉 he saith in Deut: ye had no similitude, the meaning is, no 〈◊〉 ●all, no visible similitude, no object of sense. This Image in the ●ext was not intellectual, for it was before his eyes. Nor was it the Image of a spirit gross▪ d into a body, but it was a spirit in or with the imaginary form of a body. There was silence, and I heard a voice, saying.] That is the last thing which the Text holds forth about this vision. There was silence.] The Hebrew thus, Silence, and I heard a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Silentium & vocem, per hyppallagen, vocem silentii, id est, vocem tacitam & submissam audiebam. Mercer. Et vocem quasi curae levis audivi. Vulg. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Sept. Silens murmur. Ar. Mont. voice, we supply, there was. The readings are various, yet the sense one. I heard the voice, as it were, of a gentle gale, I heard a gale and a voice, I heard a silent murmur. Our Translators put in the margin, I heard a still voice, which comes near to that, I heard a silent voice (by a usual figure) silence and a voice, for a voice of silence. If any should say, these two are so opposite, that they cannot be predicated or affirmed one of another. Silence is the direct contrary to a voice, therefore to say, there was a silent voice, seemeth to be a contradiction in the adjunct. I answer it is frequent to affirm contraries one of another, in an inferior & remiss degree. Though we cannot say light is dark, yet we may say, this is a dark light; that is, a glimmering, imperfect, obscure light, (Zech. 14. 6.) The day shall be neither clear nor dark, it shall be, as it were, a dark light. So a low voice, may well be called a silent voice; I heard a silent voice, that is▪ I heard a low or a still voice speaking to me. Thus it suits well with what he said, at the 12 Verse; Now a thing was secretly brought unto me. And we may further clear it by that 1 Kings 19 12. where the expression is of the same importance; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vox sabtilis silentii dulce susurrum, vox sine sono. here we have silence and a voice, there, after the noise of a great wind and of an Earthquake, it is said that Elijah heard (as some render it) the voice of a subtle, fine, slender, attenuated silence, or as we translate, a still small voice, a sweet ravishing whisper, a voice without a sound. Hence we have a kind of music, which in our common language we call still music. A twofold reason may be given why the Lord spoke (as it were) in silence. First, that the secret manner of speaking might be an Argument that the matter spoken was a secret, a mystery, not common or ordinary. Secondly, to dispose the hearer to receive it with more care, reverence, and attention. A man must set himself to hear with diligence, while another speaks with silence. A loud voice finds us out, comes to us: but we must come to a low voice, and find that out. When the Speaker takes least pains with his tongue, the hearer must take most pains with his ear. And this manner of speaking, was used by the ancient Heathen in their mysterious Oracles and Revelations. As when God revealed a secret, he spoke secretly, and as it were whispered those truths in the ear; whispering is speaking within one degree of silence) so the Devil (who imitates God in what he can, that he may draw credit unto his own deceive) is described in his instruments to speak thus. Isa. 8. 19 When they shall say unto you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto Wizards, that peep and that mutter; they speak as it were silently, they only whisper their diabolical incantations, and lying impostures. And (Isa. 29.) Thou shalt be brought down and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar Spirit out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. The Prophet in this alludes to the manner of Witches and Enchanters, who had familiar Spirits, which he here applies in a threat unto the people: the time shall come that you shall be brought down by your enemies, that you shall speak out of the ground, you shall lie at their feet like poor captives, that cry submissively and pitifully for quarter, O mercy, mercy, spare my life; that's the thing aimed at by the Prophet, that God would abase them so, before their enemies, that they should whisper out of the ground to their enemies for pity, as a Witch whispers from the ground to her miserable Clients who come for counsel. Tertullian in his Apologetic describes the heathen Magicians thus, they speak belohing and gasping, humming and hawing, rather than speaking. The old Poet calls this Poppisme, by which — sorts ducent, frontemque ma numque Praebebit vati crebrum poppisma petenti. Juvenal. Aurusp●●es de circo ex or●s pressi sono, quod poppisma dicitur fu●u a colligebant. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word he shows, how their Idol Prophets, answered the deluded people, their miserable Clients, when they came for counsel. To which the Hebrew word T●sipht saph used by Isaiah in the eighth Chapter before cited, is very like both in sound and sense. There yet another interpretation of these words more proper, and answerable to our translation. There was silence and I heard a voice, saying,] This refers the silence to Eliphaz, as a preparation to his hearing the voice; there was silence▪ that is, I stood still and spoke never a word, but waited to hear what should be spoken, I was silent, and all things about me w●re hushed and silent too: Then I heard a voice; and so Junius glosses, Being (saith he) composed and strengthened a little after my former fear, I attended Me ●ontineba● tacitus expectans revelationem. silently to the Spirit, that I might hear what should be spoken unto me. We read, Rev. 8. 1. that there was silence in Heaven for half an hour; and Verse 5, we read of voices and thunderings; before those great voices there was great silence: usually before great speaking there is great silence; I was silent, and all were hushed, than I heard a voice: silence prepares for audience. In Congregations before the Preacher gins, all hold their peace; In Courts of justice when the Judge is to speak, the Crier calls for silence: It was a usual word amongst the rites of the Heathen, Favour your tongues, or spare your speech, when the mysteries of their superstition were Favete linguis. revealed: we may take the present Text in this sense: that Eliphaz set himself in a silent posture to attend the message which was to be revealed unto him. There was silence and I heard a voice, saying. If we take the former interpretation, then, for as much as Eliphaz after those terrors and tremble, the shaking of his bones, and standing up of his hair, the confused form of a spirit, and an amazing Image before his eyes: for as much (I say) as after all these, he hears a still silent voice. We may observe, That God after terrors usually sends in comfort and refresh. God having terrified Elijah by a mighty rushing wind (in the vision before noted) by an Earthquake which broke the Rocks, and by a fire: then comes (as here in the Text) a still small voice, a voice of silence, and God was in that voice. It is put as a principal distinction amongst the Ancients, to know, whether a revelation were from a good Angel or from a bad Angel. When a revelation was made by a good Angel, though he filled the heart with fear, at the beginning of his speech, yet he gave comfort in the end, and closed with in consolation. We may observe in those revelations such heartening, cheering language as this, Be not afraid, be of good cheer; so to Daniel, so to John, so to Zechariah, so to Mary, so to Gideon. But when a revelation was made by an evil Angel, or by a Witch, as it filled the hearers with fear, so it left them full of fear, it wounded them with terrors, and it applied no cure, no plaster, nothing medicinable to heal those terrors. We find, indeed, (1 Sam. 28) that when Saul consulted with the Witch of Endor, as soon as the Spirit appeared, it is said, that the Witch herself was afraid, and there is no mention made of saul's being afraid, at the first; so that Saul falls a comforting the Witch, and said to her, be not afraid: She was afraid, not of the Spirit that appeared, but of Saul, because he had made a law against Witches; and hence Saul comforts her, in assurance of impunity, notwithstanding that sin, both against the law of God, and his own. But you shall find in how sad a condition Saul himself was, before the Devil had done with him; for, as soon as Saul heard the tidings delivered by that personated Samuel, he fell into a shaking fit, and was as one astonished and dead: hanging upon the rack of these torments, the Devil left him; there was no word of comfort, no sweet still musical voice to revive and fetch him again, but away packs the wicked Spirit, and leaves him overwhelmed with sorrow. And then (instead of a better, surely he could not have a worse) the poor Witch comes to comfort and counsel him. They who refuse counsel from the Prophets of God may at last be forced to receive all their comfort from a Witch, a Prophet or Prophetess of the Devil. But to the point in hand, we see when the Devil and wicked Angels speak terror, they leave terror: Whereas if God, by good Angels speaks terror, or affrights his people with the tokens of his presence, he with a sweet and still voice refreshes and comforts them, before he departs. And we may in that general apply it to ourselves. That when God astonishes and terrifies us, when he makes our bones to shake, and rottenness to enter into them, we may expect comfort and refreshing are at hand; and we may build upon it, that the more we tremble, the more we shall be refreshed; Habakkuk in the place before cited, is express in this faith, I trembled, that I might have rest in the day of trouble; to which he adds, when he cometh up to the people (he will invade or cut them to pieces) with his troops. As intimating, that they who will not tremble, shall be made to tremble; but when we actively labour to make our hearts tremble, or when God makes us tremble in such a way as this, we may build upon it, that, we shall rest in the day of trouble, at least we shall rest in the end of that day: God never leaves his people under a Cloud: he takes off trouble, and brings in a succession of comfort, or conquers the trouble by mingling a prevailing portion of comfort with it. If we take the Text in the latter sense, we may note, That silence becomes man when God speaks. Speak Lord (saith Samuel) for thy servant heareth. Hear O servant, for thy Lord speaketh. Silence prepares the heart to learn: Pythagoras commanded his Scholars to keep silence five years. And the Papists impose silence, as a part of discipline upon their Novices. Let superstition be avoided, and then Silence is fittest for learners, unless their voice be an enquiry after learning. That which the Apostle speaks respecting women in the Church, is true of all in the sense I now speak of, 1 Tim. 2. 12. Let the woman learn in silence, so let the man learn in silence. There were many among us, not long since, who made many teachers silent. Silence is good as it is a preparative to learning, but woe to that, which is a hindrance to instructing. They enjoined silence on Teachers, by which knowledge was suppressed: we advice silence upon learners, that knowledge may be increased. JOB. Chap. 4. Vers. 17. Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his Maker? IN this verse we have the argument itself, or the matter revealed in the former vision; There was silence, and I heard a voice saying: What that voice said, we have in these words; Shall mortal man be more just than God? This is the theme or subject, upon which Eliphas argues; and it is the main proposition of the whole context. The proof of this proposition, was given from Divine authority, in the foregoing words; and we have a proof Numquid homo Dei comparatione justificabitur. Vulg. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Clamabat & dicebat fierme potest ut homo quam Deus ●urior sit. Chald. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Miser aerumnis & peccatis obnoxius. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in quo sensus despe randi Eusebius à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deducit, quod ●blivisci significat & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interpreta●ur, quasi animal obliviosum dicas. Drus. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Min est comparandi particula: comparatio exprimitur per praepositienem ultimi casus, justificatus ab illo ie prae illo. Luk. 18. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vir, quasi validus, ut & latin à viribus dictus. from reason, in the following part of this Chapter. Shall mortal man be more just than God? or, Shall man be justified in comparison of God? or, Shall man be just before God? The Chaldee Paraphrase is yet more quick: The Spirit cried out and said, Can it possibly be, that man should be more pure than God? The words are propounded by way of question, we may resolve them into this negative proposition, Mortal man is not more just than God, man is not more pure than his Maker. We translate Mortal man, the Hebrew is but one word, yet in the propriety of that language, it contains both, noting man with an addition (such as it is) of weakness and frailty, the meanest and lowest estate of man: Enosh, a poor, sick, weak, dying creature, a creature of so little hope, that some derive this name in the Hebrew, from desperation; a creature so unworthy to be remembered by God, or so ready to forget God, that others derive it from a word, which signifies forgetfulness, or to forget. Shall man, this mortal man, this weak creature, be more just, or be justified rather than God? Such a sense the words carry. When man and God are compared together, shall God be esteemed less just, or less pure than man? (Luk. 18. 14.) it is said of the Publican, that he went down justified, rather than the other; put the Pharisee and the Publican in the balance together, and the Publican was the weightier in righteousness, or the more just of the two: That in Luke, is an Hebraisme, and it is the same with this. Put weak man and the mighty God (the word Eloha, which is here used for God, noteth the strong God, or the mighty God) put him in the balance of consideration with weak man, will he not be infinitely more weighty in justice, more shining in purity, more glorious in holiness? Yea, not only if you take man in his obscurest notion, or in this term of extenuation, Enosh, for a weak man, a poor creepled creeping creature; but take him in his best estate, as he is (Geber) a strong man, a powerful man, a holy man: yet as it follows in the text, shall man be more pure than his Maker? that is, shall such a mighty man, a wise man, a learned man, a gracious man, a man accomplished in all natural, in all acquired endowments, the chiefest and choicest, the cream and flower of all the men upon the face of the earth; A Worthy of the first three, the First of all the Worthies; A man of the first magnitude, of the highest elevation, both in parts, gifts and graces, shall he be more pure than his Maker? Christ (as incarnate or made man) is called, the Mighty God, (Isa. 9 6.) God made a Mighty man, or man becoming the Mighty God. The Chaldee calls all Giants, Gibbaraja; and Nimrod the first of the Giants, was called by this name, a Mighty hunter before the Lord, Gen. 10. 8. So then, Let man be never so excellent, his excellency is baseness; let him be never so strong, so wise, so holy, he is but weak, foolish, filthy, compared with him who made him. Leave your Enosh, your weakling, your poor sick creatures: bring forth your Gibers, your best, they are as nothing, yea less than nothing before the lord Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall man (the best of men) be more pure than his Maker? We are to mark the double opposition of the Text. Here is first, mortal, weak, sick man, set in opposition to the strong, the mighty, the all-powerfull God. And then in the second place, the opposition is between the strongest, the best, the holiest, the wisest of men, and the maker of all men. Shall mortal man, or shall the best of men be more just, more pure than God their Maker? There is a threefold sense, which we may give of the words jointly. First, They are a denial of all comparison between God and man. No man may compare himself with God. Shall mortal man? that is, mortal man ought not to be so bold, and daring as to venture upon such a thing as this, to stand upon terms of equality with the mighty, the great, the glorious God, the Maker of all, as the Apostle resolves in his own case, (1 Cor. 4. 4.) Though I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified at all, much less though a man know nothing by himself, will this justify him in this comparison, that he is just, as God is just. But secondly, Shall mortal man be more just than God? It is as if he had said, God who is infinite in justice, would never do that which a just man will not do; God who is infinite in power, would never do that, which a weak man would not do, shall weak man be more just than God? And so we may form the argument thus; No man, no Judge, is more just or incorrupt than God, who is the supreme and Lord chief Justice of all men. But there is no just Judge amongst men, who will punish an innocent man: therefore God doth not punish any one that is innocent. The consequence or inference is plain and clear, for God himself should either be unjust, or he should be less just, than man is, if he should do that, which a just man upon true grounds would refuse to do. Therefore in Gen. 18. Abraham pleads with God, under that title of a just Judge, shall not the Judge of all the world do right? As if he should say, faithful Judges upon the earth, will do right, therefore surely he that is the Judge of all the earth will do right; so Eliphaz here to Job, Never complain as if God had done thee wrong, for certainly, the just God will not do that which a just man would not do: The word, whereby God is expressed (Eloha) Eloha denotot judicem, & ●quissimum rerum arbit●um. doth well comply with, and answer this sense, it being properly attributed to God as a Judge, the great arbitrator and determiner, of all the causes and cases of all men in the world. Shall mortal man be more just than God? Thirdly, The sense may be taken thus, If any man should come to implead God, or to plead with God, if any should dare to tax the Justice of God, or be so hardy to put in a bill of complaint against him; shall this man, this weak man be found more just in his complaining, than God hath been in sentencing? shall his bill of complaint be better grounded, than the Lords award of Judgement? It is an allusion to those, who supposing they have wrong, complain against the Judge, and say, that he hath erred in or perverted Judgement; That word (Justified) here used, shall man be justified before God? is a judiciary word, a Court or Law term; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ve●bum forense spectans ad innocentis absolutionem. The same word, which the Holy Ghost uses, in that great work of Free Grace, the justification of a sinner before God; And that imports the declaring and setting forth of a man, to be righteous, and his cause good in Jesus Christ, whereupon he is cleared and acquitted. When Satan accuses or pleads against us, laying such and such sins to our charge; thus and thus this man hath offended, than God is said to justify a man, that is, to declare him to be just, his sins being covered, and himself accepted in Jesus Christ. Hence that divine challenge to all accusers. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect, it is God that justifieth, Rom. 8. 33. So now, if man should accuse and complain against God, he hath done thus and thus in the world, afflicted a Job, troubled a righteous person; shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall this man in his complaint be justified? shall not God rather be justified against whom he complains? Certainly he shall. God shall be declared just, yea, he shall be declared just by man. A man uningaged and rightly principled, Such a man shall say, verily there is a God that judgeth the earth. In the judgement of man, that judgement shall speak a God; and all shall be forced to daniel's mourning acknowledgement, O Lord righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face. Dan. 97. 9 We may enlighten it further by that of David (Ps. 51. 4.) where he professes thus, I will confess my sins, etc. that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest: as if he should say, if hereafter thou shalt afflict me, and lay thy rod upon me, I know many will be ready to complain and say, why doth God thus, why doth he afflict David, David a holy man, a man after his own heart: a man of whom he hath given such large testimony, of whom he hath said, I have found a man after my own heart. Now to the intent all these may be cast in their suits, and answered in their complain, I here acknowledge before all the world, that I have sinned greatly; & therefore, though thou hast pardoned my sin, and so will't never charge it upon me to condemnation, nor punish me for it in a way of satisfaction; yet hereafter thou mayest in thy fatherly wisdom, see it needful to chastise me, to prevent and purge out sin, or to help me against the weakness of my nature, and the strength of temptation for the time to come. So here in the Text, Shall man be justified before God? If Job or any of his friends for him, should complain against God, why he being one commended and approved from the mouth of God, for a man perfect and upright, should be thus afflicted; what? Shall weak Job be justified before God? Yea, though Job be considered in his greenest flourishings of grace, and highest pitch of his prosperity, as he was Geber indeed, the greatest, the mightiest man in the Eastern world; yet shall he be more pure than his Maker? No, cease your complain, God is just, and his honour must be vindicated, in what he doth, or in what he shall do against the weakest, or against the mightiest, against the meanest or against the best of men. God will be found just, and man a liar. Either of these three senses are fair from the construction of the Text, and may be profitable for us; I shall therefore draw them down into five or six conclusions, which will be at least a portion of that marrow and fatness which this Scripture yields us to feed upon. First, we may observe, That man naturally preferreth himself not only above other men, but even before God himself. A principle of pride dwells in our hearts by nature, which at some times, and in some cases breeds better thoughts in us of ourselves, than of God himself. And it is this height of spirit, which the heavenly vision here would level to the ground. We know it was the first sin of man, that man desired to be like God Gen. 3. The first temptation was baited with a parity to the Divine powers, Ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil. This also was the language of Lucifer's heart; Thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will ascend above the heights of the Clouds, I will be like the most high, I say ●4. 13, 14. And the practice of the man of sin, is thus prophesied That he shall exalt himself, above all that is called God, 2 Thess. 2. 4. But the heart of man is yet more mad, and hath outgrown those sinful principles. For in troubles and temptations, when things go not according to his mind, he sometimes hath thought not only that he is like God: but that he is more just than God, and if he had the ordering of things, he would order them better than God: he sometime thinks himself juster than God, and if he had the punishing of offenders, justice should proceed more freely and impartially than it doth: which is upon the matter, not only to exalt himself (as the Man of Sin doth) above Nuncupative Gods, or all that is called God, but to exalt himself above him who is God by nature, above the only one-most God. Even to speak in this Dialect of highest blasphemy, that he is more just than God, more pure than his Maker. Secondly, Take this conclusion, That it is a most high presumption, not only for low weak man, but for the best, the highest of men, to compare themselves with God, or to have any thoughts concerning his ways, as if they could mend them. When God calls us to amend our ways, for us to presume we could amend God's ways, is the very top branch, the highest tower, yea, the most towering Pinnacle of presumption. We say amongst men, that comparisons are odious; but this is the most odious comparison of all, for a man to compare himself with God, his thoughts with God's thoughts, what he hath done or would do, with what God doth. If you consider the terms of opposition that are in the Text, this conclusion will be more clear unto you. Consider how Enosh, weak mortal man is opposite to Elohah, the mighty, the strong God; it is presumption for a weak man to compare with a strong man; what presumption is it then, for a weak man to compare with the mighty God? for a reed to compare in strength with a rock? for darkness to compare with light? for a cloud to compare with the Sun? for death to compare with life? for folly to compare with wisdom? for uncleanness to compare with holiness? for nothing to compare with All, how presuptuous? Will ye provoke the Lord: (saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 10.) are ye stronger than he? It implies, that some such thoughts lodge in man, as if he could make his party good, with God, or might be stronger than he. And it is equal folly in us, and provocation against the Lord, to think ourselves juster, as to think ourselves stronger than he. And then mark the other terms of opposition; Man and his Maker: Shall the great man, compare with, or be more pure than his Maker? as if he should say, How great and excellent soever this man is, he was made, and made by God, with whom he thus compares, than whom he thinks himself more pure. And shall the thing form, stand upon terms with him that form it? shall the potsherd or the pot, contend with the Potter? what though it be an excellent vessel; a vessel determined for the most excellent ends and uses? yet whatsoever it is, it was made to be, and made to be by God, both in its constitution and uses. Shall it then boast itself against its maker? The Lord made Geber as well as Enosh, the strong man, as well as the weak, the wise and learned man, as well as the foolish and ignorant, the Noble as well as the base, the holy and righteous, as well as the wicked and profane; In a word, the vessels of honour are as much, yea more of his making than the vessels of dishonour, shall they then be more pure than their Maker? hath the Lord given more to others, than he hath in himself? hath he made a creature his superior, or his Peer? hath his bounty impaired his own stock, or hath he made man, more than God? That God hath made the best out of the dust, is enough to lay all our pride and boasting as low as the dust. That, what we are, we are from another, should ever keep us humble in ourselves. Thirdly, Take this Conclusion, That God in himself is most just and pure. Shall mortal man be more just than God? The question hath this position in it, that God is infinitely just, infinitely pure, therefore he is perfectly pure, perfectly just. God is essential Justice, essential purity; Justice and purity are not qualities in God, but they are his very nature; A man, may be a man and yet be unjust, but God cannot be God and be unjust; A man, may be a man and yet impure, but God cannot be God and be impure, so that Justice and purity are not qualities or accidents in God, but his very essence and being; destroy or deny the purity and Justice of God, and you put God out of the world, as much as in you lies: for he cannot be God, unless he be both just to others, and pure in himself. Fourthly, Take this conclusion, The best men compared with God are evil, and the holiest are impure. Not only is it presumption but a lie, for men to compare with God; shall mortal man be more just than God? It is as if he should say, man hath no Justice at all compared with God, shall man be more pure than his Maker? Man compared with his Maker, hath no purity at all, not so much as a name or a shadow of Justice, and purity, compared with God: though it be somewhat in itself, yet it is nothing before him: In thy sight, or before thee, shall no flesh living be justified, or be just. All that righteousness and purity, which God hath put into the creature, is but as the light of a candle, to the light Humana justitic divinae comparata injuhitia est; qu●a et lu●e●●a in tenebr●● 〈…〉 cerni●u●, 〈◊〉 in solis radio posita tenebratur. Greg. of the Sun, the candle hath no light in it, compared to the Sun; the candle enlightens the night, but a thousand candles cannot a day, or make the day lighter than it is; Sun-light overcomes and swallows up candlelight: The Stars help us to see in the dark, but in the bright day time, the Stars themselves cannot be seen: so all creature purity disappears and vanisheth, when once we look upon the purity of God, who is light, and in whom there is no darkness at all. The Apostle Paul hath a parallel expression (2 Cor. 3. 10.) speaking of the administration of the Jewish ceremonial, earthly shadows, and the administration of light in Gospel heavenly ordinances; Even that which was made glorious, had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth: I do not deny (saith he) but there was great glory in the Jewish Church; God's institution stamped excellency upon the worship of the Jews; Their Ceremonies were made glorious; but if you will compare Jewish worship to Christian worship, it hath no glory in it at all; that which was made glorious, had no glory by reason of the glory that excelleth, that is, Gospel glory. So we may say, man who was made glorious, man who was made gracious and just, hath no grace, no justice, no glory in him, in comparison of that glory which doth excel; namely that justice and purity, which is in God. God is so true, that all men are liars, Rom. 3. 4. So righteous, that all man's righteousnesses are a filthy Cajus participatione justi sunt, ejus comparatione nec justi sunt. Aug. lib. ad Orosium. c. 20. rag. Isa. 64. 6. Man, who is just by participation from God is not just in comparison of God. The fifth Conclusion is this, and it is the principal point which we are to receive and attend from this Text. God is so just, so pure in himself, that he neither doth, nor can do wrong to any creature: In this truth, Eliphaz aims to instruct Job chiefly; for he supposed, that Job had complained of God, as if he had done him wrong, wherefore he speaks reprovingly and chidingly, shall mortal man be more just than God? as if he should say, art thou so gross as to charge God with doing thee an injury? It is impossible that God should do any man wrong? (de Facto) he doth no man wrong, and, (de Posse) he cannot wrong any man. The power of God is seen most in this, that he cannot do any evil; This impotency (if we may so call it) is the strength of God; yea the omnipotency of God consists in this, that he can do no wrong. We have a Maxim of state amongst us, (and it is the glory of the Kings of this Nation) we say, The King can do no wrong; but it is not to be understood as this, God can do no wrong; we know Kings are men, and that's enough to prove they may do wrong: As to say, the Lord is God, is enough to prove, that he cannot. Princes have a natural power to do evil, but (which is his glory) God hath not. The meaning than is, the King hath not any civil power to do wrong; the Law hath so bounded, ordered and directed him; The constitution of the Kingdom hath given him the advice of Parliaments and Counselors, the assistance of Judges and Officers, he acts by others: so that The failings of his Ministers do the subject wrong, the regal power doth it not. But when we speak thus of God, we mean it of his natural power, which being essentially and infinitely just and good, as well as sovereign and supreme, there is not the least imaginable seed in him, which should be procreative of the least injustice: Therefore the Scripture describes the Lord, just and holy, not only in his nature, but in all his works and ways, Psal. 145. 17. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. And this implies, not only that all the ways, wherein the Lord walks, are righteous, and the works he doth, holy: but that he can go in no way but a righteous way, nor do any work in the creature, but a work of holiness. Not only is that just and holy, which the Lord doth, but let the Lord do what he will, that will be just and holy. And here give me leave, somewhat to enlarge this, and plead for God against some objections, which are made by the men of the world, and some temptations which Satan will urge strongly upon the hearts of those, who fear God; by which (possibly) they may be so entangled and gravelled, that they know not how to extricate themselves, or make out the justice of God, in his administrations towards men. For first it will be objected, Is God so just, that he neither doth nor can do injustice to the creature? How comes it to pass, that both the righteous and the wicked, fall under the same judgement: if the judgement be right upon a wicked man, surely it cannot be right upon the righteous man; Is God righteous and just, when they who differ as much as Heaven and Hell, as light and darkness, do yet meet (as it were) under the same act of God, and are wrapped together in the same sentence? If it be Justice upon the wicked, if it be their portion, how can it be the portion of the righteous, or an award of Justice upon them? As Abraham pleaded with God, (Gen. 18. 25.) Shall the righteous be slain or perish with the wicked? that be fare from thee to do in this manner, shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? as if he should say, if thou dost involve a just man, and a wicked man in one and the same judgement, this is not to do as a righteous Judge, fare be it from thee to do such a thing. Yet we see in frequent experiences, that the same judgement falleth upon the righteous and the wicked; By sword, famine, pestilence, by storms at Sea and enemies at Land, both are overtaken and fall together. Is this unerring Justice? Justiee is to give every one his portion, his due. And God hath Justitia est suum cuique●●●buere. given this exact distribution in charge, to the Prophet, he must say so, and will not the Lord do so? (Isa. 3. 10, 11.) Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well with him, for they shall eat the fruit of their do; woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him; But how do the dispensations of God, answer this direction to man, when his providence seems to huddle up all together, to make the same portion serve, both the righteous and the wicked? I answer it first in the general, and then in some particulars. In the general, the troubles of the righteous are good for them, and therefore they have that which is promised; God saith, say to the righteous it shall be well with him: when a righteous man is troubled, it is well with him; therefore he hath that, which God promiseth him; and when a wicked man prospereth, it is ill with him, therefore he hath that, which God thratneth against him. Outward mercy is judgement to wicked men, and their prosperity is their undoing: therefore, do not think that God varies a tittle from the tenor of his word, when he saith, it shall be ill with wicked men, and yet you see them prosper; for it is never worse with them, than when they prosper, then when they think it is best, and when the world thinks so too; the prosperity of fools shall destroy Prov. 1. them; and what prosperity is there in destruction? The meat in their mouths, is as a sword in their bowels. If you saw the Lord formally sending a Sword to devour wicked men, you would think it justice: the prosperity of wicked men is as sharp as a Sword, that can but destroy, and so doth this; It is their judgement, that they are without judgements, and not to be smitten is their scourge. Now more particularly to answer this objection about the justice of God. And it will be but needful, considering the times we live in, threaten us with a common deluge, or an overflowing scourge, which may sweep away both good and bad together. First, in reference to the godly. Are they in a sad estate outwardly? are they in great afflictions? I answer, though they are afflicted, yet they prosper. When they are impoverished, they are enriched, when they are as having nothing, they possess all things. What is there? what can there be, even in their saddest estate, which doth not conduce to their good, which will not be a benefit unto them? For first, their troubles are but trials; now is there any hurt in a trial, or perturbation in a probation? Troubles try their graces, and their corruptions too. Trouble tries grace that it may be honoured, and corruption that it may be mortified; there is no hurt in all this: rather it is a most happy condition, which makes grace conspicuous: whereby a man's best side, his inside (wherein his glory lies, The King's Daughter is glorious within) is turned outward. That Scripture (Dan. 11. 33, 34, 35.) is very pregnant to the point in hand; where the Prophet foretelling troublesome times, saith, They that understand amongst the people shall instrust many, yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity and by spoil many days: They that understand, that is, godly men shall fall by these judgements, some of them by the sword, they shall utterly be cut off; some by flame, they shall be burnt to ashes: others by captivity and by spoil, their estates shall be plundered, their persons imprisoned. How doth this answer the justice of God (will carnal reason object) that it shall be thus ill, with the righteous, to whom the Lord promiseth it shall be well? Yes, well enough. For it followeth, Now when they shall fall, they shall be helped with a little help, and some of them of understanding shall fall, (that is, by captivity, and by spoil) to try them, and to purge them, and to make them white. Here are two remarkable ends, why They of understanding, fall into these evils. First, for probation, to try them. Secondly, for cleansing and purgation, to purge them and make them white. Gold is never wronged, by being tried. A spotted garment, a distempered body, are not damnified by washing, or by purging. To be freed from filth without, and bad humours within the body, is more than a common favour. How high an act of favour than is it, to have ill humours and filthy spots washed, purged out of the soul? Such base humours a good man may have, as call for these strong working pills, Spoiling and Captivity, to cast them out. Now those men of understanding have no more hurt intended them by God, when they fall into spoilers hands, then when a diseased body falls into a Physician's hand, or when a defiled garment falls into a Fuller's hand; sc. to purge and make them white. Affliction is a cleanser. Christ is the only lavatory, and his blood the only Fountain to wash away the guilt of sin; yet God hath other Fountains and Lavatories, to wash away the pollution of sin: That blood cleanses in this sense also, principally; and all the waters or fires of affliction have no efficacy at all, to refine or cleanse, but in virtue of that blood. A Cross without a Christ never made any man better: But with Christ, all are made better by the Cross. We may then say at least, that it is well with the righteous in affliction, forasmuch as (through the blessing of God) they are bettered by affliction. When you see a godly man cast out in the open air, and having the waters of sorrow poured continually upon him, know that he is only laid out a whitening, and will appear shortly more resplendent than ever. Secondly, afflictions are sent to humble. Pride is such a weed, as often grows in the best soil: Now that which humbleth us cannot hurt us; we lose nothing by the abatements of our pride: no, the more pride loses, the more we gain. And we seldom or never lose any thing, but by pride. Now saith God, Deut. 8. 1. If you would have an account, why I brought my people about in the wilderness, through so many difficulties; know, this was my design, it was to humble them. God resists pride wheresoever he finds it (they in whom pride totally prevails, are God's enemies and he resists them) they in whom pride hath some, yea great prevalency, may be God's friends, and God will resist pride in them: the difference is observable between resisting of pride, and resisting the proud; the resisting of the person, and the resisting of the sin. The great resistance, which God makes against the pride of man's heart, is by the rods of affliction; he whips them into humility, and by taking away carnal comforts, takes them off from carnal confidence. And O blessed affliction which makes us less to ourselves, and all creatures less to us. We are never so much in God's eye, as when we are least in our own: nor have we ever so much of God, as when we expect little, or least from man; say therefore it is well with the righteous, when they are in the deeps of affliction; for it is but to bring them off their Mountains of pride, that they may be exalted in the strength and love of God, even upon the Mountain of his Holiness and their glory for ever. Thirdly, Afflictions bring the Saints nearer to God. Troubles abroad cause the soul to look inwards and homewards. Is there any hurt in being brought nearer to God? It is good for me to draw near unto God, says David; and it is good for us to be drawn near unto God, if we will not come of ourselves: It is a violence, which compels us heaven-ward. Heaven is but our nearest being unto God; and by how much we are nearer God on earth, so much the more we have of Heaven, upon earth. Afflictions (as in the Prodigals example) put us upon thoughts of returing to God, and the more we return, the nearer we are unto him; returning thoughts will not rest, but under our father's roof: yea, returning thoughts will not rest, till we are got into our father's arms, or under the shadow of his wing, and this a happy condition indeed. As it was with Noah's Dove (Gen. 8. 9) when she was sent forth of the Ark, she could find no place for the sole of her foot to rest on; she knew not whether to go, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth; therefore she returneth back, and comes hover about the Ark, as desiring to be taken in: but after the waters were assuaged, he sent out a Dove, which returned to him no more. So when it is fair weather in the world, calm and serene; even Doves keep off from God; and though they go not quite away from him, yet they are not so desirous of coming to him: but when we find a deluge in the world, such storms and tempests of trouble, that we know not where to fix our souls for a day, than we come as the Dove fluttering about the Ark, and cry to our Eternal Noah, that we may be near him, yea, within, with him. Wicked men (like the Raven, which Noah sent out first, Verse 7. and returned not again) care not for the Ark of God's presence in the greatest troubles: to be near God is more troublesome to them, than all their troubles. But Believers, like the Dove, will look home (at least) in foul weather. God is their chief friend at all times, and their only friend in sad times. Is there any harm in this? Christ sends a storm, but to draw his back to the Ark; That, at the last, where he is, there they may be also. Lastly, we may say it is well with the righteous in their worst condition of outward trouble, because, God is with them; It can never be ill with that man, with whom God is. It is infinitely more to say, I will be with thee, then to say, peace is with thee, health is with thee, credit is with thee, honour is with thee. To say, God is with thee, is all these, and infinitely more. For in these you have but a particular good, in God you have all good: when God says, I will be with you, you may make what you will out of it; sit down and imagine with yourselves whatsoever good you can desire, and it is all comprehended in this one word, I will be with thee. Now God who is with the righteous at all times, is most with them in worst times; then he saith in a special sense, I will be with thee. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. When thou walkest thhough the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, etc. Isa. 43. 2. When a mighty wind passed before Eliah, it is said, That God was 1 Kings 19 not in the wind: and when the Earthquake shook the Hills, and a consuming fire appeared, it is said, God was not in the Earthquake, not in the fire. God joins not with outward troubles, for the terror of his people, but he joins with outward troubles, for the comfort of his people. So he is in the fire, and in the wind, and in the Earthquake, and his presence makes the fire but as a warm Sun; the stormy wind, a refreshing gale; and the Earthquake, hut a pleasant dance. So much for the removing of this objection, and clearing up the justice of God, respecting the afflictions of the righteous. If any shall look on the other hand upon wicked men, as if God came not home in his justice, while he suffers them to prosper. First I answer, their prosperity serves the providence of God, and therefore it doth not cross his justice. That, was Nebuchadnezars' case, (Isa. 10. 6.) I will send him (saith God) against an hypocritical nation: so then, he must prosper while he goes upon God's errand: but mark what follows (Verse 12.) It shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion, sc. by Nebuchadnezars' power, who was but doing the just work of God, while he thought ambitiously of doing his own, (now it is no injustice for God, to give an instrument power to do his work) and when his bloody lust hath performed the holy work of God, you shall see the Lord will take an order with him speedily, For) then saith the Lord, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the King of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks; God let him alone to do the work, he had set him about; and it was a righteous work of God upon his people, though Nabuchadnezzar went about it, wlth a proud and malicious spirit against his people. Secondly, the prosperity of wicked men serveth them, but as an opportunity, to show how wicked and vile they are; to act and publish the seven abominations of their own hearts. Now as it is one of the greatest mercies under Heaven, for a man to have his lusts quite mortified; so it is a very great mercy, for a man to have his lusts, but, restrained: It is a mercy for a man, to have that fuel taken away from his corruptions, upon which they feed: therefore it must needs be wrath and judgement upon wicked men, when God in stead of restraining their lusts, giveth them opportunity to enlarge their lusts, and lays the reins on their neck, to run whether and which way they please, without stop or control. This is wrath, and high wrath, a sore judgement, the sorest judgement that can fall upon them: wherefore when we think they are in a most prosperous condition they are in the most dreadful condition, they are but filling themselves with sin, and fitting themselves for destruction. Many a man's lusts are altogether unmortified, which yet are chilled and overawed by judgements. And there is more judgement in having liberty to commit one sin, then in being shut up under the iron bars and adamantine necessities of a thousand judgements: He that is Satan's treasury for sin, shall be God's treasury for wrath. Thirdly, Their prosperity is the judiciary hardening of their hearts, and a hard heart, is the greatest judgement on this side Hell; As there is a naturally inbred and sinfully acquired hard heart, so there is a judicially hardened, or a divinely inflicted hard heart: When to a natural hard heart, and an acquired hard heart, which men get by many repeated acts of sin, the Lord adds a judicially hardened, or inflicted hard heart, than wrath is heated to the hottest, and judgement is within one step of Hell. Especially if we consider, that every hour of such prosperous impenitence, and hardness of heart increases punishment, and adds to the treasury of that wrath, which is stored up against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgement of God. Who thinks that man happy, who is let alone only to gather a mighty pile of wood, and other fuel of flames to burn himself? while ungodly men saem to the world to be gathering riches, honour and pleasure, hay are but gathering a heap of wrath, and a pile of fire; which at the last will flame so bright, that it will make a revelation, of the (formerly secret, but) ever righteous judgement of God. Lastly, To show that God is just in all his deal, both the righteous and the wicked, learn, from the end of both. That we may fully discover the Justice of God, we must look upon all his works together; while we look only upon some particular piece of God's deal with a godly man, he may seem to deal very hardly with him: or if we look but upon some particular piece of his deal with a wicked man, God may seem very gentle and kind towards him: but take all together, and the result is exact justice. It was a good speech of a modern writer, We must Non est judicandum de operibus Dei ante quintum actum. Per. Mart. not judge of the works of God, before the fifth act, that is, the last act or conclusion of all. This, and that part may seem dissonant and confused, but lay them all together, and they are most harmonious and methodical: Hence David (Psal. 37.) after he had a great dispute with himself, about the troubles of the righteous and the prosperity of the wicked, and was put hard to it, how to make out the Justice of God, resolves all in the close with this advice (ver. 37.) Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. Though a righteous man die in war, yet, his end is peace, whereas though a wicked man die in peace, yet his end is war. It is said (Deut. 8. 16.) that all which God did to his people in the wilderness, was, that he might do them good at the latter end. Come to the end therefore, and there you shall find justice visible: We often lose the sight of justice, in our travails and passage through the world, mountains and hills interpose, which we cannot see over or through; but when we come home, and arrive at the end of our travails, Justice will appear in all her state and glory, rendering to every man according to his deeds; To them who by patiented continuance in well doing, seek for glory, and honour, and immortality, eternal life; but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath. Joshua concludes the story of the people of Israel, in their passage to Canaan, with the highest testimonies of God's justice and faithfulness; though God dealt with them so variously in the wilderness that they often murmured in their tents, as if he had done them wrong, yet in the close you shall find, how exact and punctual the Lord was with them, (Josh. 21. 45.) There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel, all came to pass: And in that other text, Josh. 23. 14 Behold this day I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts, and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things, which the Lord your God spoke concerning you, all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. How admirably just was God in his word? If a man promise many things, we take it well if he perform some of the chief, and them in the chief, though some what may fail. God promised many things, and performed all, and which is more, all of every one, of those many things promised. The texts compared, make this out, the one saying, That not one thing failed of all the good things, which God spoke concerning them. And the other, That not aught of any good thing failed. So then, they had every good thing in kind, with each particular part and degree of every good thing: And for the truth of all this, Joshua makes his appeal to themselves, and to that in themselves, which was best able to determine it, All their hearts, and all their souls; which words do not only refer to every person, as if the meaning were, The hearts and souls of you all; but rather to all that is in every person, All their hearts, and all their souls, that is, understandings, memories, consciences. affections, yea senses, their eyes and ears, their hands and mouths, could bring in witness from their several operations, to this great truth. And surely God in the end will deal as well with every Israelite, as he did with all Israel: A time will come, it will come shortly, when every Saint shall say, in all their hearts and in all their souls, that not one thing nor aught of any one good thing, which the Lord hath said concerning them, hath failed. I shut up this, in the words of Christ to his Disciples, when they were amused about that act of his, the washing of their feet, (John 13. 7.) What I do, ye know not now, but ye shall know hereafter. Stay but a while, and all those mysteries and riddles of providence shall be unfolded. Though clouds and darkness are round about him, yet Judgement and Justice are the habitation of his Throne, Psal. 97. Mortal man never had, and at last shall see he had no reason, to complain of God; mortal man shall not be more just than God; nor shall man be more pure than his maker. And so much for the fifth Conclusion, That God neither doth nor can do any injustice to the creature, he is just in his nature, just and holy in all his ways. The sixth or last Conclusion is this, That to complain of Gods justior sit oportet qui immeri●ò affligitur quâ qui immerio affligit. dealing with us, is to make ourselves more just and pure than Gods or, when any person or people complain of God's dispensations toward them, they (though not formally, yet by way of interpretation) make themselves more just and pure than God. This was the point wherein Eliphaz labours much, to convince Job, supposing that he had thus exalted himself against God, by these grievous complain of his present state, in the foregoing Chapter; There is a truth in the proposition, though not in the application, as hath often been hinted. Jobs complaints were bitter, from the sense of his pains, not from any prejudice in his understanding. Quisq●is de persec●tione murmurat▪ quid aliud quam judicium fe●ientis a●●usat, purior●m ergo se vir factore suo existimat si contra flagellum qurelam parat, camque sibi proculdubio post ponit, c●jus judicium de sua afflictione rodriguiz. G●eg. He ever preserved high and holy thoughts of God, The least suspicion of whose righteous deal, is to make ourselves, by so much more righteous, than he. The reason is clear, for, he that complains thus, thinks some wrong is done him; Now he that complains of wrong, would be thought more just, than he of whose wronging him, he complains: Whosoever murmurs or repines at what God doth secretly saith (this voice is in it) that he could do better, or that God ought: He that speaks against the rod, speaks against him that smites with the rod, He that swears by Heaven, swears by the Throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon, saith Christ; And so, he that accuses the rod of God, accuses the work of God, and God that wrought it: He thinks himself more pure than his Maker, who is displeased with God, as a correcter: To disapprove any thing which God doth, is to approve ourselves before God. It is seasonable for us to look to our hearts in such a time as this; it is a time of temptation, let us not by our murmur, make it a time of provocation: Possibly we may often see cause to complain of men, but we can never have cause to complain of God. There is but little good got by complaining of creatures but how much guilt and misery gets he, who complains of his Creator? For a man to complain to man, is in some cases necessary, but it is best in all cases, to complain to God, and the worst of any case, to complain (though silently) of God. So then, complain of man to God, rather than of man, to men; complain often to God, but never of God: Complain before God, and tell him, that, such have dealt negligently, such falsely, such unjustly, such cruelly; But always say, Lord thou hast done justly, even by those who are unjust; Lord thou hast done graciously, even by those who are wicked; Lord thou hast done holily, even by the hand of those who are unholy; and thou hast dealt faithfully, though these have been treacherous. Thus let us complain to God, but not of God. Every complaint of God will be interpreted, a secret justification of ourselves, and a condemnation of the righteous God. Man is then worse than a Devil, when he would make himself better than God: Nothing pollutes man, so much as this thought, that there is unrighteousness in God: Nothing debases the creature so much, as that thought, desire or act, wherein he prefers and exalts himself above the Creator. Thus we have opened the general proposition: The probation of it, from the vast difference between men and Angels, is prosecuted at large, in the latter part of the Chapter. JOB. Chap. 4. Vers. 18. Behold he put no trust in his servants, and his Angels he charged with folly. ELiphaz having laid the dignity of man (comparing with God) in the dust, by those humbling questions, in the former verse, what is man that he should be just? and shall man be more pure than his Maker? He now strengthens it further, that there is no comparison between God and mortal man, by a direct assertion, that there is no comparison between God, and immortal Angels. Behold he put no trust in his servants, and his Angels he charged with folly. As if he had said, If Angels are not able to stand before God, and justify themselves upon his enquiry; then certainly man, the best of men, who dwell but in houses of clay cannot: But Angels cannot justify themselves before God, therefore much less can the best of men. That Angels are not able to justify themselves before God, he proves in these words: Behold he put no trust in his servants, and his Angels he charged with folly: They that cannot be trusted by God, cannot be justified by God: And they that are chargeable with folly, are not able to stand in judgement before the most wise, the only wise and holy God. Angels are excellent creatures, yet because creatures, they are in, and of themselves, frail and weak: they have no strength to stand longer then upheld, no steadfastness to obey, longer than confirmed, no faithfulness to be loyal, longer than overruled, no wisdom to discern, further than they are enlightened; what then will become of man, if he stand alone, or stand in competition with God his Maker? This is the sum and general sense of the words as they are an argument. We will now consider them as they lie here in order. Behold he put no trust in his servants. The particle [Behold] in the Original, as it often notes wonder in other texts, so it may, much more in this, Behold a wonder, Angels are foolish, Angels are not to be trusted; yet in this place, Behold, is put by way of affirmation, rather than of admiration. Behold he put no trust in his servants, is as much as verily and indeed, certainly and without controversy, he put no trust in his servants; So (Deut. 13 14.) Thou shalt inquire and search, and ask diligently, and behold if it be true; in the Hebrew thus, and behold true, or behold truth; that is, if upon enquiry it appear, that sucb and such things are certainly so, then, they must proceed according to the Law provided in that case. Again (Deut. 19 18.) The Judges shall make diligent inquisition, and behold, if the witness be a false witness, so we translate; but the letter is, Behold the witness, a false witness, that is, if it be affirmed, and do appear that it is a false witness or testimony which is brought, than the Judges shall proceed so and so, etc. Thus here, Behold he put no trust in his servants, is a vehement affirmation, that God searching into those his servants, finds them such as are not to be trusted But who are these untrusty servants? First, The Chaldee paraphrast understands by servants, the holy Prophets; Prophets (I grant) sometimes have, and oftener would have proved unfaithful; some of them, discovered much, and others would have discovered more unfaithfulness, if God had not mightily supported them. Secondly, One of the Rabbins, understands it in general of any, or of all the faithful, Behold he put no trust in his servants; that is, not in any of the holiest and faithfullest of the children of men. But the connexion of the text carries it clearly, that by servants, we are to understand the Angels, who are called ministering spirits, Heb. 1. 14. Are they not all ministering spirits (or servants) sent out for the good of those that are the heirs of salvation? And so the words in the close of this verse, are exigeticall, expounding who are intended by those servants; Behold he put no trust in his servants, and his Angels he charged with folly; that is, he trusted not those servants the Angels, but charged them with folly. But there is a further reason, more fully evidencing that it must be understood of Angels, in the 19 verse, where the persons standing in equal opposition to these servants and Angels, are men H●w much less (saith he) on them that dwell in houses of clay: Now a dwelling in a house of clay, is the periphrasis, or description of mankind in general, good or bad, one or other, high or low, all mankind dwells in a house of clay. Seeing then the term of opposition is mankind in general, we must take somewhat which being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nutrivit in Hiphil credid●t fisus est A fide quae in nutr●endo requiritur, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a raionall creature is not man, for the other term, which cannot be any except Angels; we cannot set any sort of men in opposition to others upon this ground, because they dwell in houses of clay, for the Saints on earth dwell in houses of clay, as well as men of the earth; therefore to make the opposition clear, it necessarily follows, that by Servants in the first clause of the verse, Angels are employed, as well as in the latter, where Angels are expressed. nutriius d●ctus est cujus fidei pue● est commissus, quasi fidum aut fidetem dicas, saepe etiam accommodatur ad aeconomum & dispensatorem, proper fidelitatem eorum, But if these servants be Angels, how is it, that he put no trust in, or that (as we may render it word for word out of the Hebrew) he did not believe in these his servants? I shall answer that, when I have a little opened the wopd here translated To put trust. We find it used two ways in Scripture, sometime passively, and sometime actively. It is taken passively to be faithful, trusty, and true in word or promise. From this root the Hebrew takes the name of a Guardian or Foster-father or Steward, because such to whose care children or families are committed, aught to be most faithful in the discharge of so great a trust. The Apostle (1 Cor. 4. 1, 2.) speaking of that heavenly Stewardship, the ministry of the Gospel, expresseth it thus, Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ, and Stewards of the mysteries of God, moreover (saith he) it is required in a Steward that a man be found faithful. And (Numb. 12. 7.) where Moses is spoken of, as a servant, he is thus described, My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house; he is a man whom I may trust or give credit to, for he is trusty and faithful. (Heb. 3. 2, 5.) the Apostle comparing Christ and Moses, saith of Christ, That he was faithful to him that appointed him, as Moses was faithful in all his house. So that here is an elegant Antithesis, His servants, who according to their duty and office, aught to be constant, faithful, trusty; he found unconstant unfaithful, not to be trusted. Yet the word being in Hyphil, is of an active signification, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A verbi preprietate non recedamus, qua sign●ficat cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere & fidere alicui Merc Verbum de verbo in servos suos credidit. when it is in construction with Beth (as Grammarians observe) it imports to give credit unto, or confide in a person; and so here, he put no trust; that is, he did not credit or condfie in those servants, or he did not believe on them. He saw somewhat in them, which might betray them to disloyalty, if himself withdrawing his assistance should make an experiment, or try what was in their hearts. And this sense is most suitable to the state and office of a servant: trusting or not trusting, faithfulness, or unfaithfulness, are acts proper to that relation, Lord and Servant. So then the Lord put no trust, or he could not confide in his servants, they being such as he found not perfectly sure and loyal unto him. We say commonly of a man whom we cannot rrust, We will not give our word for him, and we will not take his. Our Lord Christ is therefore called a faithful High Priest, because his Father trusted him with the whole business of our salvation, without the least misgiving thought of his faithfulness, or the miscarriage of the work. Thus Solomon describes a faithful Wife and a confiding Husband, Prov. 31, 10, 11. A rare couple indeed, and as rarely found. Therefore he makes proclamation for such a woman; who can find a virtuous Woman? for her price is fare above Rubies, the heart of her Husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil: there's confidence to the height, the heart of her Husband doth safely trust in her. A Husband that hath such a Jewel to his Wife, knows, she will order the family with discretion at home, when he's abroad: he knows she is faithful to him body and goods. Her chastity or her frugality never came in question before his thoughts; therefore (saith he) I shall have no need of spoil, which some interpret thus: her care and wisdom in providing for the family, will make it like an Army, which hath overcome the Tam circum. fluit bonis omnibus familia ejus quam milites spolijs ex pugnata urbe, out host supera●o. Enemy in the field, or won a wealthy City, where the Soldiers have spoil or pillage enough, they need no spoil. Or as others, He shall have no need of spoil, that is, he shall have no need to spoil or oppress others, to help his family. All things shall be so ordered by his wife's prudence, that he shall not need to take any unjust way, to provide for, or supply his household. Thus the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her. Such trust the heart of God could not put in those servants, his Angels, he knew they might come short in their accounts. Such trust Christ could not give some, who seemed to trust or believe on him, (John 2. 23.) Many seeing Christ's miracles believed on him, yet Christ would not believe on them; we translate, he would not commit himself to them; the Greek is, he did not believe or trust himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. unto them, Christ believes in, or may trust them all the world over, who truly believe in him: But these believed so falsely upon him that he could not believe fully upon them; and the text gives the reason, For he himself knew all men, he knew, they were not metal of a due temper, and therefore not to be trusted. So God knew all Angels, the uttermost perfection, power, and virtue that was in Angels, therefore he would not commit all to them, he would not believe upon them. We find the word belief thus used, (Exod. 14. 31.) when the children of Israel saw the great work, that the Lord had wrought in destroying the Egyptians, it is said, The people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses; he puts God and Moses as the joint object of their faith: as they had formerly been of their unbelief▪ Except the servants of the Lord be believed, the Lord himself is not. And when they are believed, the Lord is. Believe in the Lord your God, believe his Prophets, saith good Jehosaphat to his people, 2 Chron. 20 20. Moses had told them enough of the power of God before, he had undertaken they should be delivered, but they would not trust Moses upon his word, nor would they trust the Word of God: yet now when they saw this great deliverance, present sight wrought faith for the time to come: they perceived by this miracle, that the Lord and Moses were to be credited, & they doubted not, to credit them another time. Though that faith which comes in at the eyes only, seldom goes down so low, as the heart, or sees further and longer than the eye. Thus we may understand the first part of the Verse, He put no trust, no belief in his servants, he gave no credit to them, as knowing perfectly what their nature and power was, what both could do: that if left by God, they would quickly leave God, and prove unfaithful. I shall observe one point, before I come to the latter part of the Verse (for there the suspicion of disloyalty upon the Angels comes more fully to be considered) from the title here given to the Angels, His servants, he put no trust in his servants, Angels are the servants of God. They are his servants, as being altogether at his command, and they are his servants, as being fully conformable to his commands. These great and glorious Spirits, come under the same title and denomination with men, who dwell in houses of clay, servants of God. To serve God, is not only the duty, but it is the honour of the highest creatures. It is more honour to serve God, then to rule the world. The stile of the good Angels, is, Ministering Spirits, Heb. 1. but the stile and title of the evil Angel, is, Prince of the power of the air, God of this word: you would think these were weighty titles, Prince of the air, God of the world, but the additions diminish their weight, yea, make them lighter than vanity, or rather, heavy only with misery: There is more glory in being a servant of God, than in being a god of the world, or a Prince of the power of the air. I might here enlarge my enquiry into the services of Angels, in what they are servants, and what their offices and duties are, but I shall only touch. Their service may be considered either in respect of the Church, or the enemies of the Church. Respecting the Church and people of God, they have such services as these. First, they are as messengers to carry and reveal the mind of God. They are as Tutors and instructors of the Churches, Dan. 8. 9 God sent his Angel to teach Daniel the mystery of those visions. And Rev. 1. 11. an Angel was sent to instruct John, Chap. 22. 16. I Jesus have sent mine Angel to testify these things in the Churches. Secondly, they are sent as guardians and protectors of the people of God, to take their part, and to be on their side, Psal. 34. 7. The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him. Psal. 91. 11. He giveth his Angels a charge over them, lest at any time they should dash their feet against a stone. Gen. 32. 2. When Jacob journied, it is said, the Angels of God met him; an army of Angels was his Convoy, God's Host coming out for his protection and safeguard, and therefore he called the name of that place Nahanaim, that is, two Hosts or Camps; either because the Angels appeared in two bands, and so made as it were a guard for Jacob to pass between them. Or, because the great Angelical Royal Army, quartered and marched with jacob's little Army; and so two confederate Armies appeared in the field together. Angels are called Chariots, Psal. 68 17. The Chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of Angels. That is, God useth Angels for defence of his people, as Chariots in Warr. The ancient Prophets were called the Chariots of Israel, (2 King. 3. 13.) and the Angels are the Chariots of God. Our strongest Militia is of Spirits, or of men spiritualised. Thirdly, Angels suggest good things, holy thoughts to us. If the Devil, who is an evil Angel, a wicked spirit, can suggest evil, sinful filthy thoughts, and help on the heart in wickedness; then doubtless a good Angel can help on the heart in holiness, in heavenly thoughts and meditations. Christ speaks of Judas, that Satan had put it into his heart to betray him, John 13. and Peter to Ananias (Acts 5.) Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? The nature of a good Angel is as fit, his power given as great, to deal with our spirits, as either the nature or the power of an evil Angel. That of the Apostle (2 Cor. 11. 14.) gives a hint, if not a proof of it, where he tells the Corinthians, That deceitful workers transform themselves into the Apostles of Christ, and no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of light, and when is Satan in this change from an Angel of darkness to an Angel of light? even when He suggests good for evil ends, or evil for good ends. And if he is called an Angel of light for this reason, than Angels of light, good Angels suggest good, for good ends; otherwise, Satan could not be said to imitate them, in suggesting good for ill ends, and under specious pretences of bringing glory to God, tempting to transgress the will of God. Fourthly, good Angels comfort, strengthen and support, in times of distress, anguish and trouble: an Angel comforted Hagar Gen. 21 and (Matth. 4. 10.) after Christ had finished his terrible combat with that wicked Angel, the good Angels came and ministered unto him. Again, when he was in that most bitter Agony in the garden (Luke 22. 43.) an Angel appeared to him from Heaven, strengthening him. That which they do to Christ the Head, they do to his members in their proportion. Their fifth service, is to convey and carry the souls of departed Saints to Heaven: they are Heavenly Porters (Luke. 16. 22.) Lazarus died, and was carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom. Lastly, they shall convocate and gather all the Elect together at the last day, Matth. 24. 31. Their services against the wicked and all enemies of the Church have been many and great. Angels assist Saints, and oppose the opposers of Zion. Two Angels were sent upon a message of destruction to Sodom; an Angel defeated the Host of Senacherib; an Angel smote bloody persecuting Herod; Angels (by name, if not by nature) pour out the seven vials of God's wrath in the Revelation. And at the last day Angels shall hurry the wicked to Christ's Tribunal; they are heavenly Pursivants; and they shall bundle the Tares up together, as fuel to be thrown into everlasting burn, Matth. 13. 41, 42. And it may be a great comfort to us, that God hath such servants. When visible dangers are round about us, we should remember, God hath invisible servants round about us. There are more with us, then against us, as Elisha told his fearful servant, 2 Kings 6. And in that low estate of the Church, Zech. 1. 8. the Prophet is showed Christ in a vision standing among the Myrtle trees in the bottom, (the Myrtle trees in the bortome, noted the Church in a low estate) and behind him there were red Horses, speckled and white; that is, horsemen speckled and white. These divers coloured Horses were Angels appointed for several offices, as the learned Junius (with others) interprets it; The red horses being appointed for judgement, the white for mercy, and the speckled, (as he conjectures) for mixed actions, being sent out, at once to protect and help the people of God, and to execute wrath and judgement upon the adversary. Thus we see the services of the Angels; they are servants, yet such as the most wise God put no trust in; therefore we have an Angel better than Angels, even the Angel of the Covenant the Lord Jesus, into whose hands our safety is committed, to whose care the Church is left, in whom God puts the whole trust, knowing that this great Angel, is, and for ever will be faithful, in and over his house, to his highest delight, and the Church's compleatest welfare. And his Angels he charged with folly. Nec in Angelis suis ponet lumen Tagn. Nec in Angelis suis posuit lucem exactissimam- Vatab. Angelis suis posuit vesaniam, Tygur. In Angelis suis ponet glorationem. Bibl. Reg. In Angelis suis reperit vanitatem Sym. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 àradice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Splenduit, luxit, claruit Metaphoricè in piel, spiendidum, illustrem, cla●ū reddidit laudavit, praedicavit. Per Antiph rasin. inglorius, insanus furore actus fuit, insanivit. There are very different readings of this part of the Verse. Some (as M. Beza) read it thus, He trusted not in his servants, though he had put light into those his messengers. Others read it with a negation in both parts, He put no trust in his servants, neither hath he put light in his Angels. Another thus, neither hath he put perfect light in his Angels. Mr. Broughton differs from all these, Behold he holdeth not perfection to be in his own servants, and in his Angels he judged no clear light to be. Another sort read it to these senses, He charged, or put madness in or upon his Angels, he put or charged vain boasting in, or upon his Angels, he found vanity in or amongst his Angels, he observed some evil amongst his Angels. Now that which hath given occasion to this variety of translatings, is the different senses which the Original yields us. The Hebrew word is very fruitful of significations, and hath (as the Oracle told Rebecca concerning two contrary Nations) two contrary meanings in the womb of it, and that makes the struggling amongst Interpreters. The word in its proper sense signifies to shine forth with a resplendent brightness, so Chap. 29. 3. Job wisheth, O that I were as in months past, when the candle of God shined upon my head; it is a Verb of which the word folly in this text of Job is a derivative. And (Isay 14. 12.) Hielel signifies the Morning star, whose shining brightness hath obtained the name Lucifer, Light-bringer, or Light-bearer. How art thou fallen from Heaven O Lucifer, son of the Morning? How art thou fallen from Heaven, Hielel, thou shining daystar? Thus, the word properly signifies shining or brightness, or to shine and be bright: and hence by a Metaphor to be Famous, or renowned, or to make one renowned or famous, or to paint out a man with praises; because a man is (as it were) decked with light, and hath rays of brightness cast upon him, when he is honoured and adorned with praises. Due commendations are to a man as a robe or vesture of light, which makes him shine to all about him. And hence the word hallelujah is derived, praise ye Jah, or the Lord; used frequently both in the beginning and end of the Psalms: in the beginning of the Psalms by way of exhortation, and in the end by way of acclamation, crying up the honour and glory of God. And (to note that in passage) it is well observed, that this word Hallelujah is first used in the old Testament, Psal. 104. 35. where the utter consumption of sinners is mentioned; and in the New Testament it is first used, Rev. 19 3 6. where the utter consumption of Antichrist is prophesied. Judgement on the wicked, is matter of high praise to God. Thirdly, the word signifies (by the figure Antiphrasis or contrary speaking) to boast and brag vainly, foolishly; or vain foolish boasting. To commend or extol ourselves is pride running mad, and arrogance distracted. It is the highest dotage to be in love with our own wisdom and folly, to publish our own works. There may be wisdom (though oftentimes there is a great deal of folly) in commending others, but in commending ourselves, there can be nothing but folly: therefore the very same word which signifies to boast and commend ourselves; signifies both the concrete, to be mad, vain, or foolish; and the abstract, madness and folly: thus in Eccles. 2. 2, 12. the word is used, I said of laughter thou art mad. I turned myself to behold wisdom, and folly, and madness: and Psal. 75. 4. I said unto the fools, deal not foolishly, or to the madmen, do not play the madmen, that is, do not exalt yourselves, for so he clears his meaning in the fifth Verse, Lift not up your horns on high, speak not with a stiff neck, that is, a neck stiffened with pride, and a horn lifted up with vainglory or self-confidence. From this variety of significations, the variety of translations before touched, ariseth. First they who read it, He put light into those his messengers, take the word in a proper strict sense, making out the meaning thus; that God having put the light of excellent knowledge into the Angels, could not yet trust them: all their speculative knowledge, and high raised illuminations, were not enough to make them steadily and steadfastly holy: that is the intent of Mr. Beza's interpretation, He trusted not to his servants, though he had put light into those his messengers. For those who retaining the word light translate negatively, neither hath he put light in his Angels, or neither hath he put perfect light into his Angels; or as Mr. Broughton, In his Angels he judgeth no clear light to be, putting a negative particle in both branches of the Verse, whereas in the Hebrew there is no express negation in the latter. These, I say, are led by this reason or rule. It is frequent in Scripture, when there is a negative in the former clause of a Verse, then to understand a negative also in the latter clause, though none be expressed. For instance (Psal. 9 18.) The needy shall not always be forgotten, the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever; so we read, but in the Hebrew the latter clause is, the expectation of the poor shall perish for ever: there is no Negative in the Original; but our Transtators, and not only they, but all that I have seen upon the place, render it so, supplying the Negative particle of the former, in the latter clause of that sentence. And without that negative, the sentence is not only imperfect, but untrue. Thus, The needy shall not always be forgotten the expectation of the poor shall perish for ever, this were a contradiction: but reading it, the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever, makes the whole a truth, and congruous in itself. Again (Pro. 17. 26.) To punish the just is not good, to strike Princes for equity, so the letter of the Hebrew; but we read it thus, To punish the just is not good, nor to strick Princes for equity. I might give ynu other examples, but a taste may suffice Thus in the Text before us, when it is said in the first clause, he put no trust in his servants, we take up the negative, and say in the second, neither hath he put light into his Angels, or he did not put light in his Angels, or he put no perfect light in his Angels, or he judged not clear light to be in his Angels. Secondly, they, who (according to our Translation) render it madness or folly, vain boasting or vanity, these take the Original in that figurative sense before given. When a man from a reflection upon his own worth, boasts out his own praises, which, because it is a point of extreme vanity and folly, therefore the word is elegantly applied to signify folly, etc. He charged his Angels with folly. He put or laid folly upon, or to his Angels; He put, for so the Hebrew word bears. Not, that the vanity which is in Angels is of Gods putting, but the folly that is in them, he puts to them, or charges it upon them, or layeth it to their charge. As we say, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such a one put it home upon him; that is, he charged him sound, or fully, with such a crime or offence. To charge, is a judicial or Law-term, implying, that the Lord sitting in judgement, to examine the state of Angels, charged them by way of accusation, and upon trial found them (in a sense) guilty of that, which, though they had not form into any one sin, yet might be form and shaped into any sin, Folly or vainglory. Having given some account of those terms, Charging and Folly, He charged his Angels with folly, it grows to a great doubt what Angels we are here to understand: what Angels did God thus charge with folly? The quere or doubt lies, whether we shall lay this charge at the door of the good Angels, or of the bad, or of both. Many of the Ancients restrain it to the evil Angels to the Apostate Angels; God put no trust in them, he saw folly in them; taking it for confessed, that the Angels which stood, the good Angels are trusty servants, discreet and wise, fare from, either unfaithfulness or folly; such, as God hath put trust in, and they never deceived his trust; such whose obedience is made the pattern of ours, by Christ himself in his pattern of prayer, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. And would the Lord regulare us by them who are themselves irregular? or make them our copy in doing his will, whose folly renders them unfit to be trusted with the doing of his will? Therefore (say these) such a charge suits not the state and condition of the good Angels. Others cast it upon the good Angels, that God put no trust, no, not in them. I conceive, from either there may be a good sense, though I incline to the latter. For in the Apostate Angels (take it in the broadest sense) God saw no light, no goodness, no faithfulness at all; they have plainly discovered themselves, and shown, not only weakness and unfaithfulness, but wickedness and utmost folly. But to confine it to the evil Angels, or to understand it chief of them, is too narrow for the Text; especially, seeing Angeli boni exse nihil habent nisi insantam negatiuè, i. e. nullam exse sap●entiam, nullam veritatem, bonitatem nullam. this is but a light, a too easy charge for those Apostate Spirits to say onle thus that God found unfaithfulness in them, and charged them with folly: for in them rebellion was found, and they stand charged to this day with High Treason, against the Crown and dignity of the King of Heaven: and are therefore committed to prison, and reserved in chains of darkness to the judgement of the great day. As for the good Angels, God may be said to charge them with folly without any wrong, either to the holiness of their nature, or the steadfastness of their obedience. For upon examination (or intuition rather) he finds, they have no wisdom, or stability, but by Divine bounty and establishment. As the apostate Angels were positively full of folly and unfaithfulness so the good Angels might be charged with folly, negatively, namely, that they had no faithfulness, but as assisted and propped up. But, we may take the Angels in a third or middle consideration neither for the fallen or apostate Angels, nor for the good and confirmed Angels as distinct, or since this distinction: But by Angels we may understand the Angelical nature; the whole complex nature of Angels in their creation and constitution was such, as God could not trust fully unto, such as he saw folly in. We may demonstrate this plainly, because a great part of the Angels (and it is questioned whether or no the geater part) but it is clear, that a great part of the Angels, a whole Regiment at least, proved disloyal, and fell together: therefore the Angelical nature (in that abstracted notion) is subject to folly and unfaithfulness, as well as man, although they are of a more excellent make and constitution then man. God looking upon Angels in general, saw they were not to be trusted; the event also showing many of them (who were as good by nature as they who stand) falling from him discovering their folly and nakedness to all the world. But it may be questioned yet, how there could be folly in the Angelical nature, for as much as God viewing and reviewing all the works, which he had made, saw every thing which he had made, and behold it was very good. I answer, first God charged them with folly comparatively, respecting himself. As (1 Tim. 6. 16.) the Apostle saith of God, that he only hath immortality; that speech is exclusive, shutting out all other creatures from a participation of God's immortality. Yet we know Angels are immortal, Angels die not, therefore also they are opposed to men (in the next Verse to the Text) who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, and are crushed before the moth; Angels are not crushed, they die not, yet God only is immortal; because the immortality of Angels compared with the immortality of God, is but mortality. And the reason is this, because Angels are not immortal in themselves, or of themselves, they have not original or absolute immortality, their immortality is dependent and derivative; God only is independently In comparatione justitiae Dei sinec sancti in coelis Angeli justi essedicantur, non mihi videtur importuna sententia, non quia ut hoc essentà justitia lapsi sunt, sed quia facti sunt & Deus non sunt. August. count. Prisc. and originally immortal, and hence he only is said to have immortality. As it is in the point of life, so also of righteousness, wisdom, and faithfulness. God only is faithful, he only is wise, that's the Apostles phrase, To God only wise: Men, yea Angels, are unfaithful, unwise, foolish, compared with God. He is wise of himself, and in himself, in his own compass creatures have only what they borrow or receive from him. To this sense on of the Ancients speaks fully, In comparison of the justice of God, if the holy Angels in heaven be called unjust, I see no hurt in the assertion not because they have fallen from justice, but because they are creatures, and not God. All is resolved into this, they are creatures, that's enough to prove their folly, and unfaithfulness And, if a man that hath not only some smattering of learning and knowledge but is a professed Scholar, be looked upon as ignorant, compared with the Ben-clerks and great Scholars of the world; is it any wonder that Angels should be called fools, in reference to the infinite wisdom of God? The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. And it is as true of Angels, the foolishness of God is wiser than Angels, and the weakness of God is stronger than Angels. Angels are called Principalities and powers, but yet, it is only because they act in the power of God; and go forth in his strength, that's the first answer. The whole nature of Angels is unfaithful and foolish, weighed with God. Secondly, I answer, although in the Angels there is no actual unfaithfulness or folly, yet there is possible folly & unfaithfulness in Angels; and, this potentiality is the thing here meant or aimed at. Cuicunque c●eaturae hoc convenit, ut peccare non possit hoc habet ex dono gratiae, non ex conditione naturae. Aqin. p 1 quest. 63. Art. 1. The Holy Angels that now stand are wise and faithful altogether, yet considered in themselves (not as confirmed by Christ) they may fall; their condition is altered, but their constitution is the same. It is otherwise with man (which makes a wide difference between Angels and men.) Man not only hath a potentiality to be foolish & unfaithful, but man is actual foolish and unfaithful; yea man in himself is nothing else, but a bundle of folly and unfaithfulness. Whereas Angels in themselves, or considered in their natural constitution, have no folly actually in them at all. The nature of man is nothing but sin, and Angels have no sin at all in their nature; they only have a potentiality, a possibility in their nature to sin. So then, we must understand this charge of folly with two cautions concerning Angels. First, there was not any folly concreated with them, their nature is purely pure. Secondly, they have not contracted any folly into their nature. The folly of the good Angels is but like the folly of man in the state of innocency, when he had only a power to sin: which possibility of Angels to sin is by the mediation of Christ (wherein these Angels have a share though not to redeem or raise them from their Fall (as man) yet to confirm and keep them from falling) I say, by the mediation of Christ that possibility is removed. Christ hath changed their possibility to sin, into an impossibility of sinning. This is a glorious privilege indeed, and that which all the Saints shall have in glory. Redemption hath not only bettered the condition of man, but the condition of Angels. Now they all excel in strength, doing the commandments of God, and harkening to the voice of his word for ever. Psal. 103. 20. We may hence learn, first, What the sin of Angels was, God charged his Angels with folly; The possible sin, which God saw and still sees, in the nature of Angels, was the actual sin of Angels. Pride & self confidence were the sins of Angels, and these are the most proper sins of Angels; Angels cannot fall into every sin. The Schooleman questions, Whether the first sin of Angels was pride? He argues and concludes that howsoever in regard of guilt, the Devils, Aquin pa●. 1. q. 63. art. 1. or fallen Angels, have all sins upon them, because they tempt man to every sin (For he that tempts another to a sin which himself commits not, or is incapable to commit is as guilty, as if he had committed it) yet in regard of the act itself, evil angels can only commit those sins, which are suitable to a spiritual nature. Now a spiritual nature, is not affected with those sins, which belong to a corporal or sensitive nature; Devils are not adulterers, they are not drunkards; theirs are spiritual sins, and their chief spiritual sin, was pride; Their first sin consisted in not submitting themselves to that condition, wherein God placed them, and whereunto they were appointed. All agree it was pride, though there be different opinions about what this pride shown if self; whether in affecting a higher degree, than God created them in refusing the work and office God set them about, (which some conceive, was the ministration to, or the guardianship of man, which trust they deserted or scorned) or whether it were in affecting a further condition upon their own strength, not looking to the strength and grace of God, whatsoever the particular was, the general is plain, they abode not in the truth, they kept not their station: Pride and ambition swelled them, till they broke and fell. Secondly observe, Angels (as creatures) are mutable creatures, A●geli f●erum à Deo creati beati ●eatitudine natural, non au●em beatitu●i●● 〈…〉, quae in 〈…〉 though they are the best of creatures, yet they are changeable creatures; though they are the most perfect creatures, yet there is somewhat in them of imperfection. Look upon Angels in their creation, they were created blessed; Blessed (as the Schools determine) with a natural blessedness, not with a supernatural which consists in the vision of God; for, if they had been created in a supernatural blessedness, than they had never fallen; they were created only in a natural blessedness, and from that they might fall and did. Now, indeed the good Angels have obtained by Christ a supernatural blessedness, from▪ which they cannot fall; and so by grace are become immutable, which by creation they were not. Though Christ be not a Redeemer (as was touched before) yet he is a confirmer, a supporter of the holy Angels. In reference whereunto, Christ is called the head of all things (Eph. 1. 22.) And of him the whole family in Heaven, and in earth is named, Ephes. 3. 15. And by him (Col. 1. 20.) God hath reconciled all things unto himself, by him I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in Heaven. Some understand that place in the Colossians of men only, because of the word reconciling, yet we may well take in Angels also, because, that place takes in all things, both in Heaven and earth. And howsoever Angels needed not such a reconciliation, as supposes a breach of peace, or a falling out, before: yet they needed such a reconciliation, as consists in the continuance and strengthening of that peace which was before. Further, We learn by way of Corollary from the former point, That there is no stability in any estate out of Christ; The Angels themselves could not be trusted out of Christ; folly is in them not considered in Christ, how much more in man? When Adam fell, if God should have repaired him again, and set him up (in statu quo) in the same condition wherein he was, yea in a better (if a better could be had) without a Mediator; and so have tried his obedience once more; or should every particular man have stood for himself, and not one for all; certainly, as we fell at first in a lump all together, so we should have all fallen single (as it were) by retail, one after another: There is no assurance in any estate on this side Christ: Nor man, nor Angel can hold out without a Surety: Christ is called the Surety of the Covenant, Heb. 7. 22. because he undertakes for us that we shall do our parts, that we shall be faithful and believing, that we shall be holy and humble, that we shall do what God expects from those, whom free grace shall save: Christ undertakes for all the grace, and holiness, and faithfulness which is required in believers; He gives no command, but what himself helps us to fulfil, nor calls he for any duty, but what himself works in us and for us. Fourthly observe, That God sees imperfection in creatures whose natures are most perfect. Man looking upon the Angelical nature, or upon man's nature in innocency, could see no fault or folly in either, but God saw both possibly faulty, though not actually faulty. And, as it is with the nature of men and Angels, so with their works: when we can see nothing amiss in a work, God can: as the Apostle acknowledges (1 Cor. 4. 4.) I know nothing by myself: I profess, when I look into the course of my ministry (for he speaks to that particular) when I look, how I have discharged my Apostleship, my conscience bears me witness, I know of no unfaithfulness or neglect, but yet, though I know nothing by myself, I am not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the Lord: as if he should say, wheu God comes to look over my work, he may find faults, many faults in it; there is no standing for creatures before God in any creature-purity: Angelical perfection is imperfect in his sight. Angels have not the least spot or tincture of sin in their nature, yet the nature of Angels is potentially sinful. The best creature (in regard of pure naturals) may be wrought to evil, one God cannot. And the reason is, because every one may err, who hath not the rule of righteousness within him: and therefore it is impossible God should err, because his own will is the rule of his own actions: He is every way a law unto himself. The Apostle speaking of the Gentiles (Rom. 2. 14.) saith, These having not the law, are a law unto themselves. Not that their nature is a law, (which is the transcendent privilege of God) but, that they have the law of nature, or the law printed in their nature, though not published to their ear; They have the law written in their hearts, but the heart of God is his law, both written and unwritten. Creatures how perfect soever in their nature, have the will of God for their rule and law: which though it be within them, yet it is not Them, and so they may act beside it. The hand of the Artificer often fails in cutting or fashioning the work he is about, because his hand is not the rule by which he works: his hand works by a rule or line, his hand is not that rule or line, therefore he sometimes strikes right; and sometimes he strikes wrong; but if the hand of a man were the rule by which he works, than it were impossible that ever he should work amiss. Thus it is with God, the very will of God which acts, is the rule by which he acts, hence Solum illum actum à rectitudine declina re non contingit, cujus regula est ipsa virtus agentis. Aquin. par. 1. q. ●3. art. 1. it is impossible for God to fail; Angels and men act by a rule prescribed, their will is one thing, and the rule is another; the power by which they work is one thing, and the direction by which they work is another; and therefore (to shut up this point) the most perfect creature may possibly swerve and err in acting; Only he cannot err in any thing he doth, whose will is the perfect rule of all be doth. Fifthly, Forasmuch as God beholding Angels, sees folly in them, learn, That God hath no need of any creature, no not of Aagels. The reason is clearly this, because Angels themselves in themselves are unfaithful, Angels themselves in themselves are foolish, therefore what need hath God of such as these? As King. Achish said (1 King. 21. 15.) when David changed his behaviour before him (studiously acting the fool & mad man) scrabling on the doors of the gate, and letting his spittle fall down upon his beard: What, saith Achish unto his servants, have I need of madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? So, God may say, when he looks upon the best of creatures, Angels or men, have I any need of madmen, any need of fools or of their folly? Forasmuch then, as there is nothing in any creature, barely as a creature, but what may be reduced to folly and unfaithfulness, and would certainly end there, therefore God hath no need at all of any creature. Men will say, we need not the help of disloyal or untrusty men, we need not the help of fools, to counsel us, or of unfaithful ones, to act for us. Besides, Creatures are no help to God: For the truth is, God and the creature, are no more than God alone; I say, God and the utmost perfection of all creatures put together, are no more than God alone: The reason of it is, because, if there be any perfection in creatures, it is but what God himself hath put into them. What a man gives to another, is no addition to himself, much less is that which God gives man or Angel, any addition to God. God is infinite, and no addition can be made to infinite: When the creature doth most for us, the creature (of itself) doth nothing for us, God doth all in all & by all. The creature doth you no more good at one time than at another, all the good which is done at any time, God doth it: So then, every way God hath no need of creatures. And it is our comfort, I am sure it ought to be, that he hath not. He saith to wisemen I have no need of your counsels; to rich men I have no need of your purses; and to great men, I have no deed of your power; he sees all is vanity. Lastly, If God trust not Angels, let not us trust in man; if he charges his Angels with folly, let not us adore the wisdom of man. This discovery of imperfection in Angels, should lay all creatures low before us, and take us off from confidence or boasting in any arm of flesh. To this sense, Eliphaz prosecutes the argument in the following words to the end of the Chapter. If Angels, the chiefest and choicest of creatures be thus weak, what then is man, who dwells in a house of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, and who are crushed before the moth? JOB. Chap. 4. Vers. 19, 20, 21. How much less on them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth? They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it. Doth not their excellency which is in them, go away? they die, even without wisdom. THese three verses, contain a description of man in opposition to the Angels. The form of the argument was given before to this effect; That if Angels, those excellent creatures, cannot stand before God, or be justified in his sight; then much less man, a weak creature, man who dwells in a house of clay, and whose foundation is in the dust. Two things this Context holds forth to us, concerning the weakness of man, in opposition to Angels. First, It shows that man is a material substance, so are not Angels, Angels are spirits, spiritual substances. Secondly, It shows us, that man is a mortal substance, so are not Angels, spirits die not. That, man is a material substance, is proved in the beginning of the 19 verse, from those words, He dwells in a house of clay, whose foundation is in the dust. That, man is a mortal substance, is implied in the former; That which is made of clay and dust, must needs be brittle ware. But besides that his mortality is implied in those words, it is proved expressly and in terms in the words following to the end of the Chapter. And this mortality of man is set forth, by divers adjuncts or circumstances. 1. By a similitude, shadowing the quickness or the suddenness of man's death, They are crushed before the moth. 2. By the shortness of life; They are destroyed from morning to evening. 3. By the everlasting power, which death hath upon us (respecting this world) They perish for ever. 4. By the common and general insensibleness and inconsideration of this frail life, of this long lasting death; Man (saith he) is destroyed from morning to evening, he dieth quickly, perisheth for ever, he lies, as long as the world lasts, in his grave, yet such is the stupidity of man, that none regard all this, he dies without any regarding. 5. And lest any should say, surely, man is not such a pitiful creature, as this sad description represents him; man was the most excellent part of the inferior creation, God planted many noble endowments upon man: and is there no more to be said of him but this? he is crushed like a moth, and dies, no man regarding? That objection is taken away in the last verse; as if the Holy Ghost had said, I grant that man, besides dust and clay (which are his materials) hath many heavenly, yea divine endowments, he hath the impressions of God's Image in reason and understanding stamped upon him; but, though he be thus qualified, yet all his excellency (all that which may be accounted the choicest and the best in him) will not keep him sweet, or protect him from death and rottenness: Doth not (saith he) their excellency which is in them go away? as if he had said, If you allege, that man is more than dust and clay, than weakness and corruption; 'tis granted: but what then? Doth not their excellency that is in them, go away? doth it not vanish, and where is it? and where is he? All natural perfections (whatsoever man hath under the notion of a reasonable creature) be they never so high and raised, quickly pass whither and decay: They have no abiding excellency in them, Doth not their excelleny that is in them, go away? They have wisdom, but they die without wisdom, even as bruit beasts, either their wisdom decays, while they live; or, it is not able to keep them alive: wisdom, parts, and learning stand them in no stead to prevent death. Now if their excellency go away, they must go too; if wisdom cannot keep them alive, die they must; as we shall see further in opening the several parts, having thus given the sense in general. These things considered, we may see the strength of the Argument in the 19 verse, How much less on them who dwell in houses of clay, etc. as if he should say; Forasmuch, as Angels cannot stand in competition with God, or approve themselves in his sight, certainly much less can man, how great thoughts soever he hath of himself; much less can man be justified in his sight, who comes so many degrees short of Angelical perfections; For, his soul which is within him, though it be a noble and a spiritual substance, and that wherein he is most like to Angels, yet this soul of his, sojourns, dwells and acts, in a body composed of corruptible clay, and hath no better a foundation (in a natural capacity) than the very dust; And, so subject is this man to mortality, thus composed of dust and clay, as, what through the inward distempers of his body, what through outward accidents and casualties, he is as transitory and as subject to death, as the meanest worm, as the poorest creature in the world, he is crushed before the moth. How much less on them that dwell in houses of clay. The Hebrew bears a double rendering, either how much less, (as we) or how much more: If it be rendered how much less, than it refers to the first clause of the former verse; Thus, if he Patricula 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro qua est simpliciter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc loco ●●rumque desig not, sc. vel quanto minus vel quanto magis, Drus. puts no trust in his Angels, then much less doth he put trust in men, who dwell in houses of clay. If it be rendered, how much more, than it refers to the latter clause of that verse; Thus, If he charged his Angels with folly, then how much more may he charge them with folly, who dwell in houses of clay? Which words, are a description of man, either in his civil condition, or in his natural constitution. Some take these words in the very letter, The house, for that which we ordinarily call a house, the house wherein man ordinarily inhabits; as if Eliphaz had thus said, Angels dwell in Heaven, they have everlasting mansions, but man, dwells in a house of clay, the best and goodliest houses are but clay and dust, a little refined and sublimated by art or nature, brick and stone, all these materials, or but dirt concocted by the heat of fire and Sun; so that, if the allusion were to the very houses in which mankind dwells, in oppsition to the habitation of Angels, these set them fare inferior to, and below the Angels. As, these take it for the house wherein man lives, so some understand it, of the house, where man lies being dead, namely the grave: The Chaldee is express paraphrasing thus, How much more the wicked, who dwell in a sepulchre of clay? That, the grave is called a house, the Prophet helps us. Isa. 14. 18, 19 All the Kings of the Nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house, that is, in the grave, as the next words prove, But thou art cast out of thy grave, etc. But I rather take it (as was before intimated) to be an expression of man's natural constitution, He dwells in a house of clay, whose foundation is in the dust. And so the Apostle is express (2 Cor. 5. 1.) If our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved; the earthly house is the body; and (2 Cor. 4. 7.) the body is called an earthen vessel, We have this treasure▪ (namely the precious Promises 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Turbidus, lututentus, mixtus, ut cum aquae turbantur & in eyes lutum itae commevetur, ut confundantur & luto miscentur, ut in cementum degenerent. and truths of God in the dispensation of the Gospel) in earthen vessels: We dying men, preach eternal life; we have death in our faces, while the word of life is in our mouths. The word here used, signifies clay, either wrought or unwrought, either natural slimy dirt, or dirt made up for use, by art: So Gen. 11. 3. when they attempted the building of that Tower, it is said, They had slime for mortar; it is the word of the Text, which is used for both slime and mortar; they had slime (which is natural) for mortar; that is (by Art and industry) they made mortar of slime: The body of man is a house of clay, but not of rude natural clay; the power, and (if I may so speak) the art of God hath wrought it beyond itself, and refined it for this goodly building, the body of man. The body of man is called a house or building in two respects. First, because of the comely fabric: it is set up by line or by rule, there is admirable architecture, admirable skill in building and raising up of the body of man, story after story, room after room, and contrivance after contrivance, in all so compact and set together, that the most curious piles in the world are but rude heaps compared to it; so then in respect of the frame and structure, it is fitly called a house. Secondly, * Hoc corpus luteum domus animae dicitur, quia anima humana quantum ad aliquid est in corpore sicut homo in domo, vel sicut nanta in navi, in quantum scilicet est motor corporis; anima a utem non unitur corpori accidentaliter sed formaliter, ut forma materiae, dicitur enim materia fundamentum formae, eò quod est prima pars in generatione, sunt fundamen●um in constitutione domus. Aquin. the frame of the body is called a house, in respect of the soul; the soul dwells in or inhabits the body, as the whole man inhabits or dwells in a house; the soul guides and orders the body, as the inhabitant order the affairs of the house, or as the Mariner and Pilot steer and direct the motions of the ship: Not that the soul is in the body accidentally (we must not strain the similitude so far) as a man is in a house, or a Mariner is in a ship: there is a formal union between the body and the soul; only the soul is said to dwell in the body, and the body or the matter is after called a foundation, because there is the beginning. Man was begun at his body, as the house is at the foundation: first God form man (that is the body) out of the dust of the earth, and then he breathed into him the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Thus the body is a house, and it is a house of clay, or a house of Co●pus humanum lutum digitur, quod ex te●ra & aqua gravioribus clementis▪ abundantius constat. Aquin. earth, so called, chief in two respects. First, because of the matter of it, it is made of earth. Though all Elements (as Naturalists teach) meet in mixed bodies, yet earth is predominant in gross or heavy bodies. Secondly, because of the continuance of it, or the means by which it is supported: for, as it was at the first framed out of the earth, so it is still supported and maintained by earth; earthly creatures, meat and drink with such like accommodations, continue and repair this house from day to day, until at last it be laid down in the dust, and return to earth again. So then, it is called an earthly house, not only from the matter of which it is made, but also from the means by which it is kept in repair, earth and earthy all. Whose foundation is in the dust. These words aggravate the weakness of man's condition. Suppose man were form out of the dust and were but clay, yet, had he a strong foundation, that would support and strengthen him. The strength of a building is in the foundation, and that building whose walls are but weak may stand long, being firmly founded. The Church of Christ is weak of itself; but because the Church hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pulvis prop●ie rarior & tenuinat, qualis in superfi●ie terrae, Me●. in Gen. Significa● non simplici●ur pulverem, sed pulve●ē canosum ●● l●mosum Fapius in Gen. 2. 7 Pulvis levissimus ex quo nihil firmum aut diuturnum ompingi potest. such a mighty foundation, CHRIST the Rock, a living and an unmoveable Rock: (That confession of Peter, Thou art Christ the Son of the living God, is the Church's foundation Rock) therefore the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. But when the building is weak, and the foundation weak too, in how tottering a condition is such a building? Man's foundation is but sand or dust: and the word signifies flying, light, unstable, movable dust, such as lies on the surface of the earth, and is played about with every puff of wind, though some (I confess) take the word not strictly, for this flying dust, but for slimy dust, or dust moistened, which is slime. This was the matter out of which God created man (Gen. 2. 7.) dust out of the earth, or out of the dust of the earth. That dust which can hardly be collected or kept together to make a subsistence, that is laid together as the foundation of man, His foundation is in the dust. Hence we may observe first, what the pedigree and original of man is what treasure soever he carries about him, yet he is an earthen vessel, or as the Apostle speaks of the first man, 1. Cor. 15. 47. he is of the earth earthy, Earth is the Original of man, and man himself is no better, Earthy; yea, the Earth is called his earth, as if he had propriety in nothing but earth, Psal. 1●. 6. 4. speaking of the greatest Princes, Trust ye not in Princes, nor in the son of man, his breath goeth forth, and he returneth to his earth. Our bodies can challenge no alliance with, or propriety in any thing but earth, it is our earth. The wise man (Eccles. 12. 7.) calls the body, not only an Ally to the dust, or akin to dust, but plain dust, Then (speaking of Death) shall the dust return to the earth as it was? it came from the earth, and in death it returns to the same point from whence it set out. A second thing we may take notice of from man's original, which exceedingly advances the infinite wisdom, and the Almighty power of God. Dust and Earth are the matter out of which we are form. But doth the countenance of man represent dust and earth? Can any one say, who had nothing to judge by, but the eye, that man was made of such mean materials? What characters of Beauty and Majesty sit in his visage? how unlike is he to his own parent, the Earth? Man hath received from God, not only an excellent fabric or composure of body, but if you consider it, the very matter of which the body is composed, is fare more excellent than earth or dust. Take a piece of earth, or a handful of dust, and compare them with the flesh of man, that flesh is earth indeed, but that flesh is fare better than mere earth. This shows the power of the Creator, infinitely exceeding the power of a creature. A Goldsmith can make you a goodly Jewel, but than you must give him gold and precious stones of which to make it; he can put the matter into a hetter form, but he cannot make the matter better. The Engraver can make a curious Statue, exactly limbed, and proportioned to the life, out of a ruff piece, but the matter must be the same you put into his hands; if you give him Marble, it will be a Marble Statue, but he cannot mend the matter. Man's work Materiam superabat opus. often exceeds his matter, but man's work cannot make the matter exceed itself. Now God took up a rude lump of earth, or subtle dust, and he not only put that into an excellent form, but he mended the matter also. Man is earth, but he is earth sublimated and refined; Not only doth the form exceed the matter, but the matter form exceeds the matter unformed. Thirdly, as this lifts up the wisdom and power of God, so it should humble and lay man low. Eliphaz improves this principle as an Argument to take down the spirit of Job from his supposed heights and self-conceits. Surely thou art great in thy own thoughts, when thou presumest to enter a contest with God: But, look to thy Original; such towering, lofty, and ascending thoughts would quickly be abated, if thou wouldst remember than thou art but a clod of earth, a little refined clay, moving slime, enlivened dust, breathing ashes; did we spiritually look upon the matter of our bodies, it would take down the swelling of our spirits; when our spirits are like Jordan in the time of harvest, overflowing all the banks of humility and moderation, this thought spiritualised will bring us into our channels again, and recall us to our own bounds and banks. Some Naturalists observe of the Bees, that when they are up and angry, do but throw a little dust upon them, they are quiet and hive again. Certainly, when our imaginations are buzzing and humming in the air, when thy are flying and mounting up to Heaven, not in holy aspire to God (which we ever aught) but in bold aspire against God, which we should never dare, in such a distemper of our spirits, if we could but cast this dust upon them, it would quiet and bring them in again. Hath not man cause to lie as low in his thoughts, as that from whence he was extracted? should not he be humbled to the dust, who is dust? Especially, this earth should be abased in all addresses to Heaven, in all our approaches unto God, as Abraham, Genesis 18. 27. I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes. We should never be so low in our own thoughts, as when we make use of our highest privileges; and the nearer we are admitted to come to Heaven, the more should we (for the magnifying of Freegrace, which makes this admission) remember that we are but Earth. Fourthly, if the body be but clay, and hath but a foundation of dust, then do not bestow too much care and cost upon your clay, upon your dust. How many are there who bestow much pains to trim up a vile body, and neglect a precious soul? Most usually they who bestow most pains upon this mortal house of clay, bestow lest about that immortal inhabitant. In an over cared for body, there ever dwells a neglected soul. You shall have a body cleanly washed, and a soul all filth; a body neatly clothed and dressed, with a soul all naked and unready; a body fed, and a soul starved; a body full of the creature, and a soul empty of Christ; these are poor souls indeed. That complaint of the Moralist against Heathens, may be renewed against some Christians, they are busied most between the comb and the glass, and troubled more at a disorder in their hair, then at a disorder in the Commonwealth Inter' pectinem & speculum occupari. Sen. (he said, I say) then at a disorder in the Church, or in their own hearts. It is a sad thing, that any who bear the name of a Christian, should spend much time between the comb and the glass, and but little between Ordinance and Ordinance, between the Bible and the Pulpit, between reading and hearing, between both, and holy meditation; the body is but a house of clay, it is but dust, therefore be not so industrious for it. We usually laugh at children when they are making Houses of Clay, and Pies of Dirt. They whose care is thus over active for the body, are but children of a greater stature, and show, they have so much more folly in their hearts then they, by how much they have more years over their heads, and are foolish about more serious matters than they. There is no child to the old child. Fifthly, seeing this house of clay is founded also in dust, observe, that man is a very frail, an unsteady, and an unstable creature, every puff must needs subject him to ruin. Look upon his foundation, it is nothing but dust. When CHRIST (Math. 7. ult.) had finished his Sermon upon the Mount, he compares his hearers to such as build either upon the Rock, or upon the Sand, they that hear and do not, are like a house built upon the sand; and what becomes of that house? when the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blue, that house fell, and the fall thereof was great. A foundation of dust or sand cannot stand out one storm. The house of man's body is walled and roofed with clay, and bottomed upon no better than dust; the strength of the Church (as was touched before) is described by the matter of its foundation A Rock, Matth. 16. And the new Jerusalem (which as it is conceived to be the most pure state of the Church here on earth, so it must be the strongest) is set forth having twelve foundations, and they all of stone, and all those stones most precious, and therefore most durable, Rev. 21. 19 The strength and stability of that estate which the Saints shall inherit, when these houses of earth are by death leveled to the earth (the stability (I say) of that estate) is described under the notion of a City which hath foundations (Heb. 11. 10.) He (namely Abraham) looked for a City which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. When the Holy Ghost saith foundations, who can tell how many they may be? we can easily tell the fewest they can be; two is the lowest number; so that at least this City hath a foundation upon a foundation. The foundation of Christ's perfect righteousness is laid upon the foundation of God's eternal free love: here is foundation upon foundation. The City above hath these foundations, and therefore we receive a City that cannot be shaken. I note these things, to show by consent of Scripture, that the stability of any condition in allusion to a building is expressed by the strength of its foundation Now, all our outward glory and excellency, our life, and all the pomp of it, hath scarce so much as deserves to be called a foundation; a foundation of dust hath only the name of a foundation. That Image in Daniel which typed out all the descents of worldly greatness, had a head of gold, the breast and arms of Silver, the thighs of Brass, and the legs of Iron, but the feet were part of Iron and part of Clay. The feet are the foundation, and the feet of this Image speak thus much to all the world, that all worldly pomp & greatness, all worldly power and majesty must fall, for the image stands upon clay; and though it have a mixture of iron in the feet which is strong, yet it shall not stand by the iron which is strong, but fall and be broken by the clay which is weak. As it was in those great Monarchies, into which the outward power of Nations and Kingdoms was contracted: so if you look upon any particular man, though you may conceive him to have a head of gold, arms and breast of silver, thighs of brass, and legs of iron, yet when you come to the feet, the foundation of the whole body, it is but dust, which a small storm will dissipate and blow away, The body of man hath so weak a foundation, that it is sometime compared to that which hath no foundation, a Tabernacle, (1 Cor. 5.) If the earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved, saith the Apostle. Now a Tabernacle hath a roof or a covering, but no foundation: The Tabernacle of Tectum habet, fundamentum non habet. the body hath a covering, but hardly any foundation, only a foundation in the dust. Lastly, Consider the form of speaking in this Scripture, How much less on them, who dwell in houses of clay? He speaks of the whole man, as dwelling in a house of clay; Now we know that a body cannot properly be said to dwell in abody, the house doth not dwell in a house; yet he speaks, as of a complete person dwelling in a house of clay, which yet is to be understood of one part of the person, The soul; that dwells in a house of clay, that is, it acts and officiates in a body composed of clay. Hence observe, seeing the whole man cometh under the notion of the soul; That the soul of man is The man, The soul goes away with the Non qued anima si● bono ut quidam posuerunt, dicentes hominem nihil aliud esse quàm animam indutam corpore, sed quia anima est principatior pars hominis, unum quodque autem consuevit appellari id, qu●d est in eo principalius. Aquin. in loc. name of the whole person: The soul is not the man in a natural consideration, (as some have philosophised, asserting that man is nothing but a soul clothed with a body) for, man is man by the union of soul and body, and the perfection of man as man, consists in that union; but the soul is the man in a moral consideration, because it is the more noble and excellent part of man: and it is usual to denominate the whole from that part which is more excellent. The body is but as the Cabinet, the soul is the Jewel; the body is but as the sheath or the scabbard, the soul is as the knife or the sword; You know when a man buyeth a sword, he buys a scabbard too, or when he buys a knife, he buys the sheath too, yet he saith, this knife cost me so much, or I gave so much for this sword he makes no mention of the scabbard or of the sheath; now the body is the sheath or scabbard of the soul (Dan. 7. 15.) you have it expressed so, I was grieved (saith the Prophet) in my spirit in the midst of my body, so we translate it, but the Chaldee is (and so we have it in some Margins) in the midst of my sheath; The soul is the blade, a blade of admirable mettle and temper; the body how beautiful soever by nature, or gay by art is but a velvet, or an embossed sheath and scabbard: therefore at first, when God form man out of the dust of the earth, and had breathed into him the breath of life, the result of all is, and man became a living soul; it is not said, man became a living body, though life was breathed into the body, and the body stood up and lived, yet the best part is named for all, the dust and the clay are (as it were) quite forgotten in the story, man became a living soul. And that may be a reason, why the fear of God and keeping 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Commandments (Eccles. 12. ult) is called all man, because these things chiefly concern that part of man, which (upon the matter) is all man. The fear of God and keeping his Commandments, are soul work, and tend to the eternal welfare of the soul; and though the body shares in all the blessings, and assists in most labours of the soul, yet the soul labours most for, and is the chiefest seat of blessedness. How strangely have some departed from this point of truth, which the Scripture every where writes as with a Sunbeam: who instead of making the soul to be the chief part of man, deny that man hath any such part And whereas some (touched at before) erred on the right hand, saying, that Man was nothing but a soul: These go astray more, and more dangerously on the left hand, saying that Man hath no soul at all: An opinion, howsoever lately dressed in some fineness of wit, and subtleties of Philosophy, yet in itself so gross, so dishonourable to man, so contrary to this Text, and the whole tenor of the word of God, that I hope it is very mortal, and will shortly find a grave in every heart, but theirs, who have more reason to wish it, then to maintain it. I intent no dispute about it, beyond the Argument before me, which if it be not demonstrative (as many others from Scripture are) yet it carries (at least) a fair probability, and an ingenuous ground; for how can man be said to dwell in a house of clay, if he himself be nothing else but a house of clay? or how can the inhabitant and the house be in all, but one and the same? But I shall dwell too long upon these houses of clay, in which man cannot dwell long: for it follows: Which are crushed before the moth. What strength is there in houses which are crushed before the moth? or as others read it Which shall be consumed after the manner of a moth? Master Broughton thus, Beaten to powder as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad facies tineae, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in medum tineae. Sept. Velut à tinea. Vulg. Pagnine. moth be they: That is, They are crushed as soon, or as speedily as a moth. Another, They are consumed as it were with a moth. A fifth translates differently from all these, Which are crushed and consumed before Arcturus. Arcturus is a Constellation in Heaven about the North Pole; we read of it in the 9th of this Book of Job, verse 9 Which makes Arcturus, Orion, and the Pleyades, etc. The same word here, signifies a moth, and sometimes a Constellation, a knot or company of Stars: The sense of this reading is made out thus, They are crushed before the face of Arcturus. That is, they are crushed as long, or whilst Arcturus doth continue; in plain English, as long as there is a Star in Heaven, man will be a mortal man; or man will never change this condition of mortality, while the world stands. We may thus expound it, by that (Psal. 72. 17.) where the Prophet describing the Kingdom of Christ in the extent both of place and time, saith, His name shall be continued as long as the Sun; the Hebrew is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad facies solu. His name shall continue before the face of the Sun; to continue before the face of the Sun, is to run in a line of equal continuance with the Sun; so here, They are crushed before the fate of those Stars, that is, they shall be in such a crushing perishing condition as long as those Stars continue, which is, as long as the course of this world continues. Our own translation which comes clear to the letter of the Original, is further to be looked into. They are crushed before the moth. It may have a threefold interpretation, First, before the moth, that is, before in time, or sooner than the moth. How quickly is a moth crushed? man may be crushed before it, sooner than it is crushed. Secondly, Before the moth, may be as much, as, in the presence of the moth; as if he should say, man thinks he is able to stand it out against a potent Adversary, yea against God himself; but alas poor creature, he is not able to stand before a moth, or contend with a fly, if God arm any of them against him. Thirdly, They are crushed before the moth, that is, man is crushed and torn, vexed and worn out by a thousand miseries and troubles which attend his life, before ever the moth has to do with him, before ever he lies down in the bed of death, before the moth, that is, for the moth to fret on, or as a companion for the worms. All these renderings, though they differ in words, come near and meet in the same general sense, namely, An illustration of man's frailty. Take them first by way of similitude, Man is crushed as it were with a moth, it notes thus much to us, That death consumes us without noise, secretly and silently: To do a thing as a moth, is to do it silently and without noise. Hos. 5. 12. God himself saith, that he will be as a moth unto Ephraim, and as a Lion, ver. 14. when he saith he will be as a Lion, it implieth open judgements, which come violently and visibly, which come in, like thunder, roaring as a Lion upon them; But when he saith, I will be as a moth unto Ephraim, the meaning is, I will send silent and secret judgements upon you, which shall eat out your strength, corrode your power, and blemish the beauty of your garments, and you shall not perceive it; Ye shall be undone, consumed, and (as we speak Proverbially) ye shall never know who hurt you. The open enemies of the Church are threatened with secret judgements, under this notion of a moth, Isa. 50. 9 Lo they shall wax old as doth a garment, the moth shall consume them. Again, Chap. 51. 6, 7. Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revile. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: that is, whereas, your enemies have made a great noise and clamour with their revile against you; I will come against them without noise, they shall perish with as little clamour as a garment doth, that is eaten with moths. And thus the life of man is ordinarily consumed (as it were) by a moth; sicknesses and diseases enter secretly, into his house of clay, they lie in the frame and between the rafters of this house, sucking up the spirits, and wasting the strength, spending the heat, and drinking up the natural moisture of the body; we know not how we consume, but we consume; we know not how we decline, but we decline; we die, we know not how, but we die: Is it not then as with a moth, creeping upon us, yea feeding upon us without noise? Again, Take it by way of similitude, not as before actively or instrumentally, they are crushed as by a moth, or as a moth crushes; but passively or subjectively; They are crushed as a moth, that is, they are crushed as a moth is crushed, alluding to the easiness of crushing a moth; A moth is dust as soon as you crush it the least touch kills it; Man in his house of clay is so weak, that if God do but touch him, he dies and falls to dust; the Lord needs not bring his great Artillery, and make batteries against the body of man: the body of man is no such strong Fort or Bulwark to stand out a long siege, or endure much assaulting and opposition; he is crushed as a moth between your fingers; Hence David most humbly deprecates the stroke of God, which he saw coming, or felt as come, because he was not able to bear it; Psal. 39 10. Remove thy stroke away from me, I am consumed by the blow of thine hand, (Lord if thou strike me thus I shall quickly consume) And lest you should think that David's flesh (he being a King) was tender and delicate, and so less able to bear any hardship, therefore in the following words, he puts the case in general concerning man or mankind, Take the man whose strength is as the strength of stones, and his flesh as brass; yet this man breaks and vanishes under the hand of God, so he affirms, ver. 11. under this passive consideration of a moth, When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makes his beauty to consume away like a moth (And then closes with that common axiom of man's mortality) surely every man is vanity, Selah. Further, Man may well be said to be crushed or die even as a moth, for as the garment breeds the moth, and then the moth eats the garment; so (besides that power of God, or the outward stroke of his hand, of which David spoke) man's own distempered body breeds ill humours they diseases, and these breed death: As it was with Ionas gourd, so it is with us, we give life and suck to a worm in our own roots, which sucks out our life, causing our leaves to fall, and our goodly branches suddenly to whither. Thirdly, From that sense, he is crushed before Arcturus, or as long as the Stars continue, Observe; That, as man's state is frail and weak, so it will be, the for ever of this world. Do not look that ever there shall rise up a generation of men, that shall have better houses than houses of clay, or houses stronger built than our present buildings. As we are risen up in our father's stead, a generation of sinful men; so we are risen up in our father's stead, a generation of weak mortal men: and our children will arise in the stead of us their fathers, a generation of men, as mortal as we their fathers. Till the whole compages and course of nature be changed, man shall not exchange the infirmity of his nature, He shall never be without crushing sicknesses, till he is above them. The sad story of man holds on still, and grows yet more sad, before it was crushing, now it is destroying. Verse 20. They are destroyed from morning to evening, they perish for ever without any regarding it. We may understand the former verse of natural death, and this of casual and violent death. Destuction and perishing, import violence; Though I conceive natural death be here also intended. They are destroyed from morning to evening, they perish for ever without any regarding it, or as Mr. Broughton reads it between a morning and evening, they are wasted without any regarding, or without any thinking upon it. They are destroyed, that is, they are subject or liable to destruction: A mane ad vesperam, i. e. per torum diem, quip mane & vespera sunt pa●tes diei Drus. That phrase from morning to evening, notes the whole day; it is as much as to say, they are destroyed continually or all the day long, as the Apostle speaks out of the Psalm, Rom. 8. 36. For thy sake are we killed all the day long: The morning and the evening are the parts of a natural day, Gen. 1. 5. or the two terms of a civil day, & these include and take in the full compass of the day. This sense teacheth us, That man is destroyable every moment. He wastes in one sense, while he grows, and dies from the morning of his birth and coming into the world, to the evening of his return and going out of the world: And not only so, but he is obnoxious to the violent assaults of death every day, and all hours of every day: From the morning when he rises, to the evening when he goes to bed, he walks among armies of dangers, and within the Gunshot of destruction. The Apostles catalogue of perils is true to this day. 2 Cor. 11. 26. In perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils by the Heathen, in perils in the City, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren: Every place is a peril, and every person a peril. Where can we go, with whom can we meet, and not go among or meet with perils? And do not all these perils speak destruction from morning to evening? Paul's experiences, both in regard of a natural, but especially of violent death, brought forth these conclusions, which come full up to the point. I die daily, (1 Cor. 15 31.) in deaths often (2 Cor. 11. 23.) we are killed all the day long, (Rom. 8. 36.) Secondly, Take the words as a proverbial speech, by which the shortest time is signified. As (Isa. 38. 12.) Hezekiah complaining, sets forth his mortal sickness, threatening present death and cutting off, thus; Mine age is departed and removed from me as a shepherd's tent; I have cut off like a weaver my life, he will cut me off with pining sickness, from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me, that is, either continually or suddenly: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me, I am wasting perpetually: or before night, within the compass of this day thou wilt destroy and make an end of me; these were the thoughts of my heart, when I was in the hands of that acute dispatching disease. The Psalmist, (Psal. 90. 5, 6,) describes man as grass, in the morning it flourisheth and groweth up, in the evening it is cut down and withereth; that is, man continueth but a very short time. His life is but a span long, or but a day long. Jonahs' Gourd came up in a night, and perished in a night; and man cometh up in the morning, and perisheth in the evening. The Naturalists speak of a Fly they call Ephemeron, a creature of one day, which comes forth in the morning, is very active about noon▪ but when the Sun declineth, it declines too, and sets, with the setting of the Sun. Man is an Ephemeron, a creature of one day; for howsoever his life consisteth of many days, & is often lengthened out to many years, yet between morning and evening, or from morning to evening he is destroyed. The first step he sets upon the stage of the world, is a going out of the world; his ascending to the height of his natural perfection, hath in it a decent. One part of his life compared with another, is an increase, but the whole in reference to his end, is a decrease: his life is but a breathing death, life shortening as fast as it lengthns, his life is death hastening upon him continually. A hand breadth is quickly measured: Behold (saith David Psal. 29. 5.) thou hast made my days an hand breadth; nothing needs no time to pass it in; man's age in itself is but little, and comparatively it is nothing; it falls under no calculation before the face of Eternity. Mine age is nothing before thee. But though the life of man be thus short, and himself be destroyed between a morning and an evening, yet death lasts long, they perish for ever without any regarding. They perish for ever] Death it seems is everlasting. They perish the word is often used in this book for the dissolution of soul and body, not for the annihilation of either, as perishing properly imports: to perish, is here but to die, for thus even the righteous perish, and no man lays it to heart. Isay 57 1. But doth man perish thus, dies he for ever? shall there not be a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. return, a resurrection, shall not soul and body be reunited? how is it said then, they perish or die for ever? For ever, is some time put for an infinite time, and some time for an indefinite time, 1 Chron. 23. 25 The Lord God of Israel hath given rest unto his people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem for ever. And yet the Jews are now so fare from dwelling in Jerusalem, that they have scarce rest or dwelling among any people. The like sense of for ever, read 1 Kings 2. 33. Psal. 132. 12, 14. Yet further, for ever is put for the finite time of one man's life, 1 Sam. 27. 12. He shall be my servant for ever, that is, as long as he lives. Psal. 23. 6. I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever, that is, as long as I live. In the text before us, for ever, is as long as this world lasts; it notes the utmost term of time, not (which is without term) eternity. They perish for ever, that is, they shall not live in this world any more; as (Job 14. 14.) If a man die shall he live again? As if he had said, man can die but once; he cannot live again, that is, in this world; shall he any more return to his house, to his wife and children to his riches or honours, and, shall he here again enjoy such an estate as he had before? That (Psal. 103. 16.) explains it so, As for man his days are as grass, as a flower of the field so he flourisheth, for the wind passeth over it and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more, that is, he shall never return to that local place, or civil place in which he lived; he shall not return to that place of magistracy or ministrey, to that place of merchandizing or trading, of husbandry or handicraft, where he conversed before. Thus his place will know him no more. Man dies but once, and therefore when he dies, he is said to die for ever. There is a second death, but it is only a second condition of life. Some shall so live for ever, that they shall be dying for ever. The misery of all men here, is, that they are dying while they live; the misery of the damned hereafter, will be, that they are living while they die. We see then, that as life is a continual going out of the world, so from death there is no returning to the world, they perish for ever: when once you die, you are dead for good and all (as we say) there's an end, in respect of any work proper to this world, whether natural, civil, or spiritual. A dying man perishes for ever from eating and drinking, from any outward content or pleasure. When Barzillai was (as it were but) upon the borders of death and confines of the grave (2 Sam. 19 25.) he bespeaks David thus, who had invited him to Court, Can I taste what I eat and what I drink? (and it follows) Can I any more hear the voice of singing-men and singing-women? Can I any more? as if he had said, I am now nigh unto death, these delights are gone they are perished for ever, I can hardly taste any thing I eat or drink; the pleasant Voice or musical Instrument can I any more hear? much more than in death itself are all these outward comforts perished, and will perish for ever. Again, in respect of civil works, he that dies, perishes for ever; no more buying, or selling, or trading, or the aling, all these things are past, and past for ever. Yea, death puts an end to all spiritual works, such as were the Saints exercise and duty upon the earth, at the grave, there's an end of them also; a dying man perishes for ever, in respect of repenting or believing, in respect of praying or hearing the word. These are heavenly works, but the time for these is, while you are upon the earth, none of these labours are in Heaven or Hell, no nor in the grave whether thou goest, as the Preacher concludes (Ecclesiastes 9 10.) Therefore (Isay 38. 18.) Hezekiah in his sickness makes it one part of his suit to God, that he might be spared, for (saith he) the grave cannot praise thee, they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth, the living, the living he shall praise thee, as I do this day. To praise God shall be the work of Saints for ever; and yet the Saints dying are truly said perish for ever, from praising God. All that praise shall cease in death, which belong to the ways of grace; and then such praise gins as suits with glory, which is our end. That Hezekiah means it of such praise, and not of all praise, is clear from his own words, Verse 20. We will sing my song to the stringed instruments, all the days of my life in the house of the Lord, that is, in the ordinances of thy public worship. They that are in the house of the grave, cannot praise the Lord in his house. And though the praises of the Lord in Heaven, are transcendent, and more perfect than those in his house on Earth; yet it is a higher act of grace to desire to live to praise God, then to be willing to die that we may praise him; because in this we deny ourselves most; Praising God on earth is a work as well as a reward, but praising God in Heaven is a reward rather than a work. And we put forth the most spiritual acts of grace, when we cheerfully go on with a work, which we know stands between us and the best part of our reward. But I return to the Text. They perish for ever without any regarding,] or without any laying it to heart. The word heart is not in the mouth, but, it is in the heart of this Scripture. For the sense is parallel with that, Esay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Absque apponente. Pereunt eoquòd nemo opponat eis medicinam. 57 The righteous perish, and no man lays it to heart, The Chaldee gives a strange gloss, They perish or die because no man giveth them medicine; as if he had said, there is no Physician can give an Antidote against death, or by any medicines prolong man's life. It is a truth, that the decays and ruins of Nature, will at last exceed the repairs of Art; but this gloss hath little regard to the text, which we translate well, They perish without any regarding it, that is, none or very few regarding it. The negative is not absolutely universal, excluding all, as if there were none in the world who take notice of the shortness and frailty of man's life, or of his for ever perishing condition. So in that place of Isaiah, the righteous perish and no man lays it to heart; that is, there are very few, scarce any to be found who lay to heart (in comparison of the number which neglect) the death of righteous men. Observe hence, Few of the living regard how suddenly others do, or themselves may die. Till we see a friend gasping and dying, till we see him bedewed with cold sweats, and racked with Convulsions, till our eye thus affects our hearts, our hearts are seldom affected with the sense of our mortality. It is one reason why Solomon advises to go to the house of mourning, Eccles. 7. It is better to go to the house of mourning, then to the house of mirth, for (saith he) that is the way of all men (all must die) and the living will lay it to heart, or the living will regard it. As if he had said, the living seldom lay death to heart, till they come to the house of death: He seems to promise for the living, that then they will: yet his undertaking is not so strict, as if every man that goes to the house of mourning did certainly lay it to heart: but he speaks probably, that if living man will at any time lay death to heart, then surely he will when he goes to the house of mourning. When will a man think of death, if not when he sees death? and looks into that dark chamber of the grave? There are many who lay it to heart only then: for a fit at a Funeral, they have a passion of the heart about mortality. And very many have gone so often to the house of mourning, that they are grown familiar with death, and the frequency of those meetings take off all impressions of mortality from their hearts. As we say of those Birds that build & roost in steeples, being used to the continual ringing of the bells, the sound disquiets them not: or as those that dwell near the fall of the river Nilus, the noise of the water deafens them so, that they mind it not. Many have been so often at the grave, that now the grave is worn out of their hearts; they look upon it as a matter of custom and formality for men to die and be buried, and when the solemnity of death is over, the thoughts of death are over: as soon as the grave is out of their sight, preparations for the grave are out of mind. It is storied (2 Sam. 20. 12.) that when Amasa was slain by Joab, and lay wallowing in his blood in the midst of the high way, every one that came by him stood still, but anon Amasa is removed out of the high way into the field, & a cloth cast upon him, & then (the text saith) all the people went on after Joab. It is so still, we make a stop at one that lies gasping and groaning, at one that lies bleeding and dying, but let a cloth be thrown over him and he draw aside, put into the grave, and covered with earth, than we go to our business, to trading and dealing, yea to coveting and sinning, as if the last man (that ever should be) were buried. Thus, men perish for ever, without any regarding. If this kind of perishing were more regarded, or regarded by more, fewer would perish. Thoughts of death spirituallized have life in them: thoughts of death laid to the heart, are a good medicine for an evil heart. It follows, Verse 21. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom. This Verse (as I noted in the beginning) prevents an objection which might be made, as if man had wrong done him: and that it were too great a diminution to his honour, whom God made the chief creature in the inferior world, and but little inferior to Angels themselves, that he should be looked upon only as a heap of dust, or a lump of clay, as a mortal, momentany perishing creature; therefore he grants that man hath an excellency; but all the excellency that he hath, whether natural or artificial, bred in him, or acquired by him, as a man, when he goes, goes too, Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? or journieth not their excellency with them? as Mr. Broughton translates, alluding to our passing out of the world, as in a journey; when a man dies he takes a journey out of the world, he goes out for ever; and (saith he) doth not his excellency journey along with him? yes, the question affirms it, when man goes, his excellency goes too. The word (Jether) which we translate excellency, signifies primarily, a residue or a remain, and that two ways. First, a residue of persons, Judges 7. 6. But all the rest of the people bowed down on their knees to drink water. So the vulgar understands it here. They who are left after them, shall be taken away from them: namely their heirs or posterity. Secondly, it signifies a residue of things, Ps. 17. 14. where describing worldly men who have their portion in this life, he saith, their bellies are filled with hid treasure, they are also full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. Thus others take it here. Doth not the wealth and riches which men leave when they die, die also and go away, as their persons are mortal, so are their estates; there is a moth will eat both. And jather, quod est superesse non solum excessum quantitatis significat, sed etiam qualitatis dignitatis, sicut verbum latinum supero non solum superesse, sed etiam vince●e & excellere. Pined. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the word signifies a quantitive remainder, or overplus, both of persons and things, so also a qualitative excess or remainder: or that which exceeds in quality: any excess in the goodness of a quality, is called excellency. Thus Jacob calls Reuben in regard of his primogeniture; the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power; yet blots him in the next Verse, because of his sin, thou shalt not excel, Gen. 49. 3, 4. This sense of the word suits well with the scope of the text in hand. His excellency, that is, whatsoever doth excel, or is best in him. But what is that? Some by his Excellency understand the soul; as if he had said, that best part of man, the soul, which may be opposed to clay and dust before spoken of, that noble guest, that royal inhabitant of this house of clay goeth out when death enters. Death dissolves the union between soul and body. Or rather we may take excellency for any special endowment; first of the body, as beauty or strength. Secondly of the mind, as wit and knowledge, learning or skill. Thirdly, we may take it for those worldly excellencies of riches, honour, or authority; when a man goeth out, all these excellencies which are in him, or which are about him, go out too. This excellency is the same which is called the goodliness of man, by the Prophet (Esay 40. 6.) The voice said, cry, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. Not only is the flesh, but the goodliness thereof fading also. So here, not only the house of clay and the foundation of dust, but the excellency of it: all the adorning and polishing, the guilding and painting, the rich hanging and precious furniture of this house go away. Taking excellency here for the soul, then, we see wherein our excellency consists As man was the principal part of the creation, so the soul is the principal part of man. The constitution of the soul is man's natural excellency, and the conversion of the soul is man's spiritual excellency. Secondly observe, Death is the going away, or the departure of the soul from the body. Death is called sometime a departure of body and soul out of the world, Now lettest thou thy servant departed in peace (saith old Simeon, Luke 2.) Man goes to his long home, Eccles. 12. 5. I go the way of all flesh, saith Moses, and I go away, saith our Lord Christ of his death. Death is also called a departure of the soul from the body. The death of Rachel is thus described, Genesis 35. 18. And it came to pass, that as her soul was in departing, for she died. From the other interpretation, which I rather insists upon. Observe, that in death all a man's natural and outward excellency whatsoever, leaves him and departs from him, Psal. 49. 16. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; why? for when he dyeth he shall carry nothing away with him, his glory shall not descend after him; though a man have an excellent outside, a great stock of riches, beauty and honour, though he have excellent linings of wisdom and knowledge, yet all ends as to him, when he ends, and therefore David concludes (Psal. 39) Man at his best state, or in his best estate is altogether vanity. The excellencies that are in him go away, in that day all his thoughts perish, his counsels and his projects perish with him. One of the ancients standing by Caesar's Tomb, (who was one of the most accomplished men in the world, for natural, civil, and moral excellencies; learned, valiant, noble, rich and powerful,) he (I say) standing by Caesar's Tomb, wept and cried out, where is now the flourishing beauty of Caesar? what's Vbi nunc pulch●itudo Caesaris? quo abiit magnificentia tua. become of his magnificence? where are the armies now, where the honours of Caesar? where are now the victories, the triumphs and trophies of Caesar? All's gone, all's departed, the goodliness of them is as the flower of the field, his excellency which was in him is gone away. And thus it will be said of all those, who (without grace) are most excellent in any thing below. Though your clay be curiously wrought, and stamped with such beauty, as renders you almost Angelical to the eye of others. Though your bodies are strongly jointed, and blessed with such health as renders your lives most active and comfortable to yourselves; though your minds are stored with variety of learning, and you know as much as is knowable in the whole circle of Nature, or of times; yet when Death comes, all these excellencies go away. Nothing will stay by us then, and go (not from us but) with us, but the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, for whom (Paul did, and) we ought to suffer the loss of all things, and count them but dung, that we may win Christ, (Phil. 3. 8.) For notwithstanding all other knowledge and wisdom, we shall die and conclude (as this Chapter concludes of man) without wisdom. They die even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without wisdom, or word for word. They die not and in wisdom. We may understand it two ways. First (as if he had said) though men are excellent in wisdom, yet they die; their wisdom is to them in death, as if they had no wisdom; they have no more privilege or defence against the stroke of death, by all their wisdom, learning Nalla est sapi. entia qua mortem effugiant. Merc. and knowledge, than fools or bruit beasts who have no knowledge, no wisdom at all, they die even without wisdom, or even as if they had no wisdom. Died Abner as a fool dyeth, said mourning David? 1 Sam. 3. 33. yes, Abner died as a fool dyeth. And so in one sense do the wisest of men. He was the wisest of all the children of men, and he spoke it by the wisdom of God, who ask this question, How dyeth the wise man, answers, as the fool, Eccles. 2. 16. Let not any man pride himself in the excellency of his wisdom: for that dwells in a house of clay whose foundation is in the dust: his frailty is not curable by his excellency, nor his mortality conquerable by his wisdom, he shall die as if he had no wisdom. And some who have most worldly wisdom, die Non in sapient●a extenuatio est, i. e. in magna stultitia, Pined. with least, yea, they with the greatest folly. Not in wisdom, may be an extenuation, or a more gentle, easy expression, for, in abundance of folly. I remember it is observed concerning Paracelsus (a great Physician, a man exceedingly versed in Chemical experiments) that he bragged and boasted, he had attained to such wisdom in discerning the constitutions of men, and studying remedies, that whosoever did follow his rules, and keep to his directions, should never die by any disease, casually he might, and of age he must, but he would undertake to secure his health against diseases; a bold undertaking. But he who by his art promised to protect others, to extreme old age from the arrest of death, could not by all his art or power make himself a protection in the prime of his youth, but died even as one without wisdom, before, or when he had seen but thirty. Secondly, they die without wisdom. That is, they cannot carry their wisdom away with them; as not their worldly riches and pomp so nor their worldly wisdom and knowledge, Chap. 36. 12. Thirdly, They die even without wisdom, that is, they prepare not wisely for death. This is the condition of most men, their excellency goes away with them, and they die without wisdom; they have had wisdom, but they die as if they had none, that is, they apply not their wisdom while they live, to fit themselves for death: They die before they understand what it is to live, on why they live. This wisdom is wanting in most men, and of all such, the Psalmist concludes to this sense of the place, Man being in honour and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish, Psal. 49. 20. That is, he perishes foolishly and without wisdom, like a beast, though in his life a man of honour and excellency. He Moriuntur in simen●es vel insipienter. Drus. Prius moriuntur quam quicquam intellexg●i●t de divina sapientia, Mer. that dies unpreparedly, dies foolishly. It is the wisdom of man to live in the world in the meditation of, and preparation foe his departure out of this world. And it is such a wisdom as is above man, therefore David prays, Psal. 39 4. Lord make me to know mine end and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am: as if he had said; Lord I have been considering this and that thing (haply david's thoughts were in the dust, and he had been handling the clay out of which he was made) yet saith he, by all those considerations of my natural constitution, I cannot bring my heart to be so sensible of my frailty, as I ought to be; therefore he turns himself to God, Lord make me to know this thing. Here is our wisdom, when we seek to God to spiritualise natural considerations, and make them effectual for the attaining of this wisdom, the knowing of our end, and the measure of our days. But is it not some ignorance of our duty no petition for the knowledge of our end? May we desire to know what God hath no where promised to reveal? To petition for the literal knowledge of our end, that is, what year or day, our lives shall end, is a sinful curiosity, and a presumptuous intrusion into the secret will of God: But to petition for a spiritual knowledge of our end, that is, how we may end well, any day of the year, or any hour of the day, is a holy duty, and an humble submission of ourselves to the revealed will of God. Thus to know our end, how soon ceasing (as one translates) short lived and brittle ware we be; Thus to know, how defective we are (as the Greek renders it) or what we lack, namely to the end of our days, is above the instruction of any creature. We may preach, and you hear of death as long as you and we live, and yet not know he frailty of our lives, till God makes us know it; therefore (saith he) Lord make me to know how frail I am; none could teach him this lesson but God himself. The same holy desires are breathed out, Psal. 90. 12. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom; as if Moses had said; Lord I have been numbering my days myself, and telling over my life, I can tell no further than three or four score, and yet though I can tell no farther, I cannot apply my heart unto wisdom; we need but little Arithmetic to unmber our days, but we need a great deal of grace to number them. A child may be wise enough to number the days of an old man, and yet that old man a child, in numbering his own days, that is, not able to number his own days so, as to apply his heart to wisdom. To number them so, is a very special point of wisdom; the true Christian Philosophy: perfectly Meditatio mo●tis vita est perfecta. Greg. Moral. 13. Su● ma philosophia, Bern. to meditate on death is the perfection of life. And it is therefore our wisdom to die well, because we can die but once; Aman had need do that wisely which he can do no more. An error in death, is like an error in War you cannot commit it twice. We have most reason to look to it, not to err at all, where it is not possible to err again. Actually to err twice, is more sinful, but not to have a possibility of erring twice, is most dangerous. We transgress the laws of living over and over a thousand thousand times: But as for the laws of dying, no man ever transgressed them a second time. That we so often transgress the law of living, is an aggravation of sin upon all men. And that we can transgress the law of dying but once, is the seal of misery upon most men. Let us then cry unto God to be taught this great wisdom, how to die, and not without wisdom. JOB. Chap. 5. Vers. 1, 2. Call now if there be any that will answer thee, and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn? For wrath killeth the foolish, and envy slayeth the silly one, etc. THE five first verses of this Chapter, contain the fourth Argument, by which Eliphaz goes on to convince Job of sinful hypocrisy. And the conviction is made two ways, from a twofold comparison. First, He compares Job to the Saints, and finds him unlike to them: Secondly, He compares Job to the wicked, and finds him like to them; if so, then Job must needs be a hypocrite, who had carried it fair all the while in the world, for a great professor, and yet when he comes to the trial, was unlike all the Saints, and most like the wicked of the world. The first Argument may be thus framed. He is not a just or a holy man, who in his affliction is altogether unlike holy and just men. But Job, thou in thy affliction art altogether unlike holy and just men. Therefore thou art not a holy or a just man. The proposition is implied: The Minor or the Assumption, is in the first verse, Call now, if there be any that will answer thee, and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn? As if he should say, Inquire as much as thou wilt, thou shalt find none among the Saints like thyself; they, who have been somewhat like thee (of whom thou shalt find but few) in the troubles which thou hast borne, even those thou wilt find altogether unlike thee, in bearing those troubles. Scarce any of the godly ever suffered such things as thou hast done, but none of the godly ever did such things in their sufferings. As he argues him in the first verse of hypocrisy, by his unlikeness to the Saints; so in the next words, he argues him of hypocrisy, by his likeness to the wicked: His first argument for this, lies in the second verse, and in the three following verses there lies a second argument to confirm the same point; He attempts to prove Job like a fool or a wicked man, two ways. 1. In his manner of suffering. 2. In the matter of his suffering. First (saith he) thou art like a fool, or like a foolish man, like the worst of men, in the manner of thy carriage under sufferings; The argument may be framed thus. He that behaveth himself like a fool, or like a wicked man while he is in trouble, is a man either openly wicked, or grossly hypocritical. But Job, thou behavest thyself, like a foolish or a wicked man in thy troubles. Therefore thou art wicked, etc. The Assumption, or Minor Proposition, is in the second verse, Wrath killeth the foolish, and envy slayeth the silly one. As if he should say, Thou pinest, ragest and vexest thyself under they sufferings, after the rate of foolish and silly ones, that is, sinful and wicked ones. Secondly, He would prove Job, to be a hypocrite, because his sufferings for the matter of them, were like the judgements which God uses to pour forth upon wicked und ungodly men; and that argument may be thus framed. Wicked men flourish a while, and then sudden destruction cometh upon them, they and their children, and their whole estates are swallowed up in a moment. But Job, thou having flourished a little while, wast suddenly surprised and swallowed up by judgements, thou, thy estate, thy children, all devoured and consumed. Therefore thou art a wicked man, a very hypocrite; God hath dealt with thee as he uses to deal with his enemies, and therefore thou art not his friend. This is the Logic of the context, or the reasons couched in them, whereby Eliphaz would convince Job of sin; By this, a general light is let into the whole Context. Now, we will consider the words, and open their sense distinctly. Call now if there be any that will answer thee, and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn? Interpreters vary much about the meaning of these words. First, Some of the Jewish Writers, look upon these words, as proceeding from height and pride of spirit in Eliphaz, as if he disdained to talk with Job any longer about the business; as if he looking upon Job as no match for him, in point of argument, bids him look out an Angel or a Saint to grapple with him in these disputes, and see if he could find any one of those, who would undertake for him as an Advocate, or be his Second, forasmuch as himself was so unable to defend his cause, or justify what he had done; Call now if there be any that will answer thee, that is, answer for thee, or to which of the Saints wilt thou turn for help, to patronise or plead thy cause? But I shall pass that. Secondly, Others of the Jewish writers make the sense out thus, as if Eliphaz had said with Paul in the point of the Lords Supper (1 Cor. 11. 24.) That which I have delivered unto you, I have received of the Lord, so, that which I delivered unto thee in my former argument, I received from the Lord in a vision, it was revealed unto me from Heaven: now, do thou try whether thou canst learn any thing from Heaven, or from the Saints upon the earth (who are instructed to and for the Kingdom of Heaven) which may answer my arguments, or confute the reasons which I have broughc against thee. I had a vision from Heaven, now call thou to Heaven, and see if thou canst have any answer from thence; Turn also to the Saints, to any Saint upon the earth, and see what they will answer thee, I believe thou wilt not find one amongst them all, differing in judgement from me, or from that Oracle, with Nemo tibi prauè corrupteq. de his rebus iudicanti patronus aderit, nemo qui tibi respondeat, tibi ac●inat, tuam sententiam ●ueatur. which I have now acquainted thee. They will all agree with me in these great principles, about the providence, power and justice of God, about the sufferings sinfulness and weakness of man. That's a second sense. Thirdly, Others take the words as an Irony, as a derision, or scorn put upon Job by Eliphaz; As if Eliphaz had mocked him thus; Thou hast handled the matter well, thou hast carried thyself so, in the days of thy peace and prosperity, that now when thou art in trouble, thou mayest call long enough, and cry till thy throat aches and thy spirits be spent, and yet have none to answer thee, none to speak a word to thee, or to do thee any good; though thou cry to all the Saints, and send to all thy friends round about thee, yet in this day none will hear or regard thee: Thou wilt find thyself forsaken of all, no man will give thee any assistance, or take any care of thy condition. Just, as Elijah broke forth in holy scorn against the Prophets of Baal (1 King. 18. 27.) when they were crying out to their Idol for help, and a sign by fire, Cry aloud (saith he) cry aloud; he bade them cry aloud, yet he knew the Idol was deaf and dumb, and could neither hear their cry, nor give them answer; So Eliphaz seems to speak to Job, Cry aloud now, to this, to that Saint, with whom thou art acquainted here on earth, or cry to Heaven, cry to God himself; call this way, call that, if any will answer thee, either God above, or Saint below, thou shalt not find here or there any to assist, any to relieve thee. And so he seems to allude to that just retaliation of God, who usually turns his ear from their cry in a day of trouble who have turned their ears from his counsels, in the days of comfort; As (Prov 1.) Wisdom threatens, They shall call, but I will Vox in tribulatione eum non invenit quem mens in ●ranquilitate contempsit. Greg. in loc. not answer, they shall cry, but I will not hear. Why? because they have refused instruction, and have not chosen the fear of the Lord. In the fourth place, Most of the Popish writers, busy themselves much to ground invocation of Saints, & the intercession of Saints for us, upon this text: As if Eliphaz had directed Job to cry to the Saints departed; Call now if there be any that will answer, and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn? what Saint wilt thou choose for thy patron or helper in this sad condition? So they teach and practise, having appointed a particular Saint in the Calendar of the year, to the help of every particular affliction in their lives, and to these they turn themselves in every distress: They have a Saint for the sea, and a Saint for the land, a Saint for the fire, and a Saint for the water, a Saint for each disease of the body, and for each disaster in the family: To some of these they suppose Job was advised to have recourse, for succour and comfort in his troubles. And yet they are divided in opinion, & give a double sense about it. First, As if Eliphaz had thus bespoken him; If thou dost not give credit unto me, nor believe what I have spoken was revealed Aquinus in loc. from God, then call thou thyself upon God, and try whether he will not give thee some answer, and resolve thy doubt: Or if by reason of thine own unworthiness, thou canst not obtain an immediate answer at the hand of God, then turn thee to some of the Sainrs, that by their mediation thou mayst receive light from God, to assure thee about my vision, whether it were sent from Heaven or no. Secondly, Others interpret it more largely, as if Eliphas perceiving Job to be brought to some light and acknowledgement of his sins, and now to thirst after the pardon of them: he in these words, exhorts him to call upon, and cry unto God for pardon, if perhaps he himself would vouchsafe to answer; But in case shame did so cover his face, and guilt so stop his mouth, that he could not speak unto God immediately, than he adviseth him to pray in aid, from some of the Saints departed, who might manage this suit, and intercede for him at the throne of grace. The grossness of this interpretation is such, as carries a selfe-refutation with it, and therefore I shall not need to stay long, about the refuting of it. Neither will I stay to argue against that groundless, useless Doctrine in general, The invocation of Saints departed, Which finds no letter of command or direction, no letter of promise or acceptation, no letter of example or practice, for our imitation, in the whole Book of God. But is a reproach to the Saints, & a dishonour to God, whose Name and incommunicable Title is, The God hearing prayers, and therefore to him shall the desires of all flesh come, and if all to him, than who to Saints or Angels? Only He can be the object of our prayer who is the object of our faith, Rom. 10. How shall they call on him, on whom they have not believed? To whom we pray, upon him we must believe Saints departed, are not to be believed upon, how then shall they be called on? But, to leave the question, I shall only touch two things, to show how wide they are in this exposition. First, The confessed Doctrine of Popery tells us, that, before Christ's coming in the flesh, and his resurrection from the grave, all the Saints departed were in Limbus, a place which they have framed and built up in their own fancies, as the common receptacle of all those, who died in the faith of Christ, before Christ died; Therefore, they tell us (to eke out the story) That as Christ went down into Hell, the place of the damned, to strike terror into the Devils, so he went into this Limbus, thence to deliver the fathers from that prison▪ and carry them up with himself into glory. Now this being their Tenet, how senseless is it, for them, to ground their opinion, of invocation of Saints, upon any Scripture of the old Testament? and therefore it is so, to ground it upon this. Secondly, if we consider these words we may as well seek for fire in the bottom of the Sea, as for the invocation of Saints in this Text, for here is no such thing spoken of; and if any thing sounds that way, it is rather to condemn praying to Saints, than any confirmation of it: for call now if there be any that will answer thee, carries this sense rather; call now, for there is none to answer thee, and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn? that is, none among Voca si quis est qui tibi responde●● q. d. nemo tibi respondebi●. Merc. Quod quidam nosto●um hunc locum adsanctorum mor●o●ū invocationem quam veteres ne agn●ve●unt q●idem referun● merum de●er●um est. Idem Paulo post. Nihil hic de sanctorum m●rtuorum invocatione; Thomas Aquinas & Ly●an●● eò quidem referun●●ed aequae inep●è ne d●cam imprè. Idem in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nec, licet insultantis aliquando sit, ut plu●i●●u● tamen suaden●is & exh●rtantis est. V● Sodes Am●●o la●inis. all the Saints (if thou turnest to them) can give thee any help: As Mercer a moderate Papist gives the meaning of this Scripture; against the current of their interpreters. And this will appear more fully, in opening the Gramaticall sense of a word or two, which also will give the clear meaning of the whole passage. Eliphaz (as was hinted in drawing out his arguments) calls upon Job to call to remembrance former times, to search the records of antiquity, and see whether he could find an example of any one among all the Saints, who either had such troubles as his, or in his troubles spoke and behaved himself as he had done; he bids him name one, if he could. Call now] or, Call I pray thee. What we translate, now, is sometime a particle of insulting, but most usually of persuading or entreating. We render it as an Adverbe of time, but it rather imports a request. So Gen. 12. 13. Abraham entreats Sarah, Say I pray thee, thou art my sister. The word (Kara) which we translate, call, signifies first to cry aloud by way of preaching or proclamation, Isa. 58. 1. Cry aloud, lift up thy voice like a trumpet. Secondly, by way of prayer or invocation, as Psal. 50. 15. Call upon me in the day of trouble. but it rather signifies, and that more properly, to call by way of appellation, or by way of nomination, As Ruth 1. 20. Call me not Naomi, but call me Marah. So here, Call now that is, look over the names, or call over the names of all the Saints, as we use to say, when many should meet together, and we would know whether they are all met: or as Stewards when they pay many hired servants their wages, take the Bill and call over their Names, and so pay them one by one; Mat. 20. 8. In the evening, the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his Steward; call the labourers, that is, call them by their several names, and give them their hire. Thus we may understand the phrase in this place, read the catalogue of the Saints, call every one by his name, and put the question to them, ask them whether ever they had such afflictions as thou hast? or ask them whether they behaved themselves under their afflictions as thou hast done? I believe thou wilt find none to answer thee. To this sense Mr. Broughton translates, Call now if there be any that will defend thee, that is, be thy patron or advocate, in word, or in the example of their lives. If there be any that will answer thee.] For, ehe word which we render answer, signifies not only, answering unto a question, but an answering to a condition, or a correspondency in practice. Verbum responde●e, in hoc loco significat po●●us similitudinem vel comparationem quam responsionem. Bold. There is an answering by likeness of works, as well as by fitness of words. A real answer, and a verbal answer. Take it so, and then, Call now to the Saints, call them all by their names, intends only thus much, see if there be any that are like thee, or suit either thy spirit or thy condition, if there be any to whom thou mayest parallel thyself, either in the matter or manner of thy sufferings. Thou art more like a Heathen, who knows not God, than any of the Saints, in these complain. And seeing, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, these words speak thy heart abounding in sin, but empty of grace. Face answers face in the water. But neither thy face nor heart, will answer either heart or face of any of the Saints, in these waters of affliction. We find this word signifying similitude or comparison, or the equivalence of one thing to another, in that instance, Eccles. 10 19 Money answers all things; the meaning of it is, that money in a proportion or value suits parallels and fits all things: There is nothing in the world, but you may suit it with a proportion of money, money will answer it; money answers or is like all things, by an equivalency, though not in a formality. And to which of the Saints wilt thou turn? The Septuagint read it, To which of the Angels wilt thou look? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. And the learned Mercer adheres to that translation, as thinking that by Saints are meant Angels, though he be so fare from laying any bottom in the words for the Popish opinion of the mediation of Angels, that he expressly condemns it; but he gives the sense thus, as if Eliphaz had reproved Job of pride, for contesting with God, when as if he did turn himself to Angels, he should find himself fare below, and much overmatcht by them: What? thou dust and ashes, more righteous and just than God? Though he charged his Angels with folly, yet even they are too wise and holy for thee to deal with. If thou wert put into the balance with Angels, how light wouldst thou be? then, how much lighter than vanity art thou, being weighed with God? But the Hebrew is better translated Saints. The word signifies a thing or person, separated or set apart from common, and dedicated to a special especially, a holy use. Holiness (in the general nature of it) is nothing else but a separation from common, and dedication to a divine service, such are the Saints; persons separated from the world, and set apart unto God; The Church in general (which is a company of Saints) is taken out of, and severed from the world: The Church is a fountain sealed, and a Garden enclosed; so also, every particular Saint is a person severed and enclosed from the common throng and multitude of the world: Come out from among them, and be ye separate saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you, 2 Cor. 6. 17. Turn thee, it is both a witty and judicious conceit that Eliphaz in these words alludes to painters or Picture-drawers, who when Allu●ere vide tur ad pict●res qui frequenter ad prototypum & exemplar, quod incitari conan●ur; oculos dirigam & ad illud convertuntur. they are drawing the Picture of a Man, or of any other thing, frequently turn their eyes upon the proto-type, upon that which they are to draw by: when a man sits (as they speak) to have his picture taken, the Artist turns his eye often upon him; so here, to which of the Saints wilt thou turn thee to see thy picture, or to see any one like thee? where wilt thou look now, and by looking observe a Saint of thy complexion, a holy man like thyself? If the pictures of all the Saints were lost, none of them could be found in, or copied out from thee. The word which we translate turn, Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non simpliciter respicere sign●ficat, aut aliquid intueri, sed cum qu dā animi intention & ad aliquem fluem. doth not signify simply to look about or turn the eye, but to turn the eye about with much intention or curiosity of observation, to make a discovery, and find out somewhat. Sometime it signifies to look in compassion, Psal. 25. 16 Turn thee unto me (saith David) and have mercy upon me, for I am very low: To look in compassion, notes a strictness of observation, to find out what charity or mercy should supply: such a look or view of his estate David desired, that God would turn his eye upon him: to what end? that he might consider and find out all his necessities, and in mercy secure him. So then, To which of the Saints wilt thou turn? sounds thus much, upon what Saint wilt thou fix thine eye, to find thy own likeness, a representation of the sufferings thou bearest or of thy bearing these sufferings? Take the sum and sense of the whole verse thus; Call over the roll or catalogue of all the Saints; which either ever were, or at this day are upon the face of the earth, See, if there be any whose condition or actions will answer in proportion unto thine; turn thine eye upon all the holy ones, see if thou canst observe any like thyself, in the matter or manner of thy afflictions, in the deal of God with thee, or in thy complain against God. Job, thou standest alone for all the Saints, go to the fools of the earth, and to the prophaner Infidels, among them thou mayest haply meet thy pattern, and among their records read the story of thy own impatience and miscarriage: For (as it follows) wrath billeth the foolish, and envy slayeth the silly one. How like a fool and silly one art thou▪ who haste thus almost vexed thyself to death at thy own troubles, and pinest with envy at the prosperity of others. Such seems to be the connexion and dependence of the second verse with, and upon the first, which I shall presently descend to open, when I have added an observation or two from the former already opened. It was good advice which Eliphaz gave Job in that condition, namely, to take view of the Saints, and to compare himself with them: Thence observe; It is profitable for us to look to the example of the Saints, either those departed, or those alive, and by them to examine, both what we do, and how we suffer. God hath given us, not only his word for a rule, but he hath given us examples as a rule, to walk by. He hath given us his own example, that, we looking unto him, should be holy as he is holy in all manner of conversation; be ye holy as I am holy: God, who is The holy one, is the Highest pattern of holiness. And he hath given us his Son, who is the express image of his person, and the brightness of his glory, to be our example. The life of Christ is a fair copy indeed, a copy without any blot, or uneven letter in it; For, He also is The Holy one. Christ is not only The principle of holiness, but also The pattern of holiness to his people; they that say they abide in him, must walk even as he walked; His works, (excepting those which were miraculous and works of mediation between God and us) are our rule, as well as his word, Heb. 12. 2. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, etc. words of near importance with those in the text, to which of the Saints wilt thou turn thee? Look to Jesus; when you are in sufferings and have a race of patience to run, let your eye always be upon Christ, and draw the lines of your carriage, both in your spirits and outward actions, according to what you see in Him, Look to Him: And ver. 3. Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners. Which the Apostle Peter (1 Pet. 2. 21.) gives us in plain terms, For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving an example that we should follow his steps: We must follow his steps both in the matter and in the manner of our sufferings; therefore Christ saith; Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, Mat. 11. 29. Christ calls it his yoke (it is a yoke of affliction as well as a yoke of instruction) And he calls it his yoke, not only because, he, as a Lord lays it upon the necks of others, but because, he, as a servant bore that yoke himself; therefore he saith, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, that is, not only take my yoke upon you for the matter, but learn of me for the manner, how to bear that yoke. Besides these grand leading, unerring examples of God and Christ, the examples of the Saints are also commended to our imitation, both in doing and in suffering. Whatsoever things were written (and examples were written) aforetime, were written for our instruction. Why hath the Holy Ghost set so many pens a work, to write the lives of the Saints? why hath he kept a record of them in his own book, but for direction to his people in aftertimes. The Lord hath not registered any one act of the Saints, but is useful for us. The acts of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, David, are full of practical Divinity. The sufferings and troubles of these and many others, are full (if I may so speak) of pathical Divinity: As the Apostle James his counsel doth more than intimate (James 5. 10.) Take my brethren the Prophets who have spoken in the Name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction and of patience; Hence those ancient Saints and believers (Heb. 12. 1.) are called a cloud of witnesses; A cloud, because there is a directive or a leading virtue in them; As there was a cloud that went before the children of Israel in the day to lead them, so this cloud of witnesses, leads us up and down the wilderness of our sorrows, and in the dark night of our sufferings. Turn you to the Saints, to that cloud of witnesses, eye them, and see what becomes you in sad times; They have suffered joyfully the spoiling of their goods, suffer you likewise, if you come into the hands of spoilers. They lived by faith in the midst of a thousand deaths, live you likewise by faith in death, when ever you come into the hand of that king of terrors. And when at any time your own hearts or the ways of others are out of course, check and chide them for and from those disorders, by sending them to the practice of the Saints. Look to the Saints, from which of the Saints have you learned to be proud and high minded? from which of the Saints have you learned to be earthly and covetous? from which of the Saints have you learned to seek and set up yourselves, or to be impatient under the hand of God? That man hath reason to suspect he hath done ill, who doth that, which a good man never did, or ever repent the doing of it. Observe further; When God forsakes a man, all the Saints on earth forsake him too. Eliphaz looks upon Job, as a man forsaken of God, and then he bids him get help if he could among the Saints. He that opposes God, shall be opposed by all who are Gods. There is the same mind in the servants of Christ, which is in Christ their Master. They love where and whom he loves, they hate whom he hates, they are ashamed of those, of whom Christ is ashamed; If God reject a man, the Saints will not undertake or answer for him. So much of the first Argument, ranking Job with the wicked, because (as Eliphaz thought) he could not find any in the rank of Saints like himself. The second Argument rises to a like conviction, because, (in the same man's opinion) he might easily see himself so like the wicked. For wrath kills the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one. Here are two sinful passions, wrath and envy, and here are two sorts of sinful persons, The foolish man, and The silly one producing two sad effects, (which yet in effect are but one,) The one kills, and the other slays, both are deadly and destructive, wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one. There are several sins and lusts which accompany, as the several ages and degrees, so the Omne pomum, omne g●anum, omne frumentum, omne lignum habet vermem suum, & alius vermis mali, alius pyri, alius Tritici. August. several tempers of men. Rashness and intemperance, hurry and inflame young men; ambition blows up riper years, and covetousness often tyranizeth over old age: Wrath takes hold of fools, and envy seizeth the silly one. These worms strike the root of such men, and make them whither. As there is a special worm killing special trees, and consuming their fruits; so there are special lusts, which like worms, eat out, and destroy the life of man; wrath killeth the foolish man. The foolish man.] He is A fool, who hath not wisdom to direct 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temerarius, audax, imprudens, percitus ira. himself; but The fool, is he, who will not follow the counsel and direction of the wise. The word signifies, not so much a fool, who hath no knowledge; as a fool, who makes no use of the knowledge, which he hath: such a one is a foolish man indeed. Or it notes a man hasty, bold, inconsiderate, rushing on hand over head, without fear or wit. A man, who either is master but of little knowledge, or that which he hath (be it little or much) masters him. It agrees fully in sense, and is the same to a letter in found, with our English word Evil; Such the Prophet (Zech. 11. 15.) describes: Take (saith he) the instruments of a foolish shepherd, he doth not mean, the instruments of a rude and merely ignorant shepherd, a man that hath no knowledge or learning, but of a rash and imprudent shepherd, or of a lazy and idle shepherd, who, though hath knowledge, yet knows not how (or hath no heart) to improve his knowledge for the good of his flock. The Prophet Ezekiel gives us the character of such, Chap. 34. 4. The diseased have ye not strengthened, nor have ye healed that which was sick, nor bound up that which was broken, etc. but (will ye know what work they made?) with fury and with cruelty have ye ruled them; ye have been moved with fury, not with pity, and acted by passion, not by reason, much less by grace. So in this place, the foolish man, whom envy slays, is not a mere ignorant, one that hath no brains, but one harebrained and uncomposed Eliphaz hints at Job secretly in this word, whom he knew reported for a man of great knowledge and learning, according to the learning of those times, yet he numbers him with N●n his solum sed calamo i●os ●imur in scribendo, eumque 〈◊〉 & fra●g●mus, & pecto●●s penecallo & alcato res tesseris & cuicunque instrumento quil●bet, ex quo d●fficultatem se pa●● arbitratur August ●ra stultitiae come●. fooles, because, he conceived him wrathful, rash, intemperate, not having any true government of himself. Anger resteth in the bosom of fools, Eccles. 7. 9 A fool is not able to judge of the nature of things or times, or occasions, and therefore he is angry with every thing that hits not his nature or his humour. He will be angry with the Sun, if it shine hotter than he would have it, and with the winds, if they blow harder than he would have them, and with the clouds, if they rain longer than serves his turn. They that are emptiest of understanding, are fullest of will, and usually so full of will, that we call them wilful. Hence, unless every thing be ready to serve their wills, they are ready to die by the hand or judgement of their passions. Wrath kills this foolish man.] Wrath may be taken here two woyes, either for the wrath of God, or for the wrath of man. In the former sense, the meaning is, That the wrath of God kills foolish men; Which is an undoubted truth, but I rather adhere to the latter, which gives the meaning thus, That the wrath of a foolish man, kills himself; his own wrath, is as a knife at his throat, and as a sword in his own bowels: The word which we translate wrath, signifies indignation, anger, teastinesse or touchiness: Properly wrath is anger inveterate; anger is a short fury, and wrath is a long anger; when a man is set upon't, when his spirit is steeped and soaked in anger, then 'tis wrath. Esau raked up the burning coals of his anger in the ashes, till his Father's Funeral, The time of mourning for my father will shortly come, then will I slay my brother. But our word rather notes, a servant heat and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 distemper of spirit presently breaking forth, or an extreme vexation fretting and disquieting us within: As Psal. 112. 10. The wicked shall see it and be grieved, (that is, he shall have secret indignation in himself to see matters go so) He shall gnash with his teeth and melt away. Gnashing of the teeth is caused by vexing of the heart; And therefore it follows, he melts away; which notes (melting is from heat) an extreme heat within. The sense is very suitable to this of Eliphaz, wrath slayeth the foolish, or wrath makes him melt away, it melts his grease with chafing, as we say, of a man furiously vexed; Hence that deplorable condition of the damned, who are cast out of the presence of God for ever, is described by weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth; which imports not only pain, but extreme vexing at, or in themselves. Those fools shall be slain for ever with their own wrath, as well as with the wrath of God. Wrath killeth, etc.] But how doth wrath kill a foolish man? his wrath sometimes draws his sword and kills others: but is his wrath as a sword to kill himself? Many like Simeon and Levi, in their anger have slain a man; but that the anger of a man should slay himself, may seem strange? The passion of wrath is such an engine, as recoils upon him that uses or discharges it. As the desire of the slothful killeth him, Prov. 21. 25. so, the wrath of a foolish man kills him: that place enlightens this; how comes desire to stay the slothful? thus; A man slothful in action is full of desires and quick in his affections after many good things: he would feign have them, he longs for them: but the man is so extreme lazy, that he will not stir hand or foot to get the things which he desires, and so he pines away with wishing and woulding, and dies with grief, because desire is not satisfied. So, in like manner, wrath is said to slay a man; first, because it thrusts him headlong upon such things, as are his death; he runs wilfully upon his own death, sometimes by the dangerousness of the action, whence casual sudden death surprises him; sometime by the unlawfulness of the action, which brings him to a legal or judiciary death. Secondly, his wrath is said to kill him, because his wrath is so vexations to him, that it makes his life a continual death to him, and at last so wearieth him out, and wastes his spirits, that he dies for very grief: and so at once commits a threefold murder; First he murders him intentionally, against whom he is wroth: Secondly, he, really, murders his own body; and thirdly, he, meritoriously, murders his soul for ever, except the Lord be more merciful, than he hath been wrathful, and the death of Christ heal those wounds, by which he would have procured the death of others, and hath (as much as in him lies) procured his own. And envy slayeth the silly one.] These two expressions meet near upon a sense. Envy is the trouble which a man conceives in himself, at the good which another receives. This disease gets in at the eyes and ears, or is occasioned by seeing or hearing of our neighbour's blessings. In the 1 Joh. 2. All the lusts in the world are reduced to three heads, The lust of the eyes: the lust of the flesh; and the pride of life; Envy is the chiefest lust of the eyes, and it is properly called the lust of the eye: because a man seldom envieth another, until he sees, some good, he hath above himself. This passion is a murderer also, it gins at the eyes, but it rots down into the bones. Envy slayeth the silly one.] There is not much difference between the nature of these two, the foolish man, and the silly one: But the Original words by which they are expressed are very different. The root signifies to persuade, to entice, or allure: And it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sua sus per sua sus, d●●eptus, seductus fuit, h●nc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sua deo, apud Grecos. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Japhet le Ja●he●h. is taken sometime in a good sense (as in Gen. 9 27.) where the Holy Ghost speaks with admirable elegancy, God will persuade the perswadable; we translate it, God will persuade Japhet. Japhet had his name from being persuaded or perswadable, God shall entice or persuade Japhet: which was a prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles, who are descendants from Japhet, as the Jews are from Shem. So, that word is applied to Gods drawing, or, alluring men by the sweet promises and winning enticements of the Gospel. God doth (let it be taken in holy reverence) toll men on by promises, and deceive them graciously into the Gospel. (Hos. 2. 14.) I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness. And because by persuasions men are often deceived and seduced to evil, therefore the word signifies also to deceive and beguile, as well as to persuade; and in the passive to be beguiled and deceived; Hence, the word in the text is derived, which we translate a simple one, or a man that will easily be persuaded & led by another, a sequatious or easy man, whom you may carry with a mouth full of good words, and fair promises, whether you will. Yet, we find this word (Psal 116. 6.) used in a good sense, for a man without sinful guile and craft, a simple, honest, plaine-hearted man, The Lord preserveth the simple. But here and often elsewhere it is taken in an ill sense, for a man without sense and reason, without heart and spirit, a man that cannot in any competency judge of things, or make out his way, but is merely led, and lives upon the opinion and judgement of another: To such wisdom cryeth without and uttereth her voice in the streets, how long ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity, Prov. 1. 20, 22. This silly one envy slayeth; Exiguo animo & abjecto spiritu. He is out of his wits already, and a little matter will put him out of his life: Envy slayeth him, that is, a simple man looking upon the prosperity and blessings of God upon his neighbour, will needs afflict himself: he looks upon himself, as having lost all, if that man gain: he falls, if his brother stands, and can with more ease die miserably, then see another live happily. In this sense it is, That envy kills the silly one. Now the reason why Eliphaz speaks of these two, the foolish and the simple one, and characters them, as dying by the hand of these two lusts, wrath and envy is, because he conceived all Jobs troubled, and (as he thought) muddy complaints in the third Chapter, arose from these two impure and filthy springs, wrath and envy, from proud wrath, and impotent envy; he looked upon him, as angry and displeased, yea as enraged, because God had dealt so ill with him; and he supposed he saw him pale and won, eaten up and pined with envy, because others were so well, because his friends enjoyed health & lived in prosperity round about him. As if he had said, Thou art wroth at thy own poverty, sickness and sores, and thou art envious at our plenty, health and ease. And may not folly and simplicity, challenge that man for Theirs, whose spirit thus resents, either his own evils, or his neighbours good? Observe hence, First, Every wicked man, is a foolish, a silly man; Sin is pure folly, In the Proverbs all along, wickedness is the Interpretation of foolishness. It is folly to take brass Counters for gold, and to be pleased with Bugles more than with Diamonds. When an heir is impleaded for an Idiot, the Judge commands an apple, or a counter, with a piece of gold to be set before him, to try which he will take; if he takes the apple or the counter, and leaves the gold, he is then cast for a fool, and unable to manage his estate, for he knows not the value of things, or how to make a true election. Wicked men are thus foolish and more, for when bugles and diamonds, counters and gold are before them, they leave the diamonds and the gold, and please themselves with those toys and babbles; when (which is infinitely more sottish) Heaven and hell, life and death are set before them, they choose hell rather than Heaven, and death rather than life; they take the mean, transitory, trifling things of the world, before the favour of God, the pardon of fin, a part in Jesus Christ, and an inheritance among the Saints in light All the wisdom of wicked men, is wisdom in their own conceits. And Solomon assures us, that there is more hope of a fool then of such, that is, of those, who are sensible of their own failings, and are willing (as the Apostle directs) to become fools that they may be wise, 1 Cor. 3. 18. Opinion in itself is weak, but self-opinion is very strong; even the strongest of those strong-holds, and the highest of those high Towers, which the spiritual war, by those weapons which are mighty through God, is to oppose and cast down: which, till they are cast down, these fools are impregnable, and will not be led captive unto Christ. Secondly, observe, That to vex and to be angry at the troubles that fall upon us, or at the hand which sends them, is a high point of folly and of ignorance. Wrath and discontent slay the foolish, such are at once, twice slain, slain with the wrath of God, and with their own. To die thus, is to die like a fool indeed. For first, this wrath of man springs from his ignorance of God: Man would not be angry at what the Lord doth, if he knew he were the Lord, and may do what himself pleases. The ground of anger is a supposition of wrong. Secondly, This wrath of man springs from ignorance of himself. He cannot be angry with any cross, who rightly knows himself. First to be a creature. This notion of ourselves teaches us that lesson of humility, to be subject to the will of our Creator. The law of our creation calls us to all passive obedience, as well as unto active, as much and as quietly to suffer, as to do the will of God. But especially, if a man did fully know himself to be a sinful creature, he would not be angry; yea, he would lay a charge upon his mouth, not to utter a word, and a charge upon his heart not to utter a thought against what the Lord doth with him. I will bear the Indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, saith the Church, Micah 7. 9 As if she had said the remembrance of my sin takes away all pleading, much more all quarrelling, in how angry a posture soever the Lord sets himself to afflict me: And therefore my spirit is resolved, that because my flesh hath sinned, my flesh shall bear the indignation of the lord He that knows what it is to sin, knows that all sufferings l●sse then hell, are l●sse than sin. If a man were convinced of this, that, what he bears is less than his sin deserves, he would bear it, with thanks, not with complaints. Irascitur, quia omnia sibi ceberi pu●at. Yea he would say, that, as he hath deserved all these and more than all these strokes, so he hath need of them. The bundle of folly in his heart calls for a bundle of rods upon his back and he sees want of correction might have been his undoing. Therefore to be angry with affliction, argues a man ignorant of himself as a creature, much more as a sinful creature. Once more the foolishness of such wrath appears to the eye of nature and common reason, because this wrath brings no ease or remedy at all to those wounds, but rather makes them more painful, if not remediless. It is an argument of folly to do a thing, whereby we cannot help ourselves, but it is folly and madness to do that which hurts, which makes our wound fester and our disease grow desperate. Did any man ever ease himself by fretting or raging under the cross? How many have made their cross more heavy upon them, by raging at it? A man's own wrath, is heavier to him then his cross. A stone is heavy, and sand weighty, but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both, Prov. 27. 3. A fool's wrath is very heavy to others, but it is heaviest to himself. The text is express for it, which may be a third observation. To be angry and discontent at God's judgements is more destructive to us, than the judgements themselves. The wrath and judgements of God afflict only, but your own wrath destroys; wrath slays the foolish. Probably God came only to correct you, but wrath kills you. The wrath of man is a passion but it is very active upon man, and eats up the spirit which nurses and brings it forth: Frowardness and anger are at once our sin and our torment. He that is angry when God strikes, strikes himself, whereas humble submission to the blow, turns it into a kiss or an embrace, and they that sit down quietly and believingly under any evil, bear it at present with more ease, and in the end, find it in the inventory of their goods. So David, It is good for me that I have been afflicted. Fourthly note, That to envy another man's good or prosperity is an argument of the worst simplicity. Envy slayeth the silly one.] Envy is a common theme, I will not stay upon it; but shall only give you two reasons to demonstrate the silly simplicity of an envious person. 1. The good of another is not thy hurt, thou hast not the less, because another hath more. Leah's fruitfulness was no cause of Rachel's barrenness. Thy portion is not impaired by thy brother's increase; thou hast thy share, and he hath but his; how silly a thing than is it to envy him, that hath much, when as, his having much is not the cause why thou hast little. Again, this troubling thyself that others have more, will not get thee any more; envy never brought in earnings or increase. 2. A man of wisdom will make all the good of another his good. Take away envy, and that which is mine, is thine, and if I take away envy, that which is thine, is mine. To have a heart to bless God for his blessings upon another, is itself a great blessing, and gives thee likewise a part in those blessings. Thus we may enjoy all the joys and comforts, the favours and deliverances, the Tolle invidiam & quod meum est, tuum est, & si ego tollam itvidiā quod tuum est meum est. health and peace, the riches and plenty, the gifts, yea and the very graces of all those, in whose graces and gifts, plenty and riches, peace and health, etc. We can really and cordially rejoice. Whereas an envious man ever stands in his own light, and cannot rejoice in his own mercies, for grieving at his Brothers. So fare of the second part of the argument, whereby Eliphaz would convince Job of wickedness, his likeness to the wicked in bearing of, or rather fretting against his troubles. JOB. Chap. 5. Vers. 3, 4, 5. I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation. His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them. Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance. TWo parts of the fourth argument were cleared in the two former verses. In these three Eliphaz argues further, to the same effect. His argument is grounded upon his own experience, which had showed many examples of foolish men, like Job (as he supposed) both in his rising and in his falling, in his good days and in his evil. I have seen the foolish taking root, and suddenly I cursed his habitation, etc. The argument may be thus framed. Foolish men flourish a while and then come to certain and sudden destruction, they and their children and their estates are all crushed and swallowed up. But thou didst flourish a while, and grow up like some goodly tree, yet sudden destruction came upon thy children and upon thy estate, the robbers have consumed and swallowed all up. Therefore thou art foolish, etc. I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation; I have seen thee taking root, and I observe thy habitation cursed; Thy outward condition is so parallel with theirs, that I know not how to distinguish thee, from them, in thy inward and spiritual condition. I have seen the foolish taking root. Eliphaz urgeth experience. He urged experience in the fourth Chapter, v. 8. Even as I have seen they that plough iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same, etc. He urgeth experience here again, and this superadded experience seems to answer an objection which might be made against that former experience: For some might say, many wicked men blow iniquity enough, and sow wickedness abundantly, yet they reap comforts and the contentments of this world: they have what their hearts desire, a full harvest of riches, pleasures and honours. It is true (saith Eliphaz) I grant it, I have observed the like also I have seen the foolish taking root; yea, but I can answer quickly and remove this objection: it doth not at all weaken my former assertion, grounded upon that experience, for as I have seen him take root, so, suddenly I cursed his habitation, his children are far from safety, etc. He flourisheth, but he withers quickly, he takes root, but he is soon pulled up by the roots. I have seen] Experience is the mistress of truth. Truth is called the daughter of time, because experience bringeth forth many truths; and the word of God is made visible in the works of God. I have seen (saith he) This truth hath run into my eye. In experiences the promises of God stand forth, and in experiences, the threaten of God stand forth, and show themselves: all the experiences that we have in the world, are only so many exemplifications of the truths contained in the promises or threaten of the word. The foolish] I shall not stay to open that term, for we met 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levem hominem notat, qui sine consilio agit, vul● & facit nullamque facti rationum habet, nisi quia ita ven●● in mentem Goc. with it in the former verse, wrath slayeth the foolish one. Only in a word, this foolish man is one, who acts without counsel, and whose will is too hard for his understanding. He hath no reason for what he doth, but because he hath a mind to do it. A foolish man is a wicked man, and here the foolish man is a wicked man at ease, a wicked man in his fullness and abundance of outward comforts: A fool is ever worst, when he is at ease. And as he more abounds in comforts, so, he abounds more in sin. All mercies are to him but fuel for his folly, and meat and drink for his madness. That rich man who pleased himself so in his worldly successes is called a fool, Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be taken from thee, and then whose shall all these things be which thou possessest? (Luke 12. 20) All wicked men are foolish, and wicked rich men have ever the greatest stock of folly. And they are therefore more foolish than others, because they think themselves wiser than all. If a man can get riches, if his root be well settled in the earth, and his branches spread fairly out, he accounteth himself very wise, and so do many others account him too. A thriving sinner is a foolish and an unprosperous man, but he that plots how to thrive by sin, is the most foolish man in the world, and therefore in all his prosperity most unprosperous. As the foolish take root, so, that by which they take root is often times their folly. Taking root] Wicked men under the outward curse are compared to trees not taking root, Isa. 40. 24. He bringeth the Princes to nothing, yea they shall not be planted, yea they shall not be sown, yea their stock shall not take root in the earth; And Psalm 129. 6. Let them be as the grass upon the house (having no earth to take root in) which withereth afore it groweth up, whereof the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth up the sheaves his bosom. Wicked men prospering, are compared to a tree well rooted. I have seen the foolish taking root; that is, confirmed and settled in their outward prosperity. A root is to the tree as a foundation is to the house, the establishment of it; when a tree is well rooted, it takes in the moisture of the earth freely, than the body or trunk grows big, the branches spread forth, the leaves are green, and it abounds with fruit. So that with the welrooting, we must take in all that concerns the flourishing of a tree. Hence, other Scriptures express the men of the world by trees, not only secretly taking root in the earth, but putting themselves forth and appearing in their visible beauty and verdure. (Ps. 37. 35.) David produceth his experience, I have seen the wicked in great power (how? taking root, yea) spreading himself like a green bay-tree. They are described by their boughs, branches and leaves. And in Isa. 2. 11. The day of the Lord, shall be upon the Cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, not only upon the Cedars of Lebanon that are deeply rooted, but upon the Cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the Oaks of Bashan; In the 14. of Hosea v. 5. The prosperous estate of the Church (under the dew and influence of heavenly blessings) is held forth to us under the notion of a tree taking root. I will be as the dew to Israel, he shall grow as the Lily, and cast his roots as Lebanon (that is as the trees in Lebanon) his branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the Olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. In the fourth of Daniel, the state, glory and magnificence of the kingdoms of this world are shadowed by a tree: Nabuchadnezzar in a vision hath a tree presented before him, he knew not what to make of it, and therefore calls for the Wisemen to expound the vision, which he thus relates, ver. 4. I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, the height thereof was great, and the tree grew and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the ends of the earth, and the leaves thereof were fair. When Daniel comes to interpret it, (ver. 22.) he says to the King, Thou art this tree, etc. Nabuchadnezzar in all his worldly pomp, is set forth by a goodly tree. In the 53. of Isa. v. 2. Where the birth of Christ is prophesied, it is said, That, he shall grow up before him, as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. As a very flourishing estate, whether in spirituals or temporals, is expressed by a tree planted by the water side: So a mean, low estate is signified by a tree in a dry ground. Our Lord Jesus, in regard of any outward glory, was like a tree in a dry ground, as the words following expound it, He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. His kingdom was not like the kingdom of those great Monarches, strong, and high, and beautiful with any created lustre. Hence observe, First, That wicked men may flourish in great outward prosperity. I have seen the foolish taking root. The Prophet Jeremiah in the twelfth of his Prophecy (a Scripture touched before, Chap. 4. v. 7. to this purpose) being somewhat scandalised at the prosperity of treacherous dealers, describes them thus, ver. 2. Thou hast planted them, yea they have taken root, they grow, yea they bring forth fruit. Here are four degrees; first they are planted, there is many a tree planted that takes not root, but (saith he) thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: There are some trees which are both planted and have taken root, yet they do not grow, especially not to any height or greatness, though they live, yet they do not thrive; These are planted, and they take root and they grow; but there are many trees planted, rooted and growing, which yet are fruitless; these have all, they are planted, they take root, they grow and they bring forth fruit; And who are these? Surely the worst of men, as the very next words evidence, God is near in their mouths, but he is far from their reins; God is near in the mouth of such, that is, they may speak of him sometimes, but he is far from their reins, there is nothing of God in their hearts; and surely they that have nothing of God in their hearts, have nothing of goodness in their hearts, or in their lives. This present glory and prosperity of wicked men, lifts up the glory of God's patience. How is the glory of the patience of God exalted, in letting them have ease, who are a burden unto himself? in letting them prosper, who are (as God can be pained) a pain unto himself? in suffering them to flourish who vex his people, in suffering them to laugh, who make his people mourn. Further, He gives them leave to take root and flourish (whom he could blast and root up every moment) that all may see what is in their hearts. If God did not permit them to take root, yea and sometimes to grow up and flourish, we should never see what fruit they would bring forth: we should never see those grapes of gall, those bitter clusters; if these vines of Sodom, and fields of Gomorrah, were not watered with the dew, and warmed with the Sun of some outward prosperity. Lastly, The prosperity of wicked men, is a great trial of good men; The flourishing of the ungodly is as strong an exercise of their graces, as their own witherings. Observe secondly, That wicked men may not only flourish and grow, but they may flourish and grow a great while. I ground it upon this, the text faith, that they take root, I have seen the foolish taking root, and the word notes a dcep rooting. In the Parable of the sour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (Matth. 13. 21.) it is said, that the seed which fell into stony ground withered, because it had no root, noting, that the cause of a sudden decay or withering in any plant, is the want of rooting; whereas a tree well rooted, will endure many a blast, and stand out a storm. Some wicked men stand out many storms, like old Oaks, like trees deeply rooted, they stand many a blast, yea many a blow; spectators are ready to say, such and such storms will certainly overthrow them, and yet still they stand: but though they stand so long, that all wonder, yet they shall fall, that many may rejoice; and take up this proverb against them (as of old against the King of Babylon) How hath the oppressor ceased? The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the Rulers: He who smote the people in wrath, with a continued stroke, he that ruled in the Nation with anger is persecuted, and none hindereth. Therefore many shall break forth into singing, yea the Fir trees shall rejoice at him, and the Cedars of Lebanon, saying, since thou art laid down no feller is come up amongst us, Isa. 14. Thirdly observe, Outward good things are not good in themselves. The foolish take root. The worst of men may enjoy the best of outward comforts. Outward things are unto us, as we are. If the man be good, than they are good. And though the Preacher tells us, Eccles. 9 That all things come alike unto all, yet all things are not alike unto all. There is a great difference between the flourishing of a wise man, and the flourishing of a fool; all his flourishing and fastening in the earth is no good to him, because himself is not good: Spiritual good things are so good, that though they find us not good, yet they will make us good: we cannot have them indeed, and be unlike them. But worldly good things find some really good, and make them worse; others who had but a show of goodness, they are occasions of making stark nought; Rooting in the earth, never helped any to grow heaven-wards: Many deeply rooted in the earth, have grown down, and gone down to the depths of Hell. Fourthly observe, as a consequence from the former; That the enjoyment of outward good things, is no evidence, can be made no argument that a man is good. I have seen the foolish taking root. And yet how many stick upon this evidence; blessing themselves because they are outwardly blessed. Yea, though they meet with a discovery of their sins, and sinful bosoms in the word, though they find those sins threatened, yea cursed with a grievous curse in the word, yet they bless themselves and say, we are rich and flourish, we have a good estate and credit, we take root and stand, but they forget that all this may be the portion of a fool. I have seen the foolish man taking root. And suddenly I cursed his habitation. The word here used, to curse, springs indifferently from two roots, which yet meet and are one, in signification: Namely, to strike through or to pierce, as a man is struck through with a staff 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deducitur, vel à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fodit, perfodit, terrebravit, & per me taphoram maledixit, execratus est; est metaphora translata ab his qui gladio aut pugione aliquem-transverberant, tanquam si aliquis Dei aut hominis maledictione trajiceretur. Cartw. in Prov. 11. 26. or sword, or stabbed with a dagger; Thus Hab. 3. 14. Thou didst strike through with his Staves the head of the villages. And Isa. 36. 6. The piercing of a reed into the hand of him that leans upon it, is expressed by this word. So than it carries a metaphorical allusion to the effect of a curse, the curse of God always, and the curse of man upon due grounds, is as a sword or a dagger, piercing a man through and thorough, through both soul and body. I have cursed his habitation, that is, I have smitten his habitation quite through with a curse. I cursed his habitation. Some read, I abhorred or I abhominated his habitation. I was so far from envying this flourishing, spreading tree, or from being in love with his goodly seat and brave habitation, that I loathed and could not abide it. The cottage of an honest man was more delightful to me, than the tents or palaces of wickedness. But the word bears rather to curse; which is first to wish evil unto another: And secondly to foretell, to pronounce or denounce evil against another. Often in the Psalms, David's curses upon his enemies, are predictions from the Spirit of God, not maledictions or ill wishes from his own spirit; Good men know not how to wish evil; their curse are Prophecies not prayers: they foretell or foresee evils, but they desire them not. I have Pium non decent dirae. not desired the woeful day, Lord thou knowest, said that Prophet, who had denounced many woeful days, Jer. 17. 16. In Scripture, many are said to do that which they declare to Id fieri ab aliquo dicitur in Scriptura quod faciendum denunciatur. be, or foretell that it shall be. As (to give an instance or two) Levit. 13. in the case of the Leper, the text saith, that when the Priest makes up his judgement concerning the Leper (having found the tokens of Leprosy upon him) he shall defile him (ver. 3. and ver. 8.) or make him unclean, so the Original gives it; which we translate, The Priest shall pronounce him unclean. In that sense the Ministers of the Gospel (whose business is to cleanse) defile many; yea, one way to cleanse men, is thus to defile and pronounce them Lepers. So Isa. 6. 8. the Lord sends the Prophet against that people, and saith to him, Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; Praedic excaeeanaos o●ulos, & aures aggravandas. Now, the Prophet did not act this himself, he did not deafen their ears, or blind their eyes, but only foretell or denounced that this, judgement should fall upon them; because they had so long stopped their ears, at last their ears should be stopped and made heavy enough; and because they had so long winked and shut their eyes, at last they should be blind, and their eyes shut fast enough; How fast are those eyes and ears locked up, which are thus double locked. Once more, Jer. 1. 10. The Lord gives the Prophet a strange commission, See (saith he) I have this day set thee over the Nations and over Kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, and to build and to plant. One would think this commission, more fitting for a Caesar or an Alexander, for great Commanders attended with numerous Armies, than for an unarmed Prophet; what could he do? could he root out Kingdoms, and destroy Nations? Yes, by denouncing the destroying judgements and consuming wrath of God, due unto them for their rebellions and provocations: Thus a poor weak Prophet can overturn a whole Kingdom, and root up the strongest Nations. And the truth is, that, never was any Nation or Kingdom rooted up by the sword, but it was first rooted up by the word; first God hewed them to pieces, and slew them by his Prophets, and then let in Armies of cruel enemies to do it. So here in the text, I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation; The clear meaning is, I foretold a curse, I knew what would shortly become of his habitation It Non per invidiam & iram dira imprecacarer, sed animus p●aesagiret, male ipsi fore. Coc. was not anger against his person, or envy at his estate, that moved me to curse him; but it was an eye of faith, which shown me him marked with a curse in the just threaten of God: I saw a curse hanging over his family and dwelling, over his riches and honours: And though he then flourished, that, yet he should quickly whither and be destroyed root and branch. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked, Prov. 3. 33. Man doth but see it there, the Lord sent it there. The word is considerable which we traslate Habitation. It signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a quiet, a settled, a peaceable, a beautiful habitation: And so carries an aggravation of the judgement upon this foolish man; his judgement is the worse upon him, because he thought himself so well, so well seated, so well settled, so secured and accommodated that he should never be removed: They are most troubled with remove, who thought themselves settled; troubles afflict them deepest, who supposed themselves beyond trouble. When David thought God had made his mountain so strong, that it could not be moved, how was he troubled, as soon as God hide his face? Ps. 30. 6, 7. And if they are so troubled with shake, who look upon their estates as settled by the favour of God, how will they be troubled to meet with totter and shake, much more with ruining and destructions, whose estates at best, are bottomed only upon their policies, often upon their sins? We may observe from hence; First, The estate of some wicked men, is out of the prayers of God's people. When they go by their dwellings, they cannot say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you, we bless you in the name of the Lord, Psal. 129. 8. It is a great mercy to stand under the influences of prayer, and for a man to have his estate, land, dwellings watered with showers of blessings and hearty good wishes from the mouths of Saints. Their blessings or their curse, are next to the blessings and curse of Christ, nay, they are his; It is an argument that Christ hath blessed or cursed a man, when the spirits of his people generally are carried to either. It is one of the saddest presages in the world, for a man to be cast out of the prayers of the Saints, or to be cast by their prayers; that is, when their prayers are against him, and he presented naked to the displeasure of Christ: It shows that the sin of a man is a sin unto death, when the faithful cease praying for him, 1 Joh. 5. 16. What can it prognosticate then but approaching ruin and destruction, when they bend the strength of prayer against him? There was never any habitation of wickedness, so firmly founded or strongly fortified, but that Great and Holy Ordinance hath or may shake, and batter it to the dust. The fair Towers and walls of Babylon, the seat and state of Antichrist, have long been under this curse; All the Saints, whose eyes God hath unscaled and brought out from Egyptian darkness, have seen That foolish man taking root, and have cursed his habitation. Secondly observe; A wicked man in prosperity is under the curse of God. He is often under the curse of man, but ever under the curse of God. Esau have I hated (saith God, Rom. 9 13.) yet even at that time the fatness of the earth was his dwelling, and of the dew of Heaven from above, Gen. 27. 39 While the meat was in the mouths of the murmuring Israelites, the wrath of God was upon them. They did at once eat their lust and their death, wrath was mingled with their meat; and while he gave them their request, he sent leanness into their souls, (Psal. 106. 15.) This is the most dreadful curse of all, To have a fate estate, a well fed body, with a lean starven soul. Thirdly, Observe a vast difference between godly and wicked men, between the foolish and the wise. When a godly man withers in his outward estate, and is plucked up by the roots, yet God loves him; when a godly man is poor, God loves him, when he is sick, God loves him, when he is in prison, God loves him, when he is in disgrace, God loves him, and when the world hates him most, than God usually shows, that he loves him most; The world cannot cast a godly man into any condition, but he meets with the love of God in it; his estate may vary and vary, change and change a thousand times, but the love of God towards him is unchangeable. On the other side, we see in the text, when a wicked man takes root, and the branches of his outward estate bear fruit abundantly, God curseth him; when he is at ease, God is angry with him. That place is very observable (Zech. 1. 15.) I am very sore displeased with the Heathen, that are at ease; the Heathen were at ease, yet God was extremely displeased with them. When a wicked man is in health God curseth him, when he is rich God curseth him, when all men honour admire and flatter him, God abhorreth, hates and detests him; he can be in no condition, but he is sure to meet with the curse of God. As a foolish man, a wicked m●n, giveth God many things, but he never gives God his love, or his affection; A wicked man may give God prayers, but he doth not give him his love; he may give him praises, but he never gives him any love; he may give God his purse, but he gives not his love or his heart; whether such a fool praiseth God, or prayeth to God, or giveth unto God, he hateth God. So likewise, whatsoever God gives to a wicked man he hates him, whatsoever he bestows on him he curseth him: This should awake men rooted in the earth, to consider whether they are under the influences of Gods eternal love, as well as under the influence of temporal blessings: This is the ground of David's conclusion, Psal. 37. 16. A little that the righteous hath, is better than the ricehes of many wicked: the reason is this, because many ungodly ones, swimming in a full sea of riches, have not so much as one drop of the love of God, nor one beam or ray of the light of his countenance shining upon them: but a godly man, if he have but a small estate, he hath much love mixed with it, if he have but a little purse, he hath a large portion of the favour of God in it, and this makes it so out-worth and outvalue a wicked man's estate, this puts the price and stamps an excellency upon his little. The love of God doth so fare exceed the fatness of the earth, in the esteem of Saints, that they in rating their estates, reckon not upon earthly things at all, they see nothing to value themselves by, but their interests in the love of God. As when God gives his people their portion, he looks upon outward things, as mere additionals, or as an overplus given in by way of vantage. All other things shall be added (Mat. 6. 33.) when a man casts in a handful of wheat after the bushel is full, or gives a finger's breadth after the due measure of the cloth; So it is in the case of all temporals bestowed upon the Saints: Then fourthly note; Outward good things, are no argument of the favour of God. As we shown before, that, they are no evidences of the goodness of a person, so neither are they any evidences of the grace and favour of God unto a person. A man cannot find an evidence of God's love in his purse, in his land, in his honour, in his credit: Yea a man may flourish in better things than these I speak of, and yet have no evidences of God's love to him; A man may flourish in knowledge, be deeply rooted in learning, may have extraordinary branches of parts, and wonderful fruits of gifts, yet notwithstanding all this while, his habitation and his person too under a curse. And therefore, be sure that you look for your evidences of the love of God in the right box, do not look for evidences of the love of God in your chests, or in your purses, but look into your hearts, and see what Christ hath done there, look into your lives, and see what light shines there from the Spirit of Christ; Look whether grace flows from the Spirit of Christ, and is rooted in your spirits. If grace be rooted in thee there, if it spring up and bring forth fruit in the life, this is an evidence indeed. They that are thus rooted, God never curseth, Grace and holiness were never under any curse. Observe one thing further, As these words hold forth the judgement or opinion of a godly man, concerning the wicked in prosperity. I have seen the foolish taking root, and presently I cursed his habitation. A godly man sees the wicked of the world to be miserable in their best and most flourishing condition. When thousands stand about the great ones of the earth, admiring, applauding, making little gods of them, envying their happiness, and thinking none happy but they, or such as they are; then a godly man pities them, mourns over them, sees them, and all such as they are, miserable; He looks through all their outward glory and beauty, riches and honours, and sees them cursed through all, hated of God through all; He sees nakedness through their clothing, emptiness and want through all their plenty and abundance: neither is this unhappiness confined to their own persons, but derived to all, to whom they derive life, or stand related. So it follows; His children are fare from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them, etc. Secundum genus calamitatis quod Deus imp●obisimmit●it, posteritatis exitiam deplo●a●ū, & quidem acclamante pub●ico consensu These words contain a further effect of this curse. I cursed his habitation, and what then? was it an ineffectual curse? was it but wind and words, returning and doing nothing? or did it spend all its strength upon this foolish man in his own person? No, His children are fare from safety, they are crushed in the gate, etc. One of the Rabbins conceives that these words and the verse following, are the form wherein the curse was pronounced upon the habitation of the foolish man; As if Eliphaz had said, I cursed R●bbi Solomon, for●am maledictionis esse vult. his habitation thus, Let his children be far from safety, and let them be crushed in the gate, neither let there be any to deliver; as for his harvest, let the hungry eat it up, and let the robbers swallow up their substance. And we find such a form, Psal. 109. David pronounces the curse upon those wicked enemies, in language very suitable to this (ver. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.) Set thou a wicked man over him, and let Satan (an adversary) stand at his right hand. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow; let his children be continually vagabonds and beg, let them seek their bread also out of desolate places, let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the stranger spoil his labour. But we may rather take it, as the matter, then as the form of a curse. I cursed his habitation, and the curse broke forth upon his children, and upon his estate, upon the branches, and the fruit of that goodly tree: much like that in the vision, Dan. 4. 13, 14. I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and behold a watcher, and a holy One, came down from Heaven, He cried aloud and said thus; Hue down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit, etc. This Allegory may be rendered in the plain words of Eliphaz, I cursed his habitation, his children are far from safety. The Master of the Family is the tree, His children are either fruit or branches, His leaves are riches and honour, the beauty and pleasantness of his habitation. Some things in the letter of the text are to be opened, but I shall first observe one thing in the general, from the connection of this fourth verse with the third, I suddenly cursed his habitation (verse 3.) Then follows, his children are far from safety. Observe from it; That Creatures cannot stand before the curse of God. How strongly soever they are rooted, the blast of the breath of God's displeasure, will either blow them down, or whither them standing. The curse comes powerfully, suddenly and secretly, it is often an invisible stroke. When we see neither axe nor spade at the root, nor strome at the top, yet down it comes, or stands without leaf or fruit. When Christ in the Gospel cursed the fruitless figtree, his Disciples passing by that way, wondered saying, how quickly is this figtree withered? it was but only a word from Christ, Never bear fruit more, and the figtree which had no fruit, lost its life. Some are such tall Cedars, such mighty Oaks, that men conclude there is no stirring of them, no Axe can fallen them, or blast loosen them; yet a word from the Lord will turn them up side down: or if he do but say to them, never fruit grow upon your actions or out of your counsels, presently they whither. The curse causeless shall not come, but when there is a cause, and God speaks the word, the curse will come; Neither power nor policies, neither threaten or entreaties can hinder or block it up. It is said of the water of jealousy in the book of Numbers, that when the woman drank that water, if there were cause of her husband's suspicion, presently her belly swelled, and her thighs did rot, the effect was inevitable. So, if God bid judgement take hold of a man, family or Nation, it will obey. A word made the world, and a word is able to destroy it. There is no armour of proof against the shot or stroke of a curse. Suddenly I cursed his habitation, and the next news is, His children are far from safety; If God speak the word, it is done as soon as spoken; as that mysterious Letter said of the Gunpowder plot, As soon as the paper is burnt, the thing is done. Surely God can cause his judgements to pass upon his implacable enemies, such horrid conspirators against Churches and Commonwealths, truth and peace, with as much speed, as a paper burns; with a blaze and a blast they are consumed. That in the general from the connexion of these two verses: Assoon as he was cursed, his children and his estate, all that he had went to wrack, and ruin. I shall now open the words distinctly. His children are far from safety,] Some read, Were far from safety, (and so the whole passage in the time passed) because he speaks of a particular example, which he himself had observe● in those days, as is clear v. 2. Having showed the curse upon the eoot, he now shows the withering of the brauches. Some of the Rabbins understand, by Children; the Followers or Imitators of wicked men, such as assisted them, or such as were like them. These are moral children; but take it rather in the letter, for natural children, such as were borne to them, or adopted by them, these come under their father's unhappiness. They are far from safety. The Hebrew word is commonly rendered, salvation. His children are fare from salvation. But then we must understand it for temporal salvation, which our translation expresses clearly by safety. His children are fare from safety. It is possible that the children of a wicked man, may be near unto eternal salvation; Though godly parents have a promise for their seed, yet grace doth not run in a blood, neither is the love of God tied or entailed upon any lineage of men. Election sometimes crosses the line, and steps into the family of a reprobate father. Therefore, it is not said, His children are fare from salvation, in a strict, but in a large sense. We find the word salvation, frequently used for safety (2 Kings 13. 17.) when Elisha bade Joash the King of Israel shot the arrow, he called it, the arrow of the Lords salvation, which we render, the arrow of the Lords deliverance. So Moses bespeaks the trembling Israelites a● the red Sea, Stand still and behold the salvation of the Lord, that is, behold what safety the Lord will give you from all these dangers, what deliverance from the hand of Pharaoh. The Prophet represents the Jews thus bemoaning their outward judgements. We roar all like Bears, and mourn sore like Doves, we look for judgement, but there is none, for salvation, but it is fare off, Isa. 59 11. They are far from safety. To be far from safety, is a phrase importing extreme danger; As when a man is said to be far from light, he is in extreme darkness; and when a man is said to be far from health, he is in extreme sickness; and when a man is said to be far from riches, he is in extreme poverty: So here, His children are far from safety, that is, they are in extreme danger and peril, they walk (as it were) in the regions of trouble, in the valley of the shadow of death continually. That phrase is used also, respecting the spiritual estate of unbelievers, They are far off from God, far off from the Covenant, Isa. 57 19 Ephes. 12. 13. that is, they have no benefit by the Covenant, no interest in, no favour at all or mercy from the Lord. To be far off from mercy is to be near wrath, and to be far from safety is to dwell upon the borders of danger. And they are crushed in the gate. In the forth Chapter Eliphaz describes man, as crushed before the moth, to show how suddenly, how easily man is destroyed. This man's children are crushed in the gate, as a man would crush a fly or a moth between his fingers. They are crushed in the gate. That notes two things. First the publicness of their destruction, they shall be destroyed in the sight of all men; for the gate was a public place (Pro- 31. 31.) her works praise her in the gates, that is, she is publicly known by her good works. To do a thing in the gate is opposed to the doing of a thing secretly. To suffer in the gate is to suffer publicly. Secondly, to be crushed in the gate, is to be crushed or cast in judgement; for The gate was the place of old, where justice was Inportis judicia exercebantur. Merc. administered and judgement given; and for a man to be crushed in the gate, is as much as for a man to be overthrown in his sure, when he hath any controversy or trial before a Judge, whether for his estate or for his life. So this phrase, They are crushed in the gate, implies that all businesses shall go against them, if they have any controversy in law, or if they be charged with any crime they shall certainly be condemned. I need not stay to prove that judgement was given in the gate; only take a few texts. First, in this book (Chap. 29. 7.). Job describes his own prosperity thus, When I went out to the gate, that is, to sit in judgement; And Chap. 31. v. 21. the word is used in the like sense; So Gen. 23. 17. Chap. 34. 20. Ruth 4. 1. Isa. 29. 11. Those words of the curse, Psal. 109. 7. when he is judged, let him be condemned, are the full Exposition of this, They are crushed in the gate. Ne agricola litis causa veniens, civitatis frequentia & novo terreretur conspectu nec u●bi habitator, longè ab urbi properaret & subvectionem. quaereret jumen. torum Jerom in Amos c. 5. v. 10. And the reason given by one of the Ancients, why justice was usually administered in the gate, is the accommodation and convenience both of strangers and Citizens: For strangers, who lived far off in the country, that they might have justice, before they entered into the city, whose pomp and throngs of people might possibly occasion either some terror or diversion in the minds of poor countrymen. And then likewise, that the Inhabitants of the City, might not be either charged or tired with long journeys into the country; To which we may add, that judgement was therefore administered in the gate, because gates are places through which all pass in and out, and therefore the declaring of judgement there, was the making of it more public, that all might take notice of what passed, in such and such cases, as the sentence and resolution of the Judges. Neither is there any to deliver them. This is the third degree of evil falling upon the foolish man's children. Though a man be brought to and cast in judgement, yet An summis malis reminem habebunt asse●to●è Ve injusti con●un●ibuntur & contundebuntur in judi iopub●i●e co●am tribuna●ibus. he may have a friend to help and deliver him; but these shall have no help, none to speak a good word for them, none to mediate either for reprieve or pardon. Some give the sense thus, His children shall neither find a Judge to give a favourable sentence, nor an Advocate to plead for them, and make the best of their cause; This also answers another part of the curse, Psa. 109. 12. Let there be none to extend mercy to him, neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children; None shall be found either able or willing to rescue or pluck them out of the hand of danger. Hence observe, first, That a wicked man and his children are often wrapped up in the same destruction. I cursed his habitation and his children are far from safety, they are crushed in the gate. A godly man is a defence for his children; Liberi paren●ū poenis saepe implicantur. It is a great blessing to be born of holy parents, and it is a curse to be borne of oppressing wicked parents. As, the blessing of God descends from the father, upon the children; so, the curse of God many times descends from the father, upon the children, and they inherit their judgements, as well as their lands. Though the justice and goodness of God, will make that Proverb cease in all the families of the world for ever, which was once taken up by the Jews, Ezek. 18. 2. The Fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. The Naturalists observe, and experience teacheth, that when a man eats very sour grapes (and so makes a sour face) another standing by is affected with a sympathy, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicatur a philosophis. Aristot. Sects ●. prob quest 5. and his teeth are set an edge or pained with the very sight or grating of another's teeth, though himself taste not the grape. The present Jew's thought themselves but bare lookers on upon their father's sin, and yet they suffered. But the Lord found the sour grapes in their mouths also, or them risen up in their father's stead, an increase of sinful men to fill up the fierce wrath of the Lord against them. Now (I say) though the Lord will make that proverb cease, in their sense: For no child is punished merely in contemplation of his father's sin. Yet when a son is wicked, the wickedness of a father, whether immediate or further off, may come in remembrance against him, and at once aggravate his sin, and increase his sorrow. Secondly, note this from it, Whom God will destroy, no creature shall be found able to deliver out of his hands. God can take away the help, and stop up the pity of all creatures, None shall deliver them. And though themselves should endeavour to escape, they shall not escape (Amos 9 1.) They that fly shall not fly away, and they that escape shall not be delivered, that is, by endeavouring to escape, they shall not be delivered, they shall attempt it in vain. If God will not deliver, none can, If a Lot be taken prisoner He bids Abraham arm and rescue him. If a Paul be in the mouth of a Lion, the Lord will deliver him. It needs not trouble us, who is our enemy, if God will be our deliverer: nor can it avail what friends so ever we have, if God saith, ye shall not be delivered; A wicked man (when the Lord appears against him) either hath none to deliver him, or none shall. Salvation is fare from the wicked, for they keep not thy statutes, Ps. 119. 155. From the children, judgement proceeds to the estate of this wicked man. Verse 5. Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and fetcheth it even out of the thorns, and the robber spoileth all his substance. Whose harvest the hungry eateth up. By his Harvest, we are to understand not only the return of that which he hath sown, as corn and other fruits of the earth; but all the goods or provisions, which he hath gathered or laid up for his Messis nomine parata bona omnia to●elligitur condenda & reponenda in annos plurimot. support and accommodation. A man's harvest is the improvement of his whole estate. And this man's harvest is all he hath gotten, by right or wrong, by industry or by injury, by sweat or by deceit, by secret practices or open violences. To eat up a harvest, is as much as to devour a house, with which Christ charges the hungry Scribes and Pharisees (Math. 23. 14.) who made Beggars as fast as they made Prayers, Ye devour widows houses and under pretence make long prayers. The greatness of his affliction is set forth by the loss of those things, which cost much pains to get. A harvest is not had with idleness. The earth must be broken, ploughed and sowed before we reap. The law of Nations (I am sure of this Nation) is very tender in this point, providing, that they who till and sow the Land, shall also enjoy the crop. But this wicked man shall not reap what he sowed. The labour shall be his, and the benefit another man's. The hungry shall come and eat up his harvest. Whence observe in general. It is a great evil when we cannot enjoy the thing we labour for. What greater disappointment to the husbandman; then to deprive him of his harvest. Poets have sung this in mournful verse. And we find this threatened in the law, as the very sting of those Impius haec tam culia novalia miles habebit? Barbarus has segetes? en que is consev●mus agros? Virg. Egl. 1. evils, which should come upon a disobedient people, Deut. 28. 33. The fruit of thy land and all thy labours, shall a Nation which thou knowest not, eat up; All thy labours, that is, The fruits for which thou hast laboured, shall be eaten up by strangers. And (Levit. 26. 16.) Ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. The slothful man resteth not that which he took in hunting, so we translate, Prov. 12. 26. But it seems not so proper to the sense of this proverb. A slothful man is not usually a hunter, That sport requires an active spirit. And usually men that are slow at work, are quick at meat, and will not lose their venison for the roasting. Therefore more properly (I conceive with others) to the original, and fully to the point in hand, it may be translated thus, Deceit or the deceitful man shall not roast his hunting, or▪ that which he hath taken in hunting. That is, he shall Non aduret fraudulentia, (sive vir dolosus) venationem suam. Ari●s Mont. Pagn. not take pleasure in that, which he hath got by extreme pains (as all hunters do) or by craft and stealth, as some hunters do. Somewhat comes between his mouth and his morsel, his cup and lip, either he cannot get his meat to his table, or he rises hungry from it. Therefore Solomon puts a great blessing in this, when a man enjoyeth his labour, Eccles. 2. 10. My heart rejoiced in all my labour, and this was my portion of all my labour, namely, the fruit and benefit which God gave me by my labour; I enjoyed it, and this was my portion. Again (Eccles. 3. 13.) And also that every man should eat and drink, and ●●●oy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God; He puts the Emphasis upon this, when a man hath taken pains to lay in provisions for a comfortable subsistence, that then he may sit down quietly and enjoy it, It is the gift of God. Therefore on the other hand, not to eat and drink, and enjoy the good of our labours, but to have all violently snatched from our mouths. It is the judgement of God. This judgement the Prophet also threatens (Isa. 1. 6.) Your land strangers shall devour it, in your presence; when you are looking on, strangers shall devour it, Thou preparest a Table before me in the presence of my enemies, saith David, Psal. 23 5. As it is one of the greatest outward mercies, to eat at a Table, prepared in the presence of an enemy, so, it is one of the greatest afflictions, to have an enemy eat up what is prepared for our Table, in our presence, (Mic. 6. 15.) Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap, thou shalt tread the Olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil, and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine. Observe how he puts in their labour to aggravate their sorrow. If they had not sown, it had not been so troublesome, not to reap, if they had not trod the Olives, it had not been so grievous to have had no oil; but this was their calamity, they sowed, but reaped not, they trod the Olives, but had no oil to anoint themselves. The misery of that rich man (Lu●. 12.) is thus described, when he had made larger barns, and got in his harvest, when he had made provision for many years, than the Question is, Whose shall all these things be that thou hast provided? The rich man was not unprovided of an answer to the Query long before. Whose shall they be? Mine own I warrant you. I am not such a fool to take pains for others. Little did he think his grave was a making while he was making his barns: Or, that all his providence and care should redound to strangers. How will it cut the heart to see all those things taken away, in and about which, a man hath laid out his whole strength, and laid up his whole heart. This Job imprecates as the extremity of all outward evils, in case he were an hypocrite, and dealt falsely with God (Chap. 31. 8) If any blot hath cleaved to my hands, that is, if this blot of insincerity (Job did not think himself to be without all blot of sin, but, if such a blot as I am charged with) cleave to my hands, then let me sow, and let another eat. This judgement which Eliphaz hints at in another person, as already fallen on Job for his hypocrisy, Job, in his own person calls for, if he were an hypocrite. Let me sow and let another eat, yea let my offspring be rooted out. Whose harvest the hungry eateth up. The hungry. There is some difference in opinion, who are to be understood by the hungry. Some take this hungry one for the Devil; He is a hungry one indeed: but his hunger is not after our riches but after our souls, 'tis them he goes about like (a hungry) roaring Lion, seeking to devour. (2 Pet. 5. 8.) It is a truth also, that Satan goes about as a hungry one to devour our estates, so he did Jobs, His harvest that hungry one did eat up, but, it was not because he desired Jobs harvest, but because he gaped for Job Himself. He thought if God would but give him leave to rob Job of his riches, Job would quickly let his soul lapse into his hands. A soul is the dainty morsel, which That hungry spirit waits for. The most delicate things in the world are meat too gross for a spirit, though an unclean one. Others, by the hungry one, understand the Heir of this rich worldling; His heir whom he had kept low, and bare and short, as long as he lived, now, when he is dead and gone, comes hungry to the estate, and quickly consumes it; he eats it out, drinks it up and lavisheth it away. It is often seen that the heirs of great, rich men come very hungry to their inheritances, and as quickly swallow them down. They have been kept so short, that like empty and sharp set stomaches they waste all, when they come where they may have their fill. That estate which is got by the oppression, and kept by the base covetousness of parents, is usually spent out in riot and luxury. A hungry heir devours the harvest. Thirdly, The hungry, may be taken for those poor oppressed ones, whose estates those Nimrods' of the world had unjustly and cruelly ravished from them. They, whom wicked men make hungry and lean by their exactions and cruel deal, come at last (though unbidden and unwelcome guests) to eat the bread from their Tables. And these poor Hungry-ones are conceived by some to be Wisdom's children, the people of God, whom those wicked fools had stripped of their estates, and would have eaten them too like bread, Psal. 14. So the Septuagint renders it, The just or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. the godly shall eat up or devour the harvest of this rich worldling. Put both these together, and this may be the sense, The hungry eateth up his harvest, that is, the godly poor, whom this man had unjustly oppressed, and even put to starving, God, by his just judgement shall send in, to take free Quarter, to eat their fill of his harvest, and never reckon with their host. From that sense take this note, That God doth sometimes give the riches of wicked men to poor godly men, whom they have oppressed. Job himself, Chap. 27. v. 16. gives us this truth in express terms, where speaking of a wicked man, he saith, Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay, he may prepare it (let him prepare it, let him scrape it together as fast as he can) but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver, that is, those just and innocent persons whom he had wronged, shall by a divine retaliation enter upon his estate. The wicked grind the faces of the poor, to make themselves bread, but at last the poor shall make bread of their corn and grist. We may see the tract and footsteps of this judgement in our days; How many sons of violence, who have made many persons, yea, families hungry, naked and desolate, are now made desolate and naked? God hath so wrought, and answered us by terrible things in righteousness, that Oppressed Innocents' have been put into the houses, and have fed upon the fatness of Unrighteous Oppressors. Must we not say, verily there is a God that judgeth the earth, when we see this vengeance? And for the rest, may we not say as those searchers of Canaan, (Caleb and Joshua) made their report, when the rest complained of impossibilities, Numb. 14. 9 Let us not fear them, for they are bread for us, that is, we shall easily get in amongst them, and live upon their estates: Let us not fear those giantly sons of Anak, who have fleeced the poor of God's flock, and gnawed their bones, for (by the power and justice of God) they are bread for us; they have made hungry ones enough to eat up their own harvest. Fourthly, We may take the hungry, yet more largely; for any In communi quicunque raptor & depraedator famelicus appellatur. Pined that are low and poor, whom God stirs up and sends in judgement as his teeth, to consume and eat up, to devour and destroy the portion of such fat ones. Every spoiler is a hungry one; spoilers devour as if they had never eaten in their lives, they sweep all away: The word which we translate to eat up, signifies the most fierce kind of eating: when a man eats, as if he could never have enough. And therefore it is applied to the eating of fire, which we know is the most hungry thing in the world; nothing will satisfy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est acrius quam nostrum comedere, significat enim cōedē●o consumere. Ingentem aviditatem comedentis prae sesert, adeo ut de igne quae omnia avidè depascit utatur. the appetite of that hungry element, the more it eats, the more hungry and devouring it is. Hence that adjunct of fire (Isa. 29. 6.) A flame of a devouring fire, or, the flame (it is the word of the text) of an eating fire; a fire whose stomach is able to digest all the material creatures in the world. So (Job 1.) it is said, that the fire of God, or a great fire did eat up the sheep, the fire came hungry and consumed them; such is the force of the word here used; and secondly, it is applied in Scripture, to the eating of the sword; which (alas!) we know is very hungry too, My sword shall devour flesh, Deut. 32. 42. Thirdly, it is applied to savage beasts (Gen. 37. 33.) when Jacob bewaileth the loss of his son Joseph, he saith, an evil beast hath devoured him. Fourthly, the cruelty of persecutors (in whom wild beasts, and sword and fire are all met, if not swallowed up.) The cruelty, I say, of persecutors is expressed by this word, They eat up my people like bread, Psal. 14. 4. Wild beasts, and sword, and fire, and above all the persecuting spirits of men, are the most hungry and speedy devourers, such a devouring shall consume the harvest of these foolish men, The hungry shall eat it up: Here we may observe, That They who consume others shall at last be consumed themselves. Such as have raised themselves upon the ruins of others, shall raise others by their own ruin. God will send devourers to eat up the estate of those, who have devoured the estates of their brethren; especially, if they have devoured the estates of his own people. The Apostle, Gal. 6. 7. gives this general law, Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that sow's oppression, or makes his seedtime, to be the reaping of his neighbour's harvest, may find reapers, which he hired not, in his field at harvest. The Prophet Isaiah denounceth a woe against those, that join house to house by oppression, and what is the woe? their houses shall be made desolate; So Zeph. 3. 19 I will undo all that afflict there. And Jer. 30. 16. They that devour thee shall be devoured; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey; It is just with God (2 Thes. 1. 6.) to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. The rich man who hoards up that for himself and for his children, which he hath pulled out of the bellies of others, shall have his meat devoured from his table, and pulled from between his teeth. The hungry eat up his harvest, but where doth he find it? He takes it even out of the thorns. There is some difficulty in that expression. Mr Broughton reads it, The hungry shall eat up his harvest which he had gotten through the thorns! And others thus, he shall fetch it out from among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spinae, aliqui deducunt a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scutum, clipeus. arms or weapons. The Hebrew word which we translate thorns, gives occasion of these various readings, which some derive from Tsinnah, which signifies a shield, and so by a trope, it notes any kind of arms or weapons. If we take the word in the first sense, for thorns, a threefold interpretation may be given of this clause. First as Mr Broughton reads it, which he had gotten through the thorns. This refers to the manner how a worldling obtains his estate; he hath a great harvest, and how came he by it? he got it through the thorns; that is, he got it through vexing, pricking cares, for so (Mat. 13.) in the Parable of the sour, when Christ expounds the meaning of the thorny ground, he shows, that the thorns are cares, the cares wherewith men are vexed in getting riches, or compassing the things of the world. Hence a man is said to get riches through the thorns, when he gets them through overmuch care and vexation of spirit. Secondly, As the word signifies thorns: some conceive, that Eliphaz closely describes the persons who should take away his estate, as he did in the former branch; there he said, the hungry eat up his harvest; now he describeth another sort of men that shall eat it up, namely, Men of thorns, or Men coming out of the thorns; This rendering, is not easily made out of the Original, though, it hath learned a bettors, and therefore I am not confident of it; yet it may yield some advantage to our meditation upon the words. The meaning is this: Mean or contemptible men shall Homo ex spinis exiens, sc. abiectus & contemptus eum rapiet. Homo ignobilis qui de spinis nascitur. Merc. take it away: As in our language, when we would express a vulgar person, a man of low birth, we say, he was borne under a bush; or under a hedge, that is, he is a man of a low pedigree, none of the Gentry; and so it is, as if he should say, this great, rich, mighty man, who hath so much honour and riches about him, and thinks himself safe, shall see a man coming out of the thorns, some obscure person, and take all that he hath from him. This exposition may yield us a profitable observation, That When God reckons with the greatest of wicked men, he can humble and pull them down by the meanest and poorest of men. A very shrub, a man that comes out of the thorns may pull down the tallest Cedar; It increases affliction, to be overcome by a weak, despised, inconsiderable enemy. It troubled Abimelech more to be slain by a woman, than to be slain; and therefore (upon the matter) he would have the pain to be twice killed, rather than the disgrace to be killed by a woman; for having received his deaths-wound by her hand, yet, he calls hastily to the young man his Armour-bearer, and said unto him; draw out thy sword now, and slay me, that men say not of me, a woman slew him, Judg. 10. 54. The Lord threatens it, both as a just retaliation for the sin, and an aggravation of the punishment of his people, I will move them to jealousy with those that are not a people, I will provoke them to anger with a foolish Nation, Deut. 32. 21. The Gentiles, as Paul expounds this place, Rom. 10. 19 and Peter, 1 Peter 2. 10.) whom the Jews slighted as a foolish people, as no people, came in and eat up the harvest of the Gospel, and were invested with greater privileges than they. This made the Jews mad with anger, as you may read in that famous record of it, Acts 22. ver. 21, 22. They could not bear it, that, Those men of the thorns, should partake of the fatness of the Olive. As Jotham spoke in his Parable, (Judg. 9 15.) when the question was, which of the trees should be King, the olive or the vine, etc. at last it fell to the brambles lot, or to the thorn. That parable gives some light to this exposition: For those several sorts of trees shadowed out the several sorts of men, and the bramble shadowed out the meanest sort of men; a man of thorns, or a man coming out of the thorns. And he adds (which further answers this sense) Let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the Cedars of Labanon; which in plain English is, let there come power from a powerlesse man, who is but as a briar, or as a thorn, and consume the greatest and the mightiest. And it may support us (while we see so many great Cedars and strong Okes, with whom we have to do) that God can send a man out of the thorns to subdue their pride; and can cause a bramble to consume Cedars, when himself pleaseth, The Prophet Amos puts the question, By whom shall Jacob rise, for he is small? The only answer is, Jacob hath a great God, a God that can do great things: If we should question, by whom shall the wicked fall, for they are very great? I answer, haply, they shall fall by him, that is very small, A man out of the bushes, a man of thorns, some poor shrub, armed with the power of God, shall shake and overthrow them in the height of all their wickedness and worldly glory. Thirdly, Take it according to our reading: He shall fetch it out of the thorns. Which some interpret, to be thorns growing naturally in or among the corn; according to that general curse upon the earth, Gen. 3. 18. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee. But rather (if not alone) these are thorns plaited together industriously, and wrought into a hedge, to save corn fields or corne-stackes from spoil. So the meaning is, that when the hungry man comes with a commission from God, to eat the harvest of the foolish, he will have his estate whatever it costs him, or what danger soever he incurs for it. For, as a man is said to fetch a thing out of the fire, or out of the Lion's mouth, when he E spinis, hoc est, è magno periculo: sicut nos dicimus ex ore Leonum. Drus. gets it with much peril and hazard; so, what a man gets with much difficulty and labour, he is said to get it out of the thorns. And the reason is this, because, men were wont, when they had gathered in their harvest (take it especially about that, and in proportion about any thing else) they were then wont (I say) to secure Quamvis inter spinas abdita sit & forsan ut tutior sit. Merc. it with a thorn-hedge, or to lay bushes about their stacks, to keep off cattle or any other annoyances. We read among the Laws given by Moses, somewhat answerable to this practice, Exod. 22. 6. If fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or standing corn, or the field be consumed therewith, he that kindled the fire, shall make restitution. This Law intimates it for an ancient custom, to make fences of thorns about corn brought home or stackt up; And that fields while the corn was standing, were hedged about with thorns. To either of which, the allusion may be made by Eliphaz: So that, to fetch his harvest out of the thorns, is to fetch it through the fences made to secure his harvest, to fetch it, though it cost (as we speak proverbially) a scratched face, or scratched fingers. We say, hunger breaks through stones walls, certainly then these hungry ones, will break through a thorn hedge. When the Lord would keep his Church from wand'ring in sinful paths, he resolves thus, Hos. 2. 6. I will hedge up her way with thorns: there are pleasures that she would go fetch, but as men fence their ground and pastures with thorns, so will I do with her, I will hedge up her way with thorns, she shall pay dear, she shall smart for her pleasures, ere she come at them. And therefore, as it shows the extreme intensiveness and resolvedness of a man to sin; when a man will sin, though God hath hedged up his way with thorns, that is, when a man will break through many dangers, and run hazards to satisfy his lusts; so here in this place, the hungry man's taking it out of the thorns, notes a resolvedness and eagerness of spirit, to have the estate of this rich man, let him secure it by all the power and policies he can. From this Exposition, we may observe first, the practice of worldly wise men; when they have gotten riches, they do not leave them lose and open to surprisal, they keep them among the thorns; they will secure their estates as much as they can. As they get riches with thorns, so they will keep riches with thorns, that is, they will bestow care to keep, as well as to get: A godly man takes great care to get more of Christ, more riches of grace, he improves all means, and makes this his business night and day; these spiritual cares are his thorns: and when he finds his stock of holy things increasing, his next care is to preserve his stock, to maintain communion with Christ, and to keep up his graces to their height; The care of a godly man, is as much to preserve grace and comforts from the power of that hungry one the Devil, as it was to fetch them in. And Satan is so hungry after our spiritual harvest, that, he would fetch it out of the thorns and fences of all our prayers and holy cares, were it not that Christ himself keeps it for us, His care over his people's spiritual welfare is such a thorn hedge, as the Devil can never break through; We are kept by the power of God as with a garrison, 1 Pet. 1. 5. Such also, is the wisdom of that generation, about worldly things: they fence in, and fortify their riches, so that if any man will have them, he must have them through the thorns, or come upon the pikes. Secondly, Though he lay up his estate within the thorns, yet, the hungry man will fetch it out. Note then, That all the care of worldly men, all the thorne-hedges they make about their estates, shall never secure them from spoil and ruin. The hungry will press and venture through the thorns to take them. Further, As the word signifies a Buckler (or any kind of arms, whether offensive or defensive) as the text is by some translated, He shall fetch it out of their Arms, or from among their weapons. De Armis ●ollet eam, sc. messem. Et ipsum rapiet armatus. Vulg. And then, the sense may be thus conceived (which agrees fully with the former Observation) Though, this wicked man in his high estate, should get many armed men together to defend it, yea though he should get an Army of men, with sword and buckler, with pike and shot to defend it, yet none of them shall be able. The wrath of God, by the man out of the thorns, the meanest instrument of his wrath, shall break through all And in allusion to this, the vulgar (more truly then as a translation) reads it, The armed man shall take him away, that is, he shall carry him away prisoner, and spoil him of his harvest: Which, though it doth not comply with the letter of the Original, yet it implies the sense of it. For when Armed men come to take any thing away, it intimates, that the thing was, or was supposed to be protected with arms. The Chaldee paraphrase saith the same: Soldiers with Quod juxta tex●um Hebraicum extaret, de armis rapiet, vertit vulgaris Biblia, rapier armatus, non enim nisi armatus prssit de medio armorum eam rapere. Bold. Milites armis sivi instrumentis bellicis abducent eos. Chald. Erunt exercitus vos cingentes. Chald. Bibent f●●ientes divitias eju●s. Vulg. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 s●●ire, vel à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod est capillus aut caesaries Praedo sic dictus, quod more ferino capillos nutriet, ut mos est in terra Ishmael. Rab. Dau. Kinchi in lib Rad. Tsammim, praede, quem sic appellarum existimant, à coma, quam alit, vel quod sanguinem humanum fitiat. Drus. weapons and warlike instruments shall carry them away. This word is in other places rendered An Army, in the Chaldee. So Josh. 23. 15. That which we translate, They shall be thorns in your eyes: The Chaldee glosseth thus; They shall be an Army besieging or compassing you round about. And so much for the second branch of this verse. He taketh it even out of the thorns. There is a third branch: And the robber swalloweth up their substance. It is the same in substance with the former, and we may say here as Joseph about the dreams of Pharaoh, The dreams are the same, and they are doubled, only to note the certainty of the thing: The matter here is the same, only the words are doubled (as the Holy Ghost often doth) to note the certainty of this thing, that the foolish man's estate shall be consumed. Yet, there is somewhat very considerable in the phrase here used, and therefore I shall open it a little; The robber swalloweth up his substance. The robber.] Some translate, the thirsty shall drink or swallow up their substance; Mr. Broughton, the thirsty shall swill up their wealth; And it suits fairly with the former words, there the hungry shall eat up his harvest, and here, the thirsty shall swill up their wealth; so you have both the hungry and the thirsty to make riddance of all; neither his corn, nor his wine, his bread nor his drink, neither wet nor dry, shall escape, where both hungry and thirsty come to consume. We render it, The robber swalloweth up their substance. The reason of this difference is from the Original word, which may have a double derivation: First from a root, signifying to thirst or to be thirsty: Secondly from a root which signifies the hair of the head, or the locks, or extraordinary ruffianlike long hair and locks. And the reason, why we translate Robber, is given from both: From the first, because robbers and spoilers are commonly Toss pots and drunkards, men that love their liquor, a thirsty generation in that sense; and they always thirst for a prey, they thirst for the estates or lives of others: From the latter, because robbers, plunderers and spoilers, usually wore very long hair, either to disguise or make themselves the more terrible; So that a robber may be denominated, both from his unnaturally natural thirst after the pot, and from his uncivilly civil thirst after a purse, or from his long, shaggy, bushy hair: To this latter sense, one of Absorbea● pilcs●● divitias eorum. Rab. Mordo●hai. Horridus. H●spidus. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propriè a●traxit per nares, aut os: trax it aërem ad os; Per Metaphoram, inhiavit, ardenter cupijt, qui enim ardenter aliquid cupiunt; pre desiderij magnitudine, ad os ae●em frequentius ●r●hunt seu respirant. the Rabbins translates, The hairy man, or the man with long hair, shall swallow up their estates; Hence some express him by a Latin word, which signifies a man all overgrown with hair; This Ruffian or Robber shall swallow up his substance. Swallow up] The word notes an utter exhaustion, he shall exhaust his substance: As we say, when a spender or an unthrift is described, He hath exhausted his estate, he hath, as it were sucked it up, guzled or swallowed it down his throat; the radical word may import, drawing or sucking up with a pipe; properly it signifies, to fetch wind, or draw breath; and by a metaphor to swallow down, to sup or suck up; as also, with fervency and pleasure to desire, because vehement desires are often expressed by quick breathe, yea, to breath after a thing, is to desire it; or it notes a mind to swallow it up, either from the delight we have in it, or hatred of it. In which latter sense Daved applies it to his enemies (Psal. 56. 2.) Mine enemies would daily swallow me up. They breath after me, to devour me. So then the meaning is; This robber, this hairy spoiler or thirsty one, will be so dry that he will swallow all up, he will soop and drink up the foolish man's estate to the very bottom; he will draw it down to the very dregs or lees, and not leave a drop behind him. The robber swalloweth up their substance. In the first chapter we read Job described, A man of a very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non magis ad corporis quam ad ingenij vires pertinet: & tres sere virtutes continet, fortitudinem, justitiam, prudentiam. great substance, Job's subsistence in cattle was thus and thus: Here also it is said, The robber shall swallow up his subsistence; but the word in the Hehrew, is very different from that in the first chapter; there the word signifieth properly substance in cattle; but here it signifies, substance in any kind of wealth or riches whatsoever; And it notes three things. First, and most properly, strength, either strength of body or of mind, namely, valour, activity and courage, also wisdom and industry to get or defend our substance; So Gen. 47. 6. Pharaoh tells Joseph, that if among his brethren, there were any men of activity, he should make them rulers over his cattles. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly, It notes riches and wealth, or any worldly substance; because much activity, wisdom and strength, is usually employed in obtaining them; or because both wisdom and strength are requisite for the keeping and retaining of them, (Prov. 11. 16.) Strong men retain riches: as if he should say, though a man have abundance of riches, yet if he have not strength, he shall hardly hold them, they will be wrested out of his hands. Once more, Riches are thus expressed, because men, usually account their riches to be their strength, a man naturally puts confidence in his riches; Prov. 13. 15. The rich man's wealth is his strong City; Riches are call●d strength, from that corrupt opinion which the world hath of them, making them Idols, and trusting to them, as they should unto God alone. Though yet, there is a truth in it, that Aristoteles divi●ias appellat vires re●um, quia per ipsas o●nia possumus. lib 1. Polit. cap. 8. riches have much strength in them, a rich man, and a powerful man, are mutually put for each other. Thirdly, The word signifies an Army of men, Psal. 33. 16. There is no King saved by the multitude of an host: We may take it either way, this hungry man, this robber, shall come and swallow up his substance, his riches, his strength, or he shall come and swallow up his very Army, by which he thought to defend his substance; All shall be lost, neither the estate, nor the means used to protect the estate, shall stand before this hungry, thirsty, hairy robber. In this description of a total desolation brought upon the estate and family of the foolish man, together with the character of the persons, who shall make him desolate, questionless Eliphaz would represent to Job, the desolation brought upon his estate and children, by those troops of hungry, hairy, thirsty robbers, the Chaldeans and the Sabeans, who swallowed all his substance at one morsel, sopped up his estate at one draught. Whence observe; It is a great point of wisdom, to show a man his condition, in another's, and to seem only relating the History of our foreign observations, when we mean the person to whom we speak; what is proposed as seen in others, works the heart to see itself; and doth at once mitigate the sharpness of the reproof, and open the spirit, to let it in. As we see in the instance of nathan's Parable to David, 2 Sam. 12. Eliphaz said only, I have seen the foolish taking root, etc. He doth not lay it boisterously and directly upon Job; I saw thee taking root etc. Thus we have opened the context of these five verses, wherein Eliphaz argues Job of wickedness and insincerity, because God had dealt with him, as he usually doth with the wicked and infincere, whose habitations are cursed, their children crushed, their substance swallowed up, by thirsty, and eaten up, by hungry robbers, who take it out from the very thorns of their own cares, in getting, or means in securing, what they have gotten. JOB. Chap. 5. Vers. 6, 7, 8. Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground. Yet man is borne unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause. THus far Eliphaz hath spent his discourse, in reproof and conviction; And you have had out of the 4 Chapter, and the precedant part of this, four heads of reason, or arguments, by which Eliphaz labours to reprove Job, for, and convince him of, close sin, or of gross hypocrisy. Now Eliphaz turns himself to another stile, and falls to counsel and exhortation, directing and advising Job what becomes him, what he ought to do, in his condition: His exhortation consists of two distinct branches. The former whereof gins at this sixth, and is continued to the seventeenth verse of the Chapter. The sum of this exhortation is, That, for as much as he had found him so distempered in his speech and carriage, he now earnestly beseeches and entreats him, that he would seek unto God, beg favour, and believingly commit himself and his cause unto God. The second branch of exhortation gins at the 17 verse, and is continued to the end of the Chapter. The Scope whereof is, That Job would humbly and patiently submit himself unto, and under, the correcting hand of God, quietly waiting the time of his deliverance. The matter of the former exhortation lies in the words of the 8 verse, I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause. He strengtheneth this exhortation by two arguments, whereof The first is taken from the cause of his afflictions, and that either the efficient, or the meritorious cause of his afflictions, both which we find in the 6 and 7 verses. The second argument by which he strengtheneth his first exhortation, is contained in the 9, 10, 11, and 12 verses following, and it is grounded upon the power, wisdom and goodness of God: As if he should say, Who would not seek unto God, who is of infinite power, able to deliver? Who would not seek unto a God, and commit his cause unto him, who is gracious, and pitiful, merciful and ready to deliver? Who would not seek unto a God, and commit his cause unto him, who is of infinite wisdom to find out ways and means for the contriving of deliverance, though man's condition (to the eye of sense or humane reason) seem altogether desperate and remediless? These three verses contain the first exhortation, together with the first argument; And we may form it thus, both respecting the efficient, and the meritorious cause of his afflictions. First, respecting the efficient cause, the argument seems to lie thus. He is to be sought unto in our afflictions, who is the principal efficient cause or sender of our afflictions. But, God is the principal efficient cause and sender of our afflictions. Therefore, he is to be sought unto, and, to him our cause is to be committed. The Major or first Proposition, is not expressly in this text, but it is plainly supposed, and logically to be understood. The Minor or the Assumption, lies in the 6 and 7 verses, where he proves that God is the efficient cause or sender of afflictions; And his proof is grounded upon a denial, or a removal of all other efficient causes. As, if he should say, there must be some efficient cause of affliction, but no efficient cause can be assigned or named, except God: therefore God is the efficient cause, the sender and orderer of afflictions. That, no other efficient cause can be assigned, he proveth plainly in the sixth verse, thus; Affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground, yet, man is borne to trouble etc. As if he should say, our eyes teach us, we see plainly man is full of trouble; man is no sooner borne, but he is afflicted; these afflictions must have some efficient cause, some hand or other doth frame, form, and fashion them, they come not alone; and if they come not alone, then, we must find out this cause either in earth or in heaven: we must find it, either in the Creator or among the creatures, but from the earth, or from creatures, they come not. Affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground, that is, it rises not by or from the creatures in themselves, and alone considered; and if so, it must needs come from heaven, from the hand of God, who dwelleth above, and disposeth all things according to the pleasure of his own will. It is such a kind of speech, as often falls from us, when a thing is lost; we say, some body must have it; Sure it is not gone into the gound, You or You must have it, for there were none else in the place. So, Eliphaz seems here to argue about the afflictions, which he saw upon Job: here are heavy afflictions upon thee, these afflictions must come some way upon thee, They come not out forth of the dust, neither do they spring out of the ground, they come not up alone; Either than they must come from God or man; and from man, they come not; they spring not out of the earth: therefore he leaves it as a clear inference, that God is the efficient cause or sender of affliction. Again, if we consider this argument, as it strengtheneth the exhortation from the meritorious cause of his afflictions. It may be form thus. If the sin of man be from himself, and the sufferings of man be for his sin, then in his sufferings for sin, he ought to seek unto God, and to commit his cause unto him. But, the sin of man is from himself, and the sufferings of man are for his sin. Therefore, he ought in such a condition to seek unto God, and commit his cause unto him; For, remedy is not where else to be had. This second argument is grounded rather upon the exposition, than the letter of the text, as shall be further cleared in pursuance of the words. Thus, you see, how the Minor or second Proposition is confirmed, both, as it respects the efficient cause, and the meritorious cause of man's affliction. The conclusion lies in the 8 verse, which Eliphaz Conclusi enunciata in persona Eliphazi. quod modestum cohortationis genus magnam vim habet, & est usitatissimum, Merl. pronounces in his own person, I would seek unto God, therefore seek thou unto God, he speaks it in his own person, thereby more freely to insinuate his counsel, and make way for his exhortation. As if he had said, Were I in thy case I would do so, therefore do thou so likewise, Seek unto God and commit thy cause unto him. So much of this context and the Logic of it, as it contains an exhortation, with an argument to strengthen and back that exhortation. Now for the clearing of the words. Although afflictions come not forth of the dust. The Hebrew particle, which we translate Although, may be taken three ways, and so I find it rendered upon this place. First (which is its most proper sense) it is taken causally, and then the text is read, For, affliction cometh not forth of the dust. So Mr. Broughton, for sorrow issueth not from the dust. Secondly, It may be taken Adversatively, as we read it, Although affliction or sorrow comes not forth of the dust. Thirdly, it may be taken Affirmatively, according to which acception the text is thus carried, Certainly, Affliction cometh not out of the dust, or Surely, affliction cometh not out of the dust. Either of these ways, the sense is good, yet to me our translation by the Adversative Although, doth a little obscure the sense: And to say, Surely or certainly, affliction comes not forth of the dust, seems to carry it more clearly. Surely affliction cometh not out of the dust; It is considerable, that the word by which affliction is here expressed, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iniquitas, vanitas, molestia bibor, quia iniquitas laborem afflictionemq parturit Sept. vertunt per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sclund. bears a double signification in Scripture, and I conceive it may also in this text: properly it signifies sin, iniquity, iniquity of all sorts, but especially, That sin of Idolatry; As (Hos. 4. 15.) when the house of God (Bethel,) was polluted with idolatry, the name is changed and it is called Bethaven, the house of an Idol, or the house of iniquity: or of that special iniquity, namely of idolatry; Sin altars the nature of man, no marvel then, if it altar the names of things, Hos. 10. 15. and often in the old testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ascendit Eliphaz ad comunem & naturalem sortem hominis quod omnes ●n peccato et ad miseriam nascimur, damnati in Adamo Coc we find this word added, to set out the worst of men, the workers of iniquity, Psal. 5. 5. etc. Iniquity comes not out of the dust, the soil where it grows, or the shop where it is wrought and form is man's heart. Eliphaz would carry us to the wel-head our sinful natures, or our birth-sin. Secondly, the word signifies affliction or sorrow, calamity or misery, because sin is the cause of affliction, the mother of sorrow: And therefore by a Metonymy of the effect for the cause (which is frequent in Scripture) The same word notes both sin and sorrow; The mother and the daughter are called by the same name. We translate by the effect, Surely, affliction cometh not out of the dust; Many by the cause, Surely, iniquity comes not out of the dust. And for the full understanding of the text, we must take in both; where the effect only is mentioned, the cause is supposed, Affliction springs not out of the dust, because sin springs not out of the dust. Now this form of speaking (Iniquity or affliction springs or cometh not forth of the dust) is proverbial: and no doubt was P●ove●bialis quaedam sententia est, qua tollat casum asseratque divinam e●ga res humanas & im●●●ru● supplic●um providentiam. P●n●d Sanct. well known and often used in those times. When they would remove chance or fortune (as we say) or deny any event to be without a certain directive power, They spoke in this language, This came not from the ground; thereupon the vulgar translates it so in terms, * Nihil in terra sine causa sit. Vulg. Quasi dicerit non casu ma ● nabis accidunt, neque ex terra germinant ut solent herbae nullo jacto semine. There is nothing in the world without cause, alluding (it is probable) to the Proverb. Hence a man obscurely borne, whose parents and original are unknown, is called † Terrae filius. A son of the earth. Which imports, that no man can tell whence he is, or how descended. They whose original cannot be assigned, are usually assigned to the common original, ‖ Mogna parens terra est. or parent of us all, the earth; and as in regard of persons, so of things, when no man can tell how or which way they come, they are said to come out of the ground; We speak also (in the other extreme) affirmatively, Such a thing comes out of the clouds, that is (we know not, but) God knows how it comes. So then, here is a denial of chance or fortune; As if Eliphaz should say, reason may be found and assigned for these things, they come not out of the dust. Further, for the clearing of this, The dust and the ground stand in a twofold opposition. First unto God, and secondly unto ourselves. First in opposition to God thus, Affliction springeth not from the ground, that is, it comes from the wisdom, power and disposition of God, as the efficient cause. Secondly, in opposition to ourselves, and then the sense may be thus conceived, that, the material and meritorious cause of our affliction, is not without us, N●n exi● è pulvere iniquitas, q. d. ab hominibus est non eter na vol pulvere, nam terra non profert iniquitatem sed homines, ea est natura eo●um co●rupta proin & proclives a● eam jucuntur. D. us. it is not in the ground or in other creatures, but it is in ourselves. Every man in himself hath the ground which bears, the source or fountain which bubbles out his sorrows and his sufferings. Man hath no reason to accuse or charge heaven or earth, as the authors of his sorrow, he carries the reason about with him, The sinfulness or sink of his own polluted nature. And therefore (to allude to that of the Apostle in the point of Justification, Rom. 10. 6, 7.) Say not in thy heart, who shall ascend into heaven, that is to bring thy troubles down from above, or who shall decend into the deep, that is to bring up thy troubles from below, for the cause is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is, The corruption of nature, which we preach. The latter branch of this verse, Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground, is of the very same importance with the former, therefore I shall not need to stay upon it. The word which we translate Trouble signifies properly, toilsome labour, or any laborious toil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accidental to man in this life, as a fruit of sin. This doth not spring out of the ground. It is an allusion to plants or herbs, which grow in the open field, without the work or care of man, and so are opposed to plants or herbs in a garden: As if he should say, Terrâ nata dicuntur illa, quibus nulla ab agricolis impensa est opera, ut sū● herbae quas ●●tro terra fund ● in pratis & locis incu●●is. Sa●ct. thy troubles are not like those herbs, that grow wild, in the fields, without the labour and pains, the care or art of man. There is some hand or other, that both plants and waters them. We may ground some observations as the text is read, Iniquity comes not forth of the dust. And then as it is read, Affliction comes not forth of the dust▪ And it is necessary to give it this latitude; the word equally bearing both senses. As it is read, Iniquity comes not, etc. We learn, First, The material cause of sin is in ourselves. We bring forth the fruit at our tongues or fingers ends, and the root is in our hearts. Our sins spring not out of the dust, but out of the dirt and filth of our own corruptions, Gen. 6. 5. Every thought of the imagination of man's heart it is evil, and only evil, and that continually; the Hebrew is, every figment or every creature in the heart of man, whatsoever a man moulds and fashions within himself, naturally, is evil▪ and nothing but evil, and it is always so. The natural births of man's heart have all one common face and feature; They are all of one common constitution. Evil all. Secondly, We may observe, That The meritorious cause of man's suffering is from his sin. Iniquity springeth not from the ground, neither doth trouble come out of the dust. As iniquity springs from ourselves, so we may resolve it, that misery springs from our sin. It is a truth, (as hath been touched upon the second Chapter) that, God, in many afflictions laid upon his dear children and servants, respects not their sin as the cause procuring and drawing on these afflictions. And very many are afflicted by the world, not for sin's sake, but for righteousness sake. As Christ, so some Christians may say in their sphere, We have done many good works, for which of them do ye stone us? Yet this is as clear a truth, that, the sin of any man is in itself a sufficient meritorious cause of any, yea, of all afflictions. A creature cannot bear a greater punishment, than the least of his sins deserves. Man weaves a spider's web of sin out of his own bowels, and then he is entangled in the same web; the troubles which ensnare, and wrap about him, are twisted with his own fingers. Thirdly, observe, Naturally every man seeks the reason of his sorrows and afflictions out of himself. When man is afflicted, he is not willing to own himself, as the cause of his afflictions, or acknowledge that they spring from his sin; and, that may be the reason, why Eliphaz speaks thus to Job, as if he had said, thy thoughts are wand'ring abroad, thou little thinkest that thy afflictions were bred in thy own bosom: Thou art fastening the cause of then upon this, and t'other thing; Thou art complaining of the day wherein thou wast borne▪ but thou shouldest rather complain of the sin wherein thou wast born; Th● birthday hath not hurt thee, but thy birth-sin. Thy birth-sin hath given conception to all the sorrows of thy life. The Jews in the Prophet Isa's time were in great distress, and could get no deliverance. The ports and passages of mercy were all obstructed. Now, whether went their thoughts? And what did they look upon, as the reason of those abiding lingering evil? we may read their thoughts in the refutation of them; we may see what the disease of their hearts was, by the medicine which the Prophet applies unto them: he labours to purge them from that conceit, as if either want of power, or want of love in the Lord were the stop of their deliverance. The Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot save, neither his ear heavy, that he cannot hear, Isa. 59 1, 2. as if he had said, I know what your apprehensions are in these affliction, you think the reason is in God, that either he cannot, or he will not save you: You think the hand of God's power is shrunk up, or the ear of his mercy shut up, but, you reflect not upon yourselves, nor consider, that Your iniquities have separated between you and your God; Your sin does you hurt, and you touch not that with a little finger, but lay the weight of your charge upon God himself. So (Hos. 13. 9) Thy destruction is from thyself, in me is thy help. God is forced to tell them so, that their destruction was from themselves, they would not believe it: they supposed it was from the cruelty or malice of the creature, from the wrath and rage of enemies, from some oversight or neglect of their friends; therefore the Lord speaks out in express terms, Thy destruction is from thyself. It springs not forth of the dust, neither is thy destruction from me; In me is thy help; in both the heart of man fails equally, we are ready to say, that the good we have comes from ourselves, that our help and comforts are from our own power and wisdom, and so offer sacrifice to our own nets, as if by them our portion were fat: but for evil and destruction we assign it wholly over, sometime to men, and so are angry; sometime to God, and so blaspheme. We naturally decline what reflects shame upon ourselves, or speaks us guilty. From our translation, Although affliction, & c- Observe First, Every affliction hath a cause. The Proverb carries that sense, in every common understanding. Our afflictions have a cause, a certain cause, they come not by hap hazard, or by accident. Many things are casual, but nothing is without a cause. Many things are not fore seen by man, but all things are fore-ordained by God. The Prophet Amos (Ch. 3. 6.) sets forth this by an elegant similitude, Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? As if he should say, is a bird taken in a snare by chance, where none have prepared, set or industriously laid a snare or a gin to take him? The bird saw not the snare, but the snare was set for the Bird. Snaresfall not on the ground at adventure, they grow not out of the earth of themselves: but the fowler, by his art and industry, invents and frames them a purpose to catch the bird: Thus, the calamity and troubles in which men are caught and lime-twiged, ensnared and shackled in the world, come not out of the ground, They are not acts of chance, but of providence: The wise and holy God sets such snares, to take and hold foolish, unruly men, like silly birds, gaping after the baits of worldy pleasures. Which meaning is clear from the scope and tendency of the whole Chapter; but the next question resolves it in the letter, Is there any evil in a City, and the Lord hath not done it? Those words are both the conclusion and explication of the former similitude. Secondly, observe Affliction is not from the power of any creature. As it comes not by chance or without a cause, so not by the power of creatures, they are not the cause; dust and the ground, are opposed to Heaven or to a divine power: Creatures (in this sense) can neither do good, nor do evil. The world would be as full of trouble, as it is of sin, if sinful men could make trouble: It is not in the compass of a creature, no not of all the creatures in Heaven or earth, to form or to make out one affliction, without the concurrence, and allowance of God himself. Men alone, can neither make staves of comfort, nor rods of affliction. Whence thirdly, A consectary from both may be, That Afflictions are from the Lord as from the efficient cause, the director and orderer of them. These evils are from a creating, not from a created strength. I (saith the Lord) form the light and create darkness, Isa. 45. 7. Natural darkness hath only a deficient cause, but poenall darkness hath an efficient cause. Darkness is created. As in the first creation God said, let there be light, so in providence (which is a continued creation) he saith, let there be darkness. If afflictions come not forth of the earth, than they come from Heaven. That wicked King preached very good doctrine, when he said of an extreme devouring famine, This evil is from the Lord, though he failed utterly in the use or application, while he murmured out why should we wait on the Lord any longer? 2 King. 6. 33. For, the reason holds strong to the contrary, This evil is from the Lord, we will wait upon the Lord for ever. Verse 7. Yet, man is borne unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. Yet man, or but man is borne to trouble: Some read, Man is borne to sin, that is, he is borne with a nature ready and prone to sin, because he is borne in sin, Psal. 51. 5. And so by consequent he is borne to trouble, which is caused by and is the fruit of sin. These two, sin and trouble, are so near in blood and kindred, that still one word includes them both; The former word which signifies sin, properly is translated affliction, and this word which signifies affliction, properly may be translated sin. When it is said, That Man is borne to trouble or sin; It notes two things. 1. A right to them, a right to sin, and a right to sorrow. That which a man is borne to, is duly his, it is his inheritance, or his birthright; that is the common understanding of the phrase: As some men are borne to a great estate, to lands and honours, etc. so all men are borne to trouble and sin; They are ours by a line all right, derived from our next, yea first parents, so they descend to us as land descends. 2. It implies a readiness, or a fitness to commit sin, or to falls into trouble: When a man is said to be borne to a thing, it note him exceeding apt and forward to take it: He needs little teaching and instructing, little cultivating or manuring. As when a man makes verses readily, we say he was borne to Poetry; or when a man gets wealth easily, we say, he was borne to be rich. So in the present case; A man's understanding, will and affections, need no manaring or dressing to bring forth sin, or the fruit of it, sorrow. He is borne to sin. The latter clause of the verse clears the sense fully, Manis borne unto trouble, or unto sin, as the sparks fly upward; The meaning is, as the sparks have a principle in themselves, by which they ascend, they need no directing; when a spark comes out from the fire, no man bids it fly upward, or shows it the way, it will fly upward alone, it knows no other way, but upward; so, it is a natural course for man, as soon as he is borne, to sin and work his own sorrow. This he can do, the first thing he doth, and before he can do any thing, well, he can do this, but, too well; He needs no Tutor for these, sinning and sorrowing, are not his art, but his nature; though he should have neither rule nor example in the world, he would find out the mysteries of iniquity, and do enough quickly to make himself miserable. The particle, As, is a copulative in the Hebrew. So divers render it in this Text, Man is borne to trouble, And the sparks fly upward; Vau. that is, man's trouble and sparks flying upward, are alike natural; we, as in divers other places, translate it by way of similitude; Man is borne unto trouble, as, the sparks fly upward; So Job 34. 3. The ear tryeth words, and, the mouth tasteth meat; we translate the copalative by a comparative; The ear tryeth words, as the mouth tasteth meat. Again, Mark 9 49. Every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt; The sense lies in the similitude, Every one shall be salted with fire, as every sacrifice is salted with salt; It is an allusion to the old sacrifices, wherein salt was continually used; so here, Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Filijpru●ae hoc est scintillae. Metapherice ferrūsagi●tae incalescens motu, & q●icquid volat in aere sive scintil●ae, sive sag●●●ae, sive aves is borne unto trouble, and the sparks, that is, as the sparks fly upward. As the sparks] The Hebrew is, The sons of the coal; the sons or children of the coal, are sparks; blow a coal, and presently a spark is begotten and borne; therefore the Hebrew elegancy calls sparks, The sons or children of the coal. And it is observable, that by a metaphor this word signifies in the Hebrew, the Head of an Arrow heated with motion, as also, a bird flying in the air; and the reason is, because birds fly up in the air, they ascend naturally, they fly about and flutter like sparks of fire in the air. Hence the vulgar and some others translate the words, Man is borne unto trouble, as the birds fly upward; The Septuagint, as the young Vultures fly upward, others, as the young 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Sepr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Comput. Non secus ad aerumn●s & miserias hic perserendas na●us est homo, quam innatum est & naturale scintilis & volatilibus om nibus ut in sublime artolantur. Merc. ones of the Eagle fly upward: Aben Ezra a learned Rabbin, makes use of that sense also, and gives the gloss thus, as it is natural and innate for birds to fly, so it is natural for man to suffer trouble. Hence observe, first, Sorrow and sin, are the portion, and all the portion, that man hath by nature. He is borne to these. They who are ascended to the greatest heights, and have got the greatest stock, either of spiritual or outward comforts, were borne to nothing, but a cup of sorrow, to the bread of affliction, and to the waters of adversity: And these we are instated in, yea possessed of, as soon as we are borne; we need not wait the death of our parents for this inheritance, they divide it all to every child, and yet keep it all, to themselves: all our real comforts are from our second birth, and have their pedigree from the blessing and love of God. Therefore he Apostle puts that general question, what hast thou, that thou hast not received? that is, what good hast thou? Thou hast all thy evil from thyself, but whatsoever good thou hast, was received from above; all our good is founded in free Grace. Secondly observe, That All sins and sorrows are contained virtually, in the nature of man. Though a man doth not formally commit or bring forth every sin, though a man doth not formally bear every affliction, or taste every cup of sorrow, yet virtually and radically a man hath every sin in him, or it is possible for any sin to be form and shaped out of the nature of man: Radically also every man hath every affliction all sorrows in him; and the justice of God, may form the most dreadful shaped afflictions out of his sins: And as the spark lies closely in the fire, or the flint, till you smite or blow them up, so sin lies secretly in our hearts, till some temptation or occasion smites and brings it out. Again we may observe, That Man can sin without a teacher. You need not instruct him, or teach him to do evil, He doth that by a natural instinct, since his nature was corrupted. He sins as the sparks fly upwards, or as a bird flies in the air, whom no man directs, how to use her wings, Nature. is her rute. There needs much teaching against sin, and it is the business of all the Ordinances to bridle us from acting our corruptions: But man walks in the ways of wickedness, without guide or precept. It was the ancient error of the Pelagians, that the sin of man came only by imitation: they denied that man had a stock of corruption in his nature, or that his nature was corrupted; but, seeing others sin, he sinned; an opinion which carries its condemnation in its own face, as well as in our hearts. And though similitudes are no proofs, yet, the reason of a similitude is: man's sinning is therefore compared to a sparks flying, to show how naturally he sins. A spark flies upward without any to lead it the way; and a bird would fly, though she should never see another bird fly: And if a man could live so, as never to see any one example of sin all his days, yet that man, out of his own heart, might bring forth every sin, every day. Example quickens and encourages the principles of sin within us, but we can sin without any extrinsic motion or provocation, without pattern or precedent from without. Lastly observe, To sin, is no burden or labour to a natural man: For it is his nature. It is no pains to the spark, to fly upwards: what we do naturally, we do easily. Holy duties are no burdens to a godly man, because, through grace, he doth them naturally; he hath an inward principle, which dictates the law of holiness to him, though he should want outward teaching: He hath an unction from the holy Ghost, and knoweth all things, 1 Joh. 2. 20. Not that a godly man becomes like God, Omniscient, or knowing all, for at most we know, here, but in part: but he knows all things necessary, and so fare as necessary: his new birth teaches him: He lives not merely upon the outward teaching, he hath both light & liberty in himself; and so hath a tendency to these things in his own spirit, as there is a tendency in fire to ascend. We should wonder and rejoice, to see how grace conquers the course of sinful nature. The new man is born to mercy and holiness to grace and glory, as the sparks fly upward. Hence it is said, He that is born of God, cannot commit sin, for the seed of God remaineth in him. As, the spark cannot fly downward, because the heat of fire remains in it: The Apostle affirms it, of himself and his Fellow-labourers in the Gospel, we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth, 2 Cor: 13. 8. The possibilities and impossibilities of a regenerate man, are directly opposite to those of a natural man: The one cannot sin, the other cannot but sin: the one can do nothing against the truth the other can do nothing for the truth; gracious acts become as natural, as sinful, when nature is changed from sin to grace. What a blessed change is this, that man should do good as readily, as once he did evil; that, he who was borne free to iniquity, should be reborn free to righteousness, as the spark; fly upward. A godly man is a heavenly spark: He hath a fire in his nature, which carries him upward for ever. Thus having opened these two verses, being the grounds of the following exhortation; let us now examine the matter of the exhortation itself, contained in the 8th. verse. Verse 8. I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause. Our Translation omits one word in the beginning of this sentence, which though it may be understood in our reading, yet the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expression of it betters the sense. Surely, or truly I would seek, etc. There are two opinions about the meaning of these words; Some conceive, that Eliphaz speaks in high contempt of Job: and I may give you their sense, by that proud schooling, which the Pharisee gave the poor Publican, Luke 18. As that Pharisee insulted over the publican, thus, I thank God, I am not such a one as thou art, etc. but I fast, and I pray, etc. So, they represent Eliphaz here insulting over Job, I thank God, I am not such an impatient person as thou art, no such rude curser of my day, or complainer of my trouble; I am not (I thank God) so distracted, and so distempered as thou art; and if I had been in thy case, I should have showed more wit, and grace too, then, to do, as thou hast done; I should never have been so vain and foolish, so forgetful of my own duty or the Lord's Sovereignty, as, to cry out against and accuse his providence and deal with me, to lay about me like a mad man, as thou hast done; no, I would have songht unto God, and committed my cause unto him, this should have been my course, such and such the frame and temper of my spirit. But I rather take these words in a good sense, implying much sweetness and meekness of spirit in Eliphaz. And so this verse is as an application of the Doctrine, contained in the former two; As if Eliphaz had said, Seeing matters stand thus in themselves and these are undoubted truths, that afflictions come from our selves, and that our sins are our own: and seeing thy case stands thus, that now thou art under great afflictions and troubles; I do assure thee my loving friend Job, were I in thy condition (I will give thee faithful counsel, and tell thee my heart, what I would do) I would no longer stay complaining against my day, cursing creatures, distempering my head, and disquieting my heart with these passions; but, I would even go and address myself unto God, I would apply myself to Heaven, I would seek for remedy there, earth affords it not. I have ever found this the way to ease my heart when burdened; to assuage my sorrows, when increased; to compose my spirit, when distracted; to strengthen my resolutions, when unsettled: I can give thee this rule with (A Probatum est) an assurance from mine own experience, in the use of it, and with clearness of conscience, that it is my purpose in such cases to use it ever. I would seek unto God.] The word signifies a very diligent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat quaerere diligenter & cu● cur● sed interregatione & ve●bi● ut plurimum. search; I would seek exactly and inquire laboriously unto God. It signifies to seek by ask questions or by interrogating: And it imports seeking with much wisdom and skill; a curious or a critical enquiry; So Eccles. 1. 13. I gave my heart (saith Solomon) to seek and search out by wisdom. And this seeking implies four things. First, A supposition and a sense of our wants; no man seeks that which he hath already, or, but thinks he hath it. He that is full loathes a honeycomb. Secondly, A strong desire to find that, which we want; it notes not a bare desire only, or woulding, but a kind of unquietness or restlessness till we find: such a desire took hold of David. Psal. 132. 4. I will not give rest to mine eyes, nor slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, or, until I find the Lord. Thirdly, A care to be directed about the means which may facilitate the finding or recovery of what we want, and thus earnestly desire. A seeking spirit, is a careful spirit, after light and counsel. Fourthly, A diligent and faithful endeavour, in or about the use those means, to which counsel directs us. Through desire a man having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom, Prov. 18. 1. That is, he is very industrious in pursuing those advices, which wisdom shows him, or, which are showed him, as the ways of wisdom. A lazy spirit is unfit to seek. I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause. In the former clause, the word for, God, is El, and in the latrer, Elohim, both names note the power of God. El, notes power or strength to act and execute; Elohim, power or authority to judge and determine. I would seek unto El, The strong God. I would commit my cause to Elohim, the Mighty God: As if he had said: Thou art in a weak and low condition, now therefore seek unto God, the strong God, the mighty God, who is able to deliver thee. Thou wantest the help of such a friend as he. The Hebrew, word for word is thus rendered, Unto God would I put my words, or turn my speech. We reach the meaning fully, rendering. Unto God I would commit my cause, or put my case. The term which we translate, cause, signifies any business or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat ver●um vel negotium, res meas ei committe●ē. cause, but most properly a word; Explicite prayer is the turning of our thoughts into words, or the putting of our case to God, It is a speaking to, or a pleading with the Lord. The Septuagint is clear in this sense, I would deprecate the Lord, I would call upon the Lord, the governor of all things. Both these significations of the word, are profitable for us, and congruous with the scope of the text, I would turn my speech and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Sept. prayer, or I would commit my cause unto God. The committing of our cause to God, notes a resignation of ourselves and of our condition into the hands of God: It is as much as to say, Let God do what he will, or determine what he pleaseth concerning me, I will not strive or contend about, question or dispute his decision or judgement of my cause: I will lay myself down at his feet, and tell him how she case stands with me; then, let him do with me, what seems good in his eyes: This is the committing of our cause, and condition unto God. And the Original word here used for God, doth very well suit and correspond with this sense; I will commit my cause unto God, unto Elohim, the great and impartial Judge of Heaven and earth; the God who loves Judgement, and the habitation of whose Throne is righteousness: The God who knows how to discern exactly between cause and cause, person and person, and will undoubtedly give a righteous sentence concerning every cause and person, that comes before him. Unto this Elohim would I commit my cause, and refer myself to his arbitration. Observe first in the general; Eliphaz having reproved Job, turns himself to counsel and exhortation; From which we may learn, That As it is our duty to reprove a fault in our brother, so it is our duty to advise and counsel him how to amend, or come out of that fault, for which we reprove him. It is not enough to espy an error, but we must labour to rectify it; or, to tell another that he is out of the way, but we must endeavour to reduce him. Many can espy faults and failings in others, who either know not how, or care not to reform and help them out. Secondly observe, That. It is a duty to exhort and excite our brothers to those duties, wherein we find them flack or negligent. Eliphaz conceived, that Job was much behind in the duty of prayer and self-resignation unto God, and therefore he quickens him up to it. The Apostle calls us to this Christian inspection (Heb. 3. 13.) Exhort one another daily, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin; sin growing and getting strength, hardens the heart; it is best to oppose it betimes, and therefore he bids them do it at all times, exhort one another daily. Though the Apostle Peter (2 Pet. 1. 12.) was persuaded of the Saints establishment in the present truth, yet (saith he) I will not cease to put you always in remembrance of these things. It is a dangerous error (which some hold) that the Saints in this life may out grow counsel and exhortation; as if there were no need, to bid a godly man pray & seek unto God, no need to bid a godly man repent, or humble himself, or believe, he cannot but do these things (say they) these are connatural to him. They are indeed to the new man, within him: But let them withal remember, that the neglect of all these duties, is as connatural to the old man within him. While there are two men within us, we had need every man to look, not only to one, but to one another. It may go ill with the better part, the new man, if while he hath an enemy within to oppose him, he hath not a friend without to help him. On this ground (besides the command of Christ) the holiest man on earth, may be exhorted, to look to his holiness: none are in more danger than they, who think they are past danger And, as it is a certain argument, that a man was never good, if he desires not to be better; so, it is a great argument, that a man was never good, who fears not that he may be worse, They who are truly assured they cannot fall from grace, are assured also that they may fall in grace, and fall into sin: The foundation of God stands sure, but the footing of man doth not and therefore, Let him that stands, take heed lest he fall: And let them who see their brethren, heedlessly falling, lend them the right hand of exhortation to raise them up again: and when they are careless of, or wand'ring from the Lord lead them by the hand of counsel, into ways where he may be found. I would seek unto God. Observe in the third place; That We ought to manage our exhortations with meekness and tenderness, This of Eliphaz is a mild and tender expression; and to make it more easy he puts the exhortation (as was noted before) in the first, not in the second person; he doth not say, seeing afflictions come not from the ground, and that man is borne unto trouble, therefore do thou seek unto God, and do thou commit thy cause unto God; but seeing thy case is thus, truly brother, I advise thee as I would advise mine own soul, Seek unto God. It moves strongly and gains upon the affection of another, to tell him, we would do the things ourselves, which we desire he should, and we wish him, as we do our own souls. Fourthly, observe, That It is both our wisdom and our duty in all our afflictions to seek unto God. I would (saith Eliphaz) if I were in thy case, seek unto God. Unto whom should we go, but unto God? He is our best friend, when it is best with us, and he is our only friend, when it is ill with us: all other friends will be Physicians of no value, as Job himself found them, therefore seek unto God. As the Disciples said unto Christ, when Christ asked them, Will ye also go away? Whether shall we go (say they) for thou hast the words of eternal life? So faith the soul in afflictions, To whom shall I go? Unto this creature or that creature, unto this friend or that friend? No, I will seek unto God, That is the wisest and shortest course: all other courses are about, if not in vain. Other ways may be used as helps, but this must; pitch mainly upon God. When we are directed to seek unto God in afflictions, it speaks four things. First, To seek unto God about the cause of our afflictions, desire that God would inform us, what his mind is in sending such an affliction, or what it is he aims at, in sending it. Afflictions are the Lords messengers, and we should never be quiet, till we know their errand. This is it which Job complained of in the third Chapter, That his way was hid, which was expounded, that he knew not the cause of his afflictions, the cause was hidden; and so was the issue, he could neither tell how he came in nor how he could come out; If our way in afflictions be hid, we must seek unto God for the opening of it. Secondly, To seek unto God for strength and patience, to bear the affliction. As the affliction comes from God, so doth the strength, by which we stand under it, or get victory over it Thirdly, To seek unto God for the sanctifying of affliction to our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. Afflictions are the good creatures of God, and they (as all other creatures) are sanctified to us, by the word and prayer. We have as much reason to seek unto God for a blessing upon our daily Rod, as upon our daily bread. Fourthly, Seek unto God for cure and ease, for the removing or mitigating of them. In their affliction they will seek me early, saith the Lord, Hos. 5. 15. But, for what will they seek? even, for medicine and healing. Come and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us, he hath smitten and he will bind us up, Hos. 6. 1. Observe from the other branch, And unto God would I commit my cause; That It is a very great ease unto the soul in affliction, to commit our cause unto God, and to put our affairs into his hand. Man is not able to stand alone, under the weight of his afflictions. Both sin and sorrow are burdens too heavy for us to bear: if you would have ease, lay both upon Christ, it is no unbecoming boldness to do so, for, he calls us to it, and bids us do it, Psal. 55. 22. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. Christ is willing to bear a part and put his shoulder under these burdens, yea, it is his strength that bears the whole. The committing of our cause to God, is at once our duty, our safety, and our ease. Thus David did, Psal. 142, 2. I poured my complaint before him, I shown before him my trouble. David brought out his evils and set them (as it were) one, by one, in the sight of God, and told him, thus it is with me. We may see David acting this rule, to the life, when Absolom had fomented a most unnatural rebellion against His: He hastens out of Jerusalem, All the Country wept with a loud voice, and the Priests with the Ark of the Covenant of God came with him also. In what posture was David's spirit, in the midst of these commotions? His words to Zadok show (no doubt) the true picture of it. And the King said to Zadok, carry back the Ark of God into the City, if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and show me both it and his habitation: but if he say thus, I have no delight in thee, behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him (2 Sam. 15. 25, 26.) As if he had said, I am uncertain what God will do with me: but I am resolved to let the Lord do with me, what he will, I am willing to be, what God will have me; I lay my cause and leave my business at his footstool, if he will have me dethroned and unking'd, I am content my honour should lie in the dust. If he say, I shall never come again to Jerusalem, or see the Ark of his strength and presence, I am content for ever to be banished Jerusalem, never to see the Ark, (which to me is the most beautiful and desirable sight in the world) any more. Here was self-resignation, and cause-committing to the height. And when David had brought his heart to this, his heart was unburdened, he (doubtless) found the weight and stress of the whole business lying upon God himself, His cause was with God, and his cares were with God; And therefore, Though his throne shaked, yet his heart was fixed. Nor do I find, that ever his heart was more fixed, then in this stress, while his Throne and Crown were tottering. Hezekiah did the like with like success. In the day of that great and public calamity, he went and spread the letter of Rabshakeh before God, he, as it were desired God to read it, to observe the blasphemous contents, and see in what condition he was. He that commits his cause to God, breathes a composed spirit, when the greatest storms and distractions are upon his body or estates, upon Church or State. Only, take this caution, be sure the cause you commit to God, be a good cause. The committing of a sinful cause to God, is a dishonour to, and a high strain of presumption against God. We may commit a doubtful cause to God, desiring, that he would try, and examine, whether it be good or bad. But we must not commit a doubtful cause to God desiring him to protect it, or us in it whether it be good or bad. And if (in this sense) we may not commit a doubtful cause to God; What shall we think of those, who shall dare to commit an openly unjust. and wicked cause to God? A wicked man's prayer is always sinful, but, how abominable is it, when he prays to be prospered or directed in acting his sin, or to be strengthened in suffering (impenitently) for his sin. There is no gracious act, but a wicked man, at one time or other, will imitate. He will pray, and repent, and forgive, and commit his cause to God, and when he dies, commit his soul to God. There is no trusting to a mouth full of good words, while the heart will not empty itself of wickedness. It is good always to commit our cause and our souls to God, but a cause or a soul are not therefore good, because committed unto God. The language of Israel is often spoken by the men of Ashdod; And many who never had the least part of holiness in them, can yet set themselves (when there is no remedy) to act a part in it. The Apostle Peter gives us this rule, (1 Epist. 4. 19) Let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him, in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator. Except we suffer according to the will (or from the hand) of God, and also, do well in our sufferings, Christ will not admit this Feoffment, though we commit ourselves to him, he will not accept the trust. But he that suffers according to (or by) the will of God, and doth well in suffering, that is, hath a good cause, and a good conscience, He (I say) may commit all to God, (and in the mercy of the most High) he shall not miscarry. Lastly, Whereas Eliphaz saith, I would seek unto God were I in thy case, observe, That It is a wise course in advising others, to show ourselves ready to follow the same advice. It wins exceedingly upon others, to take our counsel, when it appears we are ready to follow the same counsel, ourselves. We ought to do nothing unto others, but what we would have done unto ourselves, and we should advise nothing to others, but what we ourselves would do; It puts strength into a rule, when he that gives it, is ready to enliven it by his own practice. As a Physician, for the encouragement of his patient to take a nauseous medicine, will say to him, Sir you seem unwilling to drink it, but if I were sick and distempered, as you are, I would drink it readily, and that you may see there is no hurt in it, I will taste a little myself; His tasting sweetens it, and the patiented likes it well. Thus when either Minister or private friend offers advise or counsel, and shall say, thus I would do, this I would follow; This takes upon the heart: whereas it disparages prayer or any duty, to say to another, Seek unto God, put your case unto him, fast and pray; When he that gives the counsel neglects all these duties, and is careless of communion with God. Christ saith of the Pharisees, that they bond heavy burdens upon the shoulders of others. These burdens were counsels and directions, rules, and canons; they would have men do thus and thus, in the manner of God's worship, or daily converse with men. But, They themselves would not touch them with one of their fingers (Mat. 23. 4.) That is, they would not practise them in the least degree. As to do evil with both hands, (Mic. 7. 3.) notes the highest degree both of desire & endeavour, in doing evil: So not to touch that which is good with a finger, notes a total neglect of doing good. A finger is the least member, and a Touch is the least act, than these Pharisees not touching with a finger, imports they did not act at all. It is good to act a rule privately by way of experiment, before we put it upon others: but it is most necessary to act it by way of example, when we have published it to, and pressed it upon others. It was a speech of one of the Ancients, I never taught my people any thing, but what I had first practised and experimented myself. Doctrine is sooner followed by the eye, then by the ear; He that (like the Scribes and pharisees, Mat. 23. 3.) saith and doth not, shall find but few to do what he saith. No man ought to teach any thing, which he is not willing (as he is called) to do and observe himself. It is very sinful to give counsel, which we will not take. Our works ought to be the practice of our words, and as practicable as our words. Woe unto those of whom it may be said, as Christ of the Pharisees, Mat. 23. 3. Whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do not ye after their works. JOB. Chap. 5. Vers. 9 Which doth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number, etc. THis context unto the 17 verse, contains the second argument, by which Eliphaz strengtheneth his former Exhortation, To seek unto God and to commit his cause unto him. The argument may be thus form. He is to be sought unto, both in duty, and in wisdom, and unto him our cause is to be committed, who is of absolute, infinite power, wisdom and goodness. But God is of absolute, infinite power, wisdom and goodness. Therefore it is our duty and our wisdom to seek unto God, and unto God to commit our cause. That, God is infinite in power, wisdom and goodness, Eliphaz proves by an enumeration or induction of divers effects and works, which call for infinite power, wisdom and goodness to produce and actuate them. These effects are laid down, first in general, v. 9 Who doth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number. Then, these works or effects are given in particulars, and the first particular instance of God's mighty power, is in natural things, or his preservation of the world, at the 10 verse, Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields. The second instance is given in civil things, or his administrations in the world, at the 12, 13, 14. verses. And that we may consider two ways. 1. In destroying the counsels and plots of the wicked, in the 12, 13, and 14. verses, He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise, etc. 2. In delivering those who are in trouble, at the 15. verse, He saveth the poor from the Sword, etc. These are works of Power. Further the goodness of God shines forth in two things. 1. By the present intendment, or end aimed at, in these mighty works, ver. 11. To set up on high those that be low, that those which mourn may be exalted to safety 2. By the future benefit of these works, and that in two respects, verse 16. 1. The raising up of their spirits who are oppressed, So the poor hath hope. 2. The confounding and shaming of their oppressors, expressed in their silence, at the latter end of the 16 verse, And iniquity stoppeth her mouth. Thus you have a brief account, of the several points contained in this argument, and the disposition of the whole context. For the better understanding thereof, we will first consider what might be the aim or scope of Eliphaz, in making so accurate and large a description of God, in his great and marvellous works, and then survey these works in order as they are digested. To the former, we may take notice of a fourfold aim, which Eliphaz might have in describing these works of God. First, plainly to assert the providence of God, in ordering or disposing all actions and events here below: and so it is in prosecution of what he had said in the 6 verse, Affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground. Or secondly, his intent might be, to humble Job, to bridle and take down his spirit, which he conceived overbold with, and too much heightened towards the Almighty; A discovery whereof himself made in his extravagant speeches before noted, in the third Chapter. The remembrance of God in his greatness is one of the readiest means to humble man: And God himself took this way to humble Job, in the latter end of this book, even, by a large discourse of his own power, exemplified in many great acts and pieces of the creation. Or thirdly, the intent of Eliphaz might be, to support and comfort Job in his afflictions, by showing him a God, that had done such wonders, and therefore able to work another wonder in delivering and raising him up again: A God, who could provide medicines for all his diseases, heal all his breaches, repair all his losses, supply all his wants, and resolve all his doubts. To consider God in himself and in his works, who he is, and what he doth, is a mighty encouragement to seek unto God in our greatest extremities, in the saddest and cloudiest day of our afflictions. Neither can we do any thing more prevalent, for the support and relief of our own spirits in a time, when we are lowest, than to spread before the eye of our own thoughts, the power, greatness, and goodness of the high God, in his works and wonders. A fourth intent in probability was to stop Jobs curiosity, in enquiring so much into the reason of Gods dealing with him; which Eliphaz it seems observed in the complaints of the third Chapter, where Job expostulates, Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in? Job was troubled, because he could not see the bottom of God's deal with him, he could not see through them, either what the cause was, why he came into those troubles, or by what issues, and outlets, he should escape those troubles. Now, to stop Jobs curiosity in prying too far, or too boldy, into the secret workings of God. Eliphaz tells him, That God doth great things and unsearchable, no marvel therefore, if his ways were hid; That he doth marvellous things without number, no marvel then, if he could not measure his deal, by the line of humane understanding, or sum up their account, by the best of his Arithmetic. This in general, for the common tendency of his discourse, about those noble acts of divine Providence in earthly things. I come now to open the words in particular. Which doth great things and unsearchable, marvellous things without number. Which doth. He speaks in the present tense, he says not, which hath done great things, or, which will do great things; but which doth great things. And that notes not only a present act, but a continued act, or an everlasting act; or, as if the workings of God were but one act past, and to come, all included in the present, He doth. As in his Nature and Essence, though God was from all eternity, and shall be unto all eternity, yet his Name is, I am. So in his works, though he hath done great things, and shall do great things for ever, yet all are comprehended in this, I do, or He doth great things. Christ (Joh. 5. 17.) speaks this language, My Father worketh hitherto; worketh; All that which God had done, and all that he should do, is to be looked upon as his present act, My Father worketh hitherto .. Again, there is some what to be considered in the natural emphasis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the word itself, as well, as in the circumstantial of the time. The word which we translate, Doth, signifies more than an Aptè concinne, & exq●isi●è facit. E●a● vocatus, quia cum nasceretur. suit f●ctus. & perfectus pilis. Esau sonat perfectum & ornatum, nam perfectior pueris, ie instructus pilis in lucem venerit. Jun. in loc. ordinary Doing; which doth great things. The Critics observe, that in strictness and propriety of the Hebrew, it signifies to do a thing completely, perfectly and exactly, or (as we say) the setting of our last hand to a work. Hence Esau (Gen. 25. 25.) had his name. When Jacob and Esau were borne, Esau came forth first, and the text saith, they called his name Esau, and why? because he was borne, made up, in greater perfection, than an ordinary child. Esau signifies, adorned and perfected, because he came into the world hairy, or with hair upon him, which is both a natural ornament, and an argument of natural strength activity and heat of spirit, etc. Hence they called him, Esau: So then, the word [doth] imports doing, not by way of essay or inchoation, but doing completely, or to carry a thing on, or up to an extraordinary degree of perfection. I shall give one Scripture to illustrate that significancy of the word, Isa. 43. 7. where the Lord by the Prophet, showing the abundant increase of the Church, speaks thus, Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; even every one that is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory, I have form him, yea I have made him. Observe, here is a plain gradation in those three words, Created, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Produxit ad esse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constituit rem in forma su● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perfecit, disposuit. form, made; I have created him, signifies the bringing of a thing from a not-being, to a being. But, saith God, I have not only given him a being, but, I have form him; which notes the limming proportioning and polishing of a thing: And not only have I done so, but, in the third place, (which is the word of the text) I have made him. There is more in this word, than in the former two, and therefore we translate it with an emphasis, yea, I have made him; that is, I have not only given him a being and a shape, but I have put upon him all the perfections of nature, yea, and the perfections of grace, the impressions of my special love and favour; I have lifted him up to the top of all; and so some render the word, I have magnified or made him great; I have exalted and set him upon the highest pinnacles of perfections, and mountains of holiness, Hence observe, When God gins a work, he completes and carries it through. He doth not only Create, and give a being: Form, and give proportion, but He doth, or he makes, giving beauty and exactness to his works. Whether we consider the works of God as natural, civil or spiritual; in this sense God doth them. Deut. 32. 4. Moses speaks in general, concerning all the works of God; He is a rock, and his work is perfect: The works of Creation are admirable to the eye; the works of Providence, how often do they fill the heart with admiration: That which he spoke to Samuel concerning the house of Ely, is appliable both to his works of Mercy and of judgement; When I begin, I will also make an end, 1 Sam. 3. 12. that is, I will do it fully, there is nothing shall take me off, or stay me in the midway; I will not work to halves, I will also make an end. And so it is in spirituals, when once God hath begun, he carries on his work of grace, when once he hath laid the foundation stone of mercy, he never leaves, until he hath set up the the top stone, the highest stone of glory. Hence the Apostles (Heb. 12.) entitles Christ, The author and finisher of our faith; that is, the beginner and ender, Alpha and Omega, first and last about our faith. It shall never be said of any work of God (as Luk. 14.) That, he began to build, but could not finish it. And as he finishes, so he beautifies: all his works are full of order and comeliness: He doth his work tightly (or as we say) artificially; yea, those works that we look upon, as full of confusion, are full of order; and those works, in which we see no form, or nothing but deformity, even these will one day appear (now they are) admirable in beauty and comeliness. That which the Apostle speaks in his exhortation to Timothy, 2 Tim. 2. 15. bidding him do the work of an Evangelist, bidding him show himself a workman, that needeth not to be ashamed, is most true concerning the great God of Heaven and earth, He shows himself a workman, or a worker that needeth not to be ashamed: When he works, he doth the work of a God; He works like himself: Man cannot so much as be suspected to have done such things: The Name, that is, the wisdom, power and goodness of God, is written upon them in so fair and clear a letter, that it must be said, by way of assertion, This hath God wrought: And by way of admiration, what hath God wrought? Numb. 23. 23. A man (sc. a mere natural man beholding these things) shall say, verily he is a God that judgeth the earth, Psal. 58. 11. Man cannot judge, or do like this. The Lord needs not engrave or subscribe his Name to his works; His words, like so many Capital letters, spell, and like so many Heralds, proclaim his Name. Which doth great things. To pass from the act or manner of doing, we will consider the object; He doth great things. Some men with a great deal of pains do nothing; and others with a great deal of art, do a thing of nothing, a trifle, a toy, a mere fancy; at least some mean or inferior work takes up their time, skill, and study: But when God goes to work, we may expect a noble work, He doth great things. The works of GOD, answer the stile or Attributes of God. He is a great God, and His are great works. The works of God speak a God. And here are four things spoken in this one verse, of the works of God, which speak aloud, This is the finger of God: I will first bundle them together, and then, both take and weigh them asunder. He doth First, Great things. Secondly, Unsearchable. Thirdly, Wonderful. Fourthly, Innumerable, or without number. No works of man or Angel, are capable of such a fourfold stamp as this: no, nor any one work of all the creatures put together, could ever be stamped with any one of these characters, in any comparison, with the works of God. Some, in a sense, have done great things but none have done things unsearchable: Man may fathom the works of man, his closest ways are not past finding out. As there was never any thing made so strong by the strength of man, but there was some other strength in man, that could match, yea overthrow it; so there was never any thing so wisely, so artificially or mysteriously contrived, by the skill, knowledge and deepest understanding of a man, but that the skill knowledge and understanding of another man, hath, or might have ridled and searched it out. The works of most men, are wrought above ground, and their intentions float and swim upon the face of their actions: And although some, as the Prophet speaks (Isa. 29.) work deep to hid their counsels (as they hope, not only from men but) from God, yet God gives other men a light, to discover the very lowest hell of those counsels, even, all the depths of Satan, The master-Engineere of those mines and subterranean contrivances. Further, Though some men do that, which makes other men (especially fools, or men weak in knowledge) wonder, yet not (Thaumaturgas, or) wonder-worker ever did that, which makes all men wonder. Or, if it should be granted, that any have done things great, unsearchable, wonderful, yet I am sure, none have done these things without number; one great, unsearchable, wonderful work, is task enough for one man's life: And a little skill in numbers will serve the turn, to cast up, and give us the total sum and number, of all the works of all men, which deservedly bear (as man's may) the title and superscription of great, unsearchable, wonderful. More distinctly. First, He doth great things. There is a greatness upon every thing God doth: The great God leaves (as it were) the print of his own greatness, even upon those things which we account little; little works of nature, have a greatness in them, considered as done by God, and little works of providence, have a greatness in them, considered as done by God; If the thing which God doth, be not great in itself, yet it is great, because he doth it. As there is no sin of man little in itself (though comparatively it be (because committed against a great God: So there is no work of God little (though comparitively it be (because acted by the great God. Further, if God doth a thing, which in itself considered, or considered according to the line and rule of the creature, is unjust; yet because God doth it, or commands it to be done, his very doing or commanding stamps justice upon it; as is clear in the case of Abraham's call to sacrifice his son, and the Israelites carrying away the jewels of the Egyptians. If then the act of God (whose will is the supreme law) makes that lawful, which according to the common rule, is unlawful; how much more doth the act of God make that great, which in ordinary proportion is accounted small. Again, When it is said, God doth great things, we must not understand it, as, if God dealt not about little things, or as if he let the small matters of the world pass, and did not meddle with them: Great in this place, is not exclusive of Little, for, he doth not only great, but small, even the smallest things. The Heathens said, their Jupiter had no leisure to be present at the doing of small Non vacat exignis rebus adesse Jovi. things, or it did not become him to attend them. God attendeth the doing of small things, and it is his honour to do so: the falling of a Sparrow to the ground, is one of the smallest things that is, yet that is not without the providence of God; the hairs of our head are small things, yet as not too many, so not too small for the great God to take notice of; Christ assures us this, The very hairs of your head are all numbered, Mat. 10. 29, 30. We ought highly to adore and reverence the power and inspection of God, about the lowest, the meanest things and actions. Is it not with the great God, as with great men, or, as it was with that great man Moses, who had such a burden of business in the government of that people upon his shoulders, that he could not bear it; therefore his Father in law adviseth him, to call in the aid of others and divide the work: But how? The great matters, the weighty and knotty controversies must be brought to Moses; but the petty differences and lesser causes, are transmitted and handed over to inferior judges; And it shall be, that every great matter, they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge, Exod. 18. 22. But God, the great Judge of Heaven and earth, hath not only the great and weighty, but small matters brought unto him; the least motions of the creature, are heard and resolved, disposed and guided by his wisdom and power. You will say, What is this greatness, and what are these great things? I shall hint an answer to both, for the clearing of the words. There is a twofold greatness upon the works of God. There is (so we may distinguish) First, the greatness of quantity; Secondly, the greatness of quality or virtue: That work of God which is greatest in the bulk or quantity of it is the work of Creation; How spacious, huge and mighty a fabric is Heaven and earth, with all things compacted and comprehended in their circumference! And in this work, so vast for quantity, what admirable qualities are every where intermixed! Matter and form, power and order, quantity and quality, are so equally balanced, that no eye can discern, or judgement of man determine, which weighs most in this mighty work. Yet among these works of God, some are called great in regard of quality, rather than of quantity. As it is said (Gen. 1. 16.) That God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. (Sun and Moon) these are great lights, not that there are no lights great but these, or that both these are greater, than all other heavenly lights; for many Stars are greater than the Moon, as the doctrine and observation of Astronomers assures us; but the lesser of these is great in regard of light and influence, excellency and usefulness to the world. And as to these works of creation, so the works of providence, are great works: When God destroys great enemies, the greatness of his work is proclaimed. When great Babylon, or Babylon the great, shall be destroyed, the Saints song of triumph shall be, Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints (Rev. 15. 3.) Great and marvellous works, why, Because thou hast destroyed great Babylon, and hast executed great judgement, and poured out great wrath. So, great works of mercy and deliverance to his people, are cried up with admiration, And hath given us such a deliverance as this, saith Ezra, Chap. 9 13. when the Jews returned from their captivity out of Babylon; That mercy was a kind of miracle, that deliverance a wonder, and therefore he mentions it in terms of admiration. Such deliverance as this! How great: So great, that he had neither words to express, nor example to parallel it, but lets it stand nakedly by itself, in its native glory; Such deliverance as this! The Spiritual works of God, are yet far greater; the work of redemption, is called a great salvation, the conversion and justification of a sinner, the pardon of our sins, and the purifying of our nature, are works as high, above creation and providence, as the Heavens are in comparison of the earth. Take two or three corollaries or Deductions from hence: As first; It is the property of God to do great things: And because it is his property, he can as easily do great things as small things. Among men, Great spirits count nothing great; A great spirit swallows and overcomes all difficulties: Much more is it so with the great God, who is a Spirit, all Spirit, and the father of spirits; To the great God there is nothing great: He can as easily do the greatest as the least: 1 Sam: 14. 6. 2 Chron. 14. There Animo mag●● nihil magnum. is no restraint to the Lord, to save with few or by many, or it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power; It is not so much, as the dust of the balance with God, to turn the scale of victory in battle, whether there be more or less: Seeing all Nations before him, are but as the dust of the balance, as nothing, yea less than nothing. So that whether you put him upon any great work or small work, you put the Lord to no more stress, to no more pains in the one, then in the other, for he doth great things; and to do them, is his property, not his study, his nature, not his labour. He needs not make provisions or preparations, for what he would have done, the same act by which he wills the doing of a thing, doth it, if he wills. What great things hath the Lord done in our days. We may say as the Virgin (Luke 1. 49.) He that is Mighty, hath done to us great things, and Holy is his Name; and as they, Acts 2. 11. We have both heard and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Magnalia Dei. seen the great things of God done amongst us; and I believe greater things are yet to be done. It was a great work at the beginning of time, to make Heaven and earth, and will it not be a great work, to shake Heaven and earth? That God hath said he will do, before the end of time. Yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the Heavens and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land, Hag. 2. 6. The words following, seem to interpret this earthquake, and Heaven-quake, I will shake all Nations. Again, It was a great work, to make the old Heaven and earth? and will it not be a great work, to make a new Heaven and a new earth? That is the business, which God is about in these letter days, as he promised, Isa. 65. 17. Behold I create a new heaven and a new earth; what is that? Jerusalem a praise, and her people a joy. When God reformeth the face of his Church, and settles the affairs of Kingdoms and Commonwealths, he makes new Heavens and a new Earth. And if it be the property of God to do great things, then, it is a duty in us, to expect great things. We ought to look for such things, as come up to, and answer the power and greatness of God; we dishonour, and as it were, humble God, when we look only for low and mean things; Great expectations from God, honour the greatness of God. As the Lord expects to receive the greatest services from us, because he is a great King, Mal. 1. 14. So we ought to expect, that we shall receive the greatest mercies from the Lord, because he is a great King; It dishonours God as much and more, when we believe little, as when we do little. A great King thinks himself dishonoured, if you ask him a petty suit; he looks more what becomes him to give, or do in bounty, than the petitioner to ask in necessity. The Great Alexander, could tell his suitor (whom he had more astonished, then relieved with his favour) That though the thing might be too great for him to receive, yet it was not too great for Alexander to give. If dust and ashes can speak and think at this rate, O how large is the heart of God Then, it is not only our privilege, but our duty to ask and believe great things; we ought to have a great faith, because God doth great things; Is it becoming, to have a great God, and a little faith? To have a God that doth great things, and we to be a people (his people) that cannot believe great things? nay, To have a God who can easily do great things, and we a people, that can hardly believe small things? How unbecoming! if some small thing be to be done, then usually faith is upon the wing, but if it be a great thing, than faith is clogged, her wings are clipped, and we at a stand; why should it be said unto us, as, Christ said unto his Disciples, O ye of little faith. It may be as dangerous to us, if not as sinful, not to believe the day of great things, as to despise the ●ay of small things. Why should not our faith in a holy scorn, baffle the greatest difficulties, in that language of the Prophet (Zech. 4. 7.) Who art thou O great Mountain? before zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain. There is another useful consequence from this truth. He that doth great works, aught to have great praises. As, we ought to have great faith, that he will do great things, so, he ought to have great acknowledgements, when he hath done great things. Shall God do great things for us, and shall we give him some poor, lean, starven sacrifices of praise? It is very observable, that, as soon as the Prophet had described the Lord in his greatness (Isa. 40. 15.) he adds in the very next verse, And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof, sufficient for a burned Offering. That is, no services are great enough, for this great God. Lebanon abounded in spices for Incense and perfume; it abounded with cattles for Sacrifice and offerings; To say that Lebanon had not spice enough to burn for incense, nor beasts enough to burn for Sacrifice, shows the Lord far exalted in greatness, above all the praises and holy services of his people. Lastly, seeing God doth great works for us, let us show great zeal for, great love unto the Lord. We should aim at the doing of great things for God, seeing God indeed doth great things for us. So much of the first Attribute of the works of God. Who doth great things. And unsearchable.] The Hebrew is, and no search. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports the search of those things which are most abstruse and secret. As the heart, which the Lord only can search, Jer. 17. 15. The heart lies too low, not only for the eye, but for the understanding of man. Hence it is used, Psal. 95. 4. to note the Foundations, or deep places of the earth, because they cannot be known, but by deep search, or rather, because they are beyond the deepest Penetralia terrae, ut Aben Ezra explicat, quae sci●i nequeunt, nisi exquisita per scrutatione, vel potiùs quòd homini minimè sunt perscutabilia, Deo autumn in prepatulo. Buxtorf. search of man. And the same phrase we find, Psal. 145. 3. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable; or according to the letter, of his greatness no search; as when the Psalmist speaks of the greatness of God, in his nature and essence, presently he adds, and of his greatness there is no search; so here, when Eliphaz speaks of the greatness of God, in his works, the next word is, they are unsearchable. As God in himself is great, and of his greatness there is no search; so many of the works of God are so great, that of their greatness there is no search, that is, you cannot find out their greatness by any search. God is in working (and so are men, the hand cannot act beyond the head) as he is in understanding. There is no searching of his understanding (Isa. 40. 28.) Therefore there is none of his working. This unsearchableness of the works of God, may be considered two ways. 1. As that, which cannot be found by enquiry. 2. As that, which ought not to be found or enquired. There are some works of God, which are not to be searched into, Arcana imperij. they are to be adored by believing, not to be pried into by searching; and in that sense they are called unsearchable (Rom. 11. 33.) O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom of and knowledge of God How unsearchable are his judgements! Many of his judgements, that is, his works of judgement, are so unsearchable, that it is not industry or duty, but presumption, to search into them. As those unspeakable words, which Paul heard in the third heavens, were such as (2 Cor. 12. 4.) is not lawful for a man to utter; so unsearchable judgements may be interpreted such, as is not lawful for a man to search. Great Princes will not have all their actions scanned, at least, not by all, They keep state in their works. If all a man's actions be level to the lowest, his person will be so too. The reason why the works of Antichrist were to be so mysterious and miraculous, is, because he was to be adored and Godded, to be exalted above all (in man) that is called God, or that is worshipped, 2 Thes. 2. 4. They who aspire to divine honour, have, or at least pretend to have many secrets. Because secret things belong unto God, things revealed unto man (Deut. 29. 29.) And as the Angel at once answers and reproves Manoah (Judg. 13. 18.) Why askest thou after my name, seeing it is secret, or wonderful? As if he had said, thou must not inquire after my name, for it is a secret. Such prying into the works of God, is as dangerous, as prying into the Ark of God (1 Sam. 6. 19) It were more profitable for us, and more honourable to God, if we did search our own secret ways more, and Gods less. There are other works of God, which cannot be searched, yet we may and aught to search them. It is our duty to study them, though we cannot find them. We may search and find many of the works of God, with our senses; there are others which we cannot find, though we search for them, with our reason and understanding. As some parts of the word of God (2 Pet. 3. 16.) So some part of his works are so hard to be understood, that unstable men wrist them to their own destruction. The mind of God is legible in very many of his works, and we may read them without a Comment or Interpreter. Other of his works are mysterious and enigmatical, very riddles, insomuch, that if an ordinary man looking on them, should be questioned, Understandest thou what thou seest; he must answer, as the Eunuch did Philip, How can I except some man teach me. And these works are unsearchable, two ways. First, in regard of the manner of doing; we cannot find out the ways and contrivances of God's work. His ways are in the deep, and his footsteps are not known, saith the Psalmist, that is, the way which God goes to the accomplishing of his ends, are oftentimes like steps upon the water, which leave no impression or tract behind them. Secondly, his works are unsearchable in their causes or ends; what it is which God aims at, or intends, what moves or provokes him to such a course, is usually a secret. He doth such things, as no man can give an account of, or render a reason, why. Peter knew not how to construe or expound that work of Christ, John 13. when he took a Towel with a basin of water, to wash his feet. Therefore Christ tells him, What I do thou knowest not (that is, thou knowest not, what moves me to do this, for his eye taught him what Christ did) but thou shalt know hereafter. In due time this shall be interpreted to thee, and thou shalt know the reason, why I did this. But it is said (and that may be an objection against both text and Exposition) Psal. 111. 2. The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all those, that have pleasure therein. To seek out, notes a full discovery. And in Psal. 106. 7. Failing in this, is charged upon the fathers, and confessed by the children, as a fault, Our fathers understood not thy wonders, that is, the great things which God did for them in Egypt. How then is it said here, The works of the Lord are great and unsearchable. To clear this, First, I say there are some great works of God, which are easy and plain; And it is our duty to be acquainted with, and learned in these works of God, as well as in the word of God. Secondly, those works whose text is hard, we must search and labour to expound them, so, as to further duty, but not to feed our curiosity; We may search them with submission to the mind of God, not for satisfaction, only, to our own minds. We may search with desire to honour God, but not to humour ourselves. We may search them to make us more holy, though not barely to make us, more knowing. Take two corollaries from this. First, if the works of God are unsearchable, then how unsearchable are the counsels of God; the deep and secret counsels of God The works of God are the cousells of God made visible. Every work of God is the bringing of some counsel of God to light. Now if we are not able to find out his counsels when they are made visible in his works; how shall we find out his counsels, when they lie hidden in his breast? Secondly, If the works of God are unsearchable, then, we are to submit unto the dispensations of God, whatsoever they are, though we are not able according to reason, to give an account of them; though we cannot search out either the manner how, or the cause for which they were done, yet we must reverence them; And what we cannot believe by knowing, we must know by believing. It is our duty, not only to wink and believe, shut our eyes and believe, or believe when we cannot see; but, we must often believe, where knowledge is shut out, believe when we cannot understand. Abraham by faith followed the call of God, not knowing whether he went, Heb. 11. 8. It is dangerous to follow men blindfold (how seeing soever those men are) but it is safe, and our duty to follow God blindfold, how seeing soever we think ourselves to be. We must not be displeased (as Joseph was at Jacob his Father, Gen. 48. 17.) when we see God laying his right hand upon Ephraim, and his left upon Manasses, doing things cross to our thoughts; much less may we take upon us to direct the hand of God, as Joseph would jacob's, where we please. The Lord knows (as Jacob answered Joseph) what he doth, and it becomes us to acquiesce in what he doth, though we know it not. Some Romish Parasites, have said of the Pope, That if he should carry thousands to hell along with him, there is no man must say to him, Sir, why do you so? They adore him so in the unsearchableness of his ways and do, that it is enough for them, if he doth them. This abominable flattery of that Man of Sin, is a sober truth concerning the holy God; Though God east thousands of souls into hell, no man may say to him, what dost thou? And though God turn Kingdoms upside down, though he send great afflictions upon his own people, and make them a reproach unto the Heathen, though he give them up unto the power of the adversary and make all their enemies to rejoice, yet no man may say unto God, why do you thus; His works are unsearchable. It is beyond the line of a creature, to put any question, A why or A wherefore, about the work of the Greatour. Shall the thing form say unto him that forms it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the Potter power over his clay? Some think they could do things better than God hath done, or at least that God might have done better; if they had the power in their hands, things should not go thus and thus; What an insufferable indignity is this, to the wisdom and power of God, that He whose works are unsearchable should be made accountable for his works? That of Augustine, when he was in a deep meditation about the nature of God, may well be applied to the works of God, who walking by the sea side in deep thoughts of God, either heard this voice, or was filled with this thought, That he might as soon empty the sea with, or comprehend the Ocean in one of those little cockleshells, which lay on the shore, as with the narrow vessel of his Spirit, comprehend the infinite greatness of the God of Spirits. Marvellous things.] * Inscrutabile & mirabile differunt; inscrutabile est, qued lacet & perquiri non potest: Mi●abile est, quod ipsum q●idem apparet sed causa ejus perquiri non potest. Aquin. in loc. Unsearchable things and marvellous, differ thus; Those things are unsearchable, which lie hid, and cannot be found: that is a marvel whose cause cannot be found, though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 itself be not hid. This is the third adjunct or attribute of the works of God. The word is derived from a root, which signifies, Separated, Disjoined or Divided. And marvellous things are expressed by that word, because marvels or wonders are separated or Separatus, disjunctus. Hinc significat, mirab●lia quia talia sunt à nobis separata, & captum su erant, ita ut ratione quis asse qui, aut re praestare ●equeat. removed from us three degrees at least. They are separated First, from our knowledge or reason. Secondly from our sense: not that marvels are invisible, marvels and miracles, are wrought to be seen, and the use of them lies in this, from the sense to confirm faith, or to convince of unbelief. Which (by the way) quite overthrows the Popish refuge of a miracle, in their supposed transubstantiation of the bread at the Eucharist, who tell us of a miracle, but can show us none. But though in all miracles and marvails the thing wrought is plain to the senses, yet both the power and manner of doing it, are removed from the senses, The marvel wrought is seen, but the working of the marvel is not seen. Thirdly, Marvels are separated or removed from our imitation; we cannot do such things. The Lord stands alone working wonders. They are separated part and portion for God himself. The Egyptian Sorcerers seemed to do by their devilish enchantments, what Moses did by the command and power of God: But at the best they did but seem to do like Moses, and presently they could not so much as seem, Exod. 8. 18. And the Magicians did so, (that is, they attempted to do so) but they could not. They that work by the devil's art or power, cannot work long, They will quickly be at A Can not. Both their religions and their miraculous works are at best but in appearance, at last they will not so much as appear. In these three respects marvels are rightly called, separate. Further, the word also signifies sometimes, A hard or a difficult thing, because those things that are very hard and difficult have somewhat of wonder in them, and cause us to wonder at them, Deut. 17. 8. If a matter come which is too hard, the word is, which is too marvellous and wonderful for thee, etc. And Gen. 18. 14. Is any thing too hard for me (saith God) the word is, Is any thing wonderful to me? Nothing is wonderful to us, but that which is too hard for us. There is nothing wonderful to God, who doth all wonders, and is himself all Wonder. It hath been said concerning those lovers of and searchers after secret wisdom, called Philosophers, that it doth not become a Philosopher to wonder: For admiration is usually the daughter of ignorance; we marvel at most things, because we know the causes of few things. It was therefore a shame for a Philosopher to wonder, because it betrayed his ignorance; who would be thought studied in, yea a master of all causes, and able to give a reason of all things in nature. But it is most certain, the great God never marvelleth at any thing; For is any thing too hard for me, saith the Lord. Wonders are things too hard for us, and the same word signifies a wonder and a thing, too hard. There are three words of near alliancec in the Hebrew, Signs, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Miracles and Mervails. And they may be distinguished thus, A Sign is the representation of a thing present, or before us: A Miracle or Portentum (as contra-distinct from the former) shows forth somewhat future, or, that is to come. A Mervaile, as differing from both, is any act of providence, secret or separate from us in the manner of doing or producing it, a thing to us unsearchable; so (Exod. 33. 16.) Wherein shall it be known, that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight (saith Moses) Is it not in that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and thy people; So we translate it, or made wonderful; that is, if thou goest along with us, thou wilt do such marvails for us, as will make a difference between us, and all the people in the world: we shall be a people marvelled at, all the world over, or a spectacle to the world, Angels and Men. The presence of God with a people, is their difference, or will make them differ, from all people with whom God is not (under the Notion of Favour and Protection) present. Again, Marvels are taken sometimes for Miracles, which are merely and purely supernatural. For in ordinary acceptation of the word, a marvel is only the heightening and sublimating of nature, or acting in the highest Sphere of nature; but a Miracle is a crossing or a contradicting of nature. A work altogether above, yea against Nature. Now we are not to take marvels here in that strict sense, for miracles; for the great works of God are called marvels or wonders which yet are but either the ordinary constitutions of Nature, or the extraordinary motions of nature, as Psal. 136. 4. O give thanks to the Lord, to him, who alone doth great wonders: What are these? In the 5, 6, and 7. verses, instances are given in natural things, as making the heavens and stretching out the earth above the waters. The making of those great lights the Sun and Moon * Mirabilior est grani in terra multipl●catio, quam illa quinque Panum. August. Tracked. 24 in Joh in. Quicquid mirabile fit in mundo, profectò minus est, quàm totus hic mundus. Qua ●vis ilaque miracula visibilium natura●um videndi assiduitate vile scunt, tamen cum ea sapienter intuemur, inusitatissimis ra●●ssimisque majora sunt. August. l. 5. de Civ Dei, cap 12. . One of the Ancients discoursing upon that miracle in the Gospel, The multiplying the loaves, observeth, that in natural things there are very great wonders, though we lightly pass them by; They were astonished to see the loaves multiplying, while they were eating: To see bread grow upon the Table or between their Teeth, made all wonder: but there is as great a miracle wrought every year, and no man takes notice of it: That is, when Corn cast into the ground, multiplies thirty, sixty, a hundred-fold, It is (saith he) a greater miracle for corn to multiply in the earth, then for loaves to multiply on the Table. And he makes a like Conclusion in his Book of the City of God, Whatsoever is wonderful in the world, is not so great a wonder, as the world; Yet men rarely wonder at the making of the world, the Earth, the Heavens, the Sea, the Air, every creature in them exceed in wonders▪ the things we wonder at. Ordinary works of Nature are marvellous. First, because they proceed from a divine power. 2. Because man is posed to give a reason of most of them, Canst thou tell how the bones grow in her that is with child? saith the Preacher. The bringing of an Infant alive from the Womb is a wonder, as well as the raising of a man from the dead: And the budding of a Tree, as well as the budding of Aaron's Rod † Per multa sunt quae admirari nonsolemus propterea quod vulgo quotidieque fiunt. Renova & in solita commovetur animus. . The usualnesse of the one, and the rareness of the other is, though not the only, yet the greatest difference. And as the ordinary works of Creation, in making, so of Providence, in governing the world, are full of wonders, though they pass unobserved, Such Eliphaz takes notice of, in the words following, The disappointing of crafty oppressors and the deliverance of the poor. When God shall destroy Babylon, the Song prepared is, Great and wonderful are thy works; and (Exod. 15. 11.) from whence that is taken, Who is like unto thee, O God Who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders! The wonder was, a deliverance, the wonderful deliverance of his people from Egypt, and through the red Sea. Works of judgement are often called works of wonder (Deut 28. 59) I will make thy plagues wonderful; and Isa. 28. 21. The Lord shall rise up as in Meunt Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, bis strange act: What act was this? An act of judgement upon his, and his people's enemies, as is clear 2 Sa. 5. 20. and Josh. 10. 12. where we may read, what God did in Mount Perazim, and in the valley of Gibeon; strange works indeed. And these works of God are called marvellous, not only, when God is in them alone, and acts without the intervention of the creature, but when he act▪ with the creature, above the strength of a creature, so that little of the creature appears in the act: this also is a marvel. What God doth more by a man, than man can do, whether in strength or wisdom, ordinarily assisted, so much of a wonder shows itself, in what man doth. And therefore no man is ordinarily to attempt any thing beyond his strength, for that is to tempt God, and call him to work a miracle, at least a wonder for us, Lord (saith David, Psal. 131. 1.) Mine heart is not Non mae ex●uli ad ea, quae maeas vires aut ingenium su●eraret. Eleganter Th●odoretus, Meipsum me●●eba●, & quae me excedunt, non aggrossus sum. haughty, nor mine eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me; The word is, in things too wonderful for me; that is, I do not ordinarily put myself upon things which are extraordinary, or beyond my strength and parts. I measure-my undertake and my abilities together, and would keep them even. I do not put God upon doing wonders every day; therefore I set myself to those things, which are according to the line of man. If God call us to it, we may expect a miracle, but we must not call God to work miracles for us, or with us. I do not exercise myself in matters too high for me, Miracles or marvels are not every day's exercise. We ought rather to be above our work, or any of our designs, then below them: but we must be sure they are not above us. It is the safest and holiest way for man, in all his actions to be upon a level. We cannot but displease God and hurt ourselves by clambering: It is but sometimes that the Lord will work wonders to relieve our necessities and help our faith, but he will never (unless in wrath) work wonders to please our humours, or comply with our ambition. Hence observe. First, When we see marvels done; we must acknowledgc the hand of God. Marvels are proper unto God, Psal. 75. 1. In that thy Name is near, thy wondrous works declare: Wondrous works are an argument that God is near: When wonders are among us, we may know, who is among us, and if so, then, this is a time wherein God is seen among us. We may well apply that of the Psalmist to ourselves, Marvellous things hath the Lord done in our sight, in Ireland and in the Fields of England, Psal. 78. 12. Mervails are rare things, things seldom done, or seen. We have things amongst us, which were never done or seen before in our Nation. A Parliament, which cannot be legally dissolved but by its own Vote. An Assembly, where neither Diocesan Bishops nor Dean (as such) can Vote. The three Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, entered into a solemn Covenant, approved by the Assemblies, and authorized by the Parliaments of two Kingdoms. May we not conclude of these in the language of the Prophet, Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Isay. 66. 8 Surely we may say as Moses to Israel (Deut. 4. 34.) Hath God assayed to go and take him a Nation, from the midst of another Nation by temptation, by signs and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord our God doth for us in England, before our eyes. To take a Nation out of the midst of a Nation, is our case. If England finding (as now it doth) her children struggling in her womb, should go inquire of the Lord as Rebecca did; (Gen. 25. 22.) why is it thus? The Lord may answer, as he did to her, Two Nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated frem thee. A Nation fearing God, and a Nation blaspheming God, a Nation seeking Reformation, and a Nation opposing Reformation. Secondly, If God work marvels and we believe him not, hath he not reason to marvel at our unbelief; Christ having wrought miracles to gain the belief of his country men, marvailed at their unbelief, Mark. 6. 2, 6. Unbelief is a great sin at all times, but in a time when marvels are wrought for the cure and healing of it; unbelief is a marvellous sin. Will not Christ, think you, marvel at our unbelief, if we believe not after all these marvels? Ye will not believe (saith Christ, and he rebukes the Jews for it, Joh. 4.) except you see signs and wonders: Surely if they were so charged, because they would not believe, except they saw signs and wonders, how shall they be charged, who will not believe, when they see signs and wonders, especially when God seems to work a wonder a purpose, that they might believe? God loves and prizes the faith of man so highly, that sometimes he bids a miracle for it, rather than go without it. And surely now, as God hath wrought marvels, to abate the marvellous pride of the Adversary, so, to overcome the marvellous unbeleef of his own people: As hath been observed concerning the Lords swearing, As I live I desire not the death of a sinner, etc. O happy man, for whose sake the Lord swears; but O most unhappy, who dost not believe the Lord, when he swears. So, we may say of the Lords-wonder-workings: O happy people for whom the Lord works wonders; but O most unhappy people, who believe not the Lord, when he works wonders. Thirdly, Seeing God works extraordinary things for us, let not us stay in ordinary duties. Let our works have somewhat of a marvel in them too? Let our repentance, and the change of our lives be marvellous; let our zeal & courage for Christ be marvellous; like that of the Apostles, who carried themselves with such heroical magnanimity, in the work of the Gospel; that when the Highpriest and Council (who had convented and threatened them) saw their boldness, They marvelled, saith the text, Acts 4. 13. Let our love and thankfulness be marvellous, let us pray marvellously, and believe marvellously; marvels done by God, should ever work faith in man: And faith in man, doth sometime work marveling in God. Christ speaks with a kind of admiration to the woman of Canaan, O woman great is thy faith, Mat. 15. 28. O that his people in this Nation, would set Him, thus a wondering once more, O England great is the faith in me! O England great is thy love to me! O England, great is thy zeal for me! O England, great is thy repentance, exceeding glorious thy Reformation. I will close this point with this one word. God hath begun to do so many marvels amongst us, that I verily believe, the work he is about, will end in a marvel too: and we in the close shall be made either a wonder of mercy, or a wonder of judgement to all the Nation's round about. The fourth Attribute of the works of God, raises the glory of them all. They are innumerable. He doth marvellous things without number. The Hebrew word for word is; Until there be no number: Without number may be taken three ways. First, Strictly and absolutely, for that which is without number; and thus there is no number innumerable: Things absolutely without number would be infinite; but there cannot be two Infinits: As God is so One, and without number, that he is Infinite; so whatsoever could be so many, that it were without number, would be infinite too. Secondly, Without number, is that which man cannot reckon or cast up the sum of it. (Rev. 7. 9) John speaks of a great multitude, which no man could number: As a small number is said to be such, as a child may write, Isa. 10. 19 So such a multitude as a man cannot write, notes the greatest number. And Heb. 12. 22. there is mention made of an innumerable company of Angels: So God calleth Abraham out, and saith Look now towards Heaven, and tell the Stars, if thou be able to number them, Gen. 12. The Stars are innumerable, that is, beyond man's Arithmetic. Thirdly, Things are said to be without number, or innumerable (in a more common sense) when they are a very great number; and so we find it frequent in Scripture: As that which is very high is said to be as high as heaven: Thus the discouraging Spies, describe the Cities of the Canaanites, to be Cities walled up to Heaven, Deut. 1. 28. And when Seamen or Mariners are tossed upon the waves and billows of the Sea, they are said, to mount up to the Heaven, and to go down again to the depths, Psal. 107. 26. So here a very great number, is said to be innumerable or without number: In this third, and in that second sense, the great works of God are innumerable: God hath done so many marvellous things, as are inpossible for man to reckon. His mighty works are not only beyond the writing of a child, but of the wisest men: The man who numbers most days, cannot number the wonders of God. I shall note but one or two Instructions from this That the works of God are innumerable. First Then, what God hath done, he can do it again a second time, yea a third, a fourth time, ten times, yea ten thousand times over, if our necessity and his good pleasure meet together, for his works are innumerable: Eliphaz speaks not only of what God had done, but of what he can do, yea of what he is a doing; he doth innumerable marvels. Some men can do great things, many have done great things, but they cannot do them without number; even a child may write all that any man can do, and at most it needs but a man to reckon all the great things, which all men have done. The hand of God shortens not in an eternity, but the hand of man shortens every day, sometimes in a day, and therefore he cannot do things innumerable: Man cannot do that to day which he could yesterday, whether we respect his civil abilities, or his natural. As old Barzillai said unto David, 2 Sam. 19 when the King invited him home with him, and offered him all the pleasures of the Court, Can I any more hear the voice of singing men and singing women? or can I any more taste what I eat and what I drink? As if he should say, It is true, Sir, I have known the time when I could have made use of this royal favour, and have taken in the pleasures of your Court; I once delighted in music, and my ear could taste a sweet voice; I once delighted in rich fare, and my pall at could taste meat and drink, but can I any more do thus? my natural strength is gone, my senses cannot renew innumerable acts of pleasure: if grace doth not wean us from the abuse, yet nature will tyre, in the use of worldly comforts. But the civil abilities of man whither sooner than his natural; you may see a man, that hath done great things in a State or Commonwealth; come to him a while after, and he may say, Can I any more do those things? I am not what I was, my power is gone: But come to God, after he hath done this or that, and a thousand great things, he will not say, can I help you any more? can I deliver you any more? can I destroy your enemies, can I discover their plots and counsels any more? yes Lord, as thy works are unsearchable, so they are innumerable, and thou canst do them for evermore. The Lord saith sometime to a people, as he did to Israel (Judg. 10. 13.) in anger, I will deliver you no more? But he never saith to any people out of weakness, I can deliver you no more: Psal. 78. The people provoked God by making a question of this (ver. 20.) Behold (say they) he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed, (we acknowledge that God hath done a marvel) but can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people? surely he cannot do this marvel also: what saith the text? The Lord heard this, and was wroth, so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel: What do you think that I can do but one great thing? that I have but one blessing, but one deliverance, but one wonder? Know that I who smote the rock, can provide you flesh; I who gave you water, can give you bread, I who have discovered one wicked plot of the enemy, can discover all; I who have given you one victory, can give you a thousand; I who have given you one deliverance, can give you innumerable deliverances; Therefore take heed of setting bounds to God, of limiting the Holy one of Israel: Men love not to be limited, but God ought not. We at once provoke and dishonour the Lord by thinking, that our wants can renew, faster than his supplies: or that our innumerable evils, shall not find innumerable good things to balance or remove them, from the hand of God. We weary men, when we come often to them, to do great things for us, yea to come often for small matters, will weary men. But we never weary the Lord by coming often, we weary God, only, when we will not come often. How doth the Prophet, not only complain, but expostulate, because that unbelieving King wearied God (take it with reverence) by not setting him a-work, and that about the hardest and most knotty piece of work, that can be, the working of a miracle, and that as hard a one as himself would ask, either in the depth beneath; or in the height above. Is it a small thing with you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also, Isa. 7. 13. It is no weariness to God to do innumerable miracles for us, but he is weary when we will not believe he can do them. To be disinherited the doing of one, is more laborious to God, then to do a million of Miracles. To conclude this, take heed above all, that you limit not God in works of spiritual mercy; As, to fear, to ask pardon of sin, because ye have asked it often. His great works of forgiveness are as much without number, as any of his works, He multiplies to pardon, saith the Prophet, Isa. 55. 7. And when the people of Israel had committed a new sin, it is admirable to read, by what argument, Moses moves the Lord for pardon. It is not this (as usually with men) Lord this is the first fault, Lord thou hast not been often troubled to sign their pardon: But pardon I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people, as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt until now, Numb. 14. 19 as if he had said, Lord, because thou hast pardoned them so often, therefore I beseech thee pardon them now. It is a most wicked argument to move our hearts to sin, because God will pardon often; but when we have sinned, it is a holy argument to move God to pardon again, because he hath pardoned often before: For he pardons without number. Secondly, Seeing God doth innumerable great things for us, let not us be satisfied in doing a few things at the command, and for the glory of God: Let us continue in acts of holiness, charity, humility, zeal and thankfulness, without number: Let us never stand reckoning our duties, when we hear the mercies of God are beyond reckoning. It is a noble rule in our friendship with men, That courtesies must not be counted: I am sure it is a holy rule in our obedience to God, That duties must not be counted: God, hath no need of any one of our good works, but he will not bear it if we think we have done enough, or can do too many. Let out Amicitia non est reducenda ad ealculos. Obediantia non est reducenda ad calculos. hearts be like the heart of God as he doth great things for us, let us do (in what we are able) great things for God and good things for one another, without number. So much in general of the proof of God's power, by the Greatness etc. of his works. JOB. Chap. 5. Vers. 10, 11, 12. Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields. To set upon high those that be low, that those which mourn, may be exalted to safety. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise, etc. THis Context, from the 9 to the 17. verse, contains the second argument, by which Eliphaz strengthens his exhortation upon Job, to seek unto God. The argument speaks to this effect. He is to be sought; and unto him our cause is to be committed, who is of absolute power, infinite in wisdom and goodness: But such is God; Therefore seek to him, and commit thy cause unto him. That God is of infinite power, wisdom, etc. was proved in general at the 9 verse, by those four adjuncts of his works, Great, unsearchable, marvellous, and without number. And now at the 10. verse he gins his proof, by an enumeration of the particular effects of God's power, wisdom and goodness. The first instance is in natural things; God doth great things and unsearchable, marvellous things without number: And would you know what those things are? You need not go fare to inquire; there are things very near unto us, and very common among us, which yet if they be well looked unto; will advance the power, wisdom and goodness of God; Every shower of rain drops down this truth, that God doth great things; He giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Generale nomen est ad quamcunque plaviam. Non desunt qui pu●ant cognationem habere cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod est humectari. quòd pluvia liquesan●at, humectet & dissolvat dura, Mercer. fields. There is not any difficulty about the meaning of these words which calls for stay in opening of them. Therefore in brief, The Hebrew word for Rain, in out letters (Matar) is so near in sound to our english, water, that some think it a derivative from it. By the Rain, we are to understand, not the showers only which fall from Heaven, but all those blessings and benefits for the support of our naurall life, which are the fruits of rain: He sendeth rain (as it were) on his errand, to bring or carry the blessings of plenty, and to drop fatness on the earth. He giveth rain to the earth, and then the earth giveth her increase. The Rabbins have a saying, that rain is the husband of the earth, because those showers foecundate the earth, and make that great mother of plenty, Imber maritus terrae. fruitful, in bringing forth all things useful and comfortable for the life of man. He giveth rain upon the face of the earth, (so the letter of the Original) that is upon the earth; as the face of Heaven, and the face of the sea, so the face of the earth, is an Hebraisme, for the earth itself. It is said in the latter clause of the verse, that he sendeth waters upon the fields; We must distinguish these waters from the rain, taking them for rivers and streams of water, as the Psalmist speaks, He causeth the rivers to run among the hills; and the Prophet Habaccuk, Thou cleavest the earth with the rivers. The word is of the Dual number it the Hebrew, and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Forma duali significantur aquae duplices, superiores in coelo, ut nubes, & inferiores in terra, ut mare, fon●es & flumina. by some applied to those two sorts of waters: or to the waters above, and to the waters that are beneath; So the waters are distinguished, Psal. 104. v. 3. we read of the upper waters, Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters, who maketh the clouds his chariot; and of the inferior or lower waters, Gen. 1. 9 The Lord said, let the waters under the earth, be gathered into one place: and both are put together, ver. 7. God made the firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament, from the waters that were above the firmament. So that the waters above, and the waters below may both here be understood. It is added further, He sendeth waters upon the fields. The word we traslate [fiolds] signifies any place, that is without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nomen propr●è est, sed juni●tur saepe adverbialiter, pro fortis; & in universun pro loco exteriori. Merc. Deserta, horrida loca & mortali bu inaccessa. doors, as streets and highways; and because fields are without (sub dio) covered only with the canopy of the heavens, therefore we translare, he sendeth waters upon the fields. And it takes in all sorts of fields, whether tilled or untilled: though some conceive that here Eliphaz means, those fields especially which are untilled, unsowne or unmanured: fields where men come not; namely deserts and wildernesses; as if he should say, there is no place but God sends waters to it; Hence the vulgar read, in stead of fields, all places: He moistens all places with waters. Here first, Forasmuch as an instance of God's greatness, power Irrigat aquis universa. Vulg. and insearchable wisdom is given in the rain, a natural thing we may note; That The common blessings of God, are not dispensed without a special providence: Nature works not without the God of nature. He doth great things; and what; He sendeth rain. The whole course of nature moves, as it is turned by the hand of God, and directed by his counsel. It is not in the frame of nature, as in many artificial frames, which being once set up, will stand, or go alone. When the Artificer hath made a clock, and put it in frame, and hung on the weights, let him go whether he will the clock will go; and if there were room for the weights to descend, the clock (continuing in frame) would go perpetually, though no hand helped or touched it: But it is not so, in the frame and workings of natural things; God hath set all creatures in a frame and curiously ordered them, one within another, but there is no motion of the least wheel, much less of the whole fabric, without the special hand of God: when rain comes, God saith go; rain is his gift, not the clouds; the cloud receives a commission from God to distil and dissolve upon man: The most full, spongy clouds Cum plenae sunt nubes effundunt pluviam, non tamen absque Dei jussis. Drus. distil no more than the rock did in the wilderness, till the Lord speaks to them. As, When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the Heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth, Jer. 10. 13. So till he uttereth his voice not one single drop of all that multitude of waters, falls from heaven; nor will those vapours descend and return again to the earth, except he bid them. He giveth rain upon the earth. Raine is the special gift of God. Special, not in that sense as grace is a special gift, for rain is a common gift: but special, because it is that, of which and about which, God takes special notice, as we read, Amos 4. 8. I caused it to rain (saith God) upon one place, or upon one City, and not upon another: There is a special discriminating work about the rain; it raines by appointment, not accident, upon one place, rather than another. And Isa. 5. 6. when God expresses displeasure against his vineyard (he saith) I will command the clouds, that they shall rain upon it: The clouds are as vast bottles full of rain, but they cannot unstop themselves, or let out one drop, until God himself commands them; He melteth the clouds (as it is in Job) and then the rain falleth down. Thou O God didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance when it was weary, Psal. 68 9 How weary or dry soever the Earth is, unless God by a word broach those vessels of rain, the very inheritance of God cannot have a draught, no nor a drop, to quench its thirst. Therefore though rain be a common blessing in respect of all places and persons; yet we ought to acknowledge a special hand in giving it. And this checks that natural Atheism, which reigns in their hearts, who think that they are beholding only to the motion of the winds, or change of the Moon for rain: and hence in times of drought they look most, when the wind will turn, or when the Moon will change. To confute this, the Prophet tells us by the way of question, That as Idols cannot, so neither can the Heavens give rain, Jer. 14. 22. Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? Or can the Heavens give showers? They cannot. Indeed the holy Prophet Elias speaks such language, as if he had carried the keys of the clouds at his girdle, or had been master of the rain, 1 King. 17. 1. As the Lord liveth, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. But the Apostle James shows us what word this was, namely a word of prayer, not of command, Chap. 5. 17. Elias prayed and it reigned not; again he prayed and it reigned, All the power of man cannot prevail with the heavens to rain. but the prayer of faith can prevail with the God of heaven, To send rain was the work of God, though it were at the word of a man. They who deny God in one work will quickly deny him in another. And if we deny him in lesser, yea the least of his works, in a drop of rain, we are in danger to deny him in the greater. And they who deny God in his working, have but an easy step, to the denial of his being. This should teach us to walk in dependence upon God for all natural comforts. He giveth rain. All creatures drink from Heaven, that they may have their eyes and their hearts in Heaven. And if we must walk in dependence upon God for natural comforts, how much more for spiritual; if for the rain of the clouds, how much more for the dews of his Spirit, and the rain of grace upon our hearts? Further observe, It is a great, wonderful and unsearchable work of God to send rain: For we must put the stamp of those four characters upon all these works, And so rain, is a great a wonderful, and an unsearchable work of God: so great and wonderful that (as hath been proved▪) no creature can communicate with God, or share in the honour of this work. The Rabbins have a saying, that upon every (apex or) Tittle of the Law their hangs a mountain of sense and holy Doctrine. We may say, that in every drop of rain there is an ocean of wisdom, of power, of goodness, and of bounty. If we study the ordinary In ea mira Dei in suas creaturas specta●ur benignitas, clemen●iae simul & potentia, undè passim Prophet, & praesertim in hoc lib●o, quandò socij Job, aut Job ipse, admiranda Dei▪ opera▪ pr●ponunt pluviam inter ea, primo lo●o ponunt. Merc. works of God, we shall learn somewhat extraordinary in them; common things are full of wonder, and among all common things, none fuller of wonders then the rain; To illustrate this a little, in some particular considerations. First, There is marvellous power seen, in causing and giving rain. Is it not marvellous power, which raises the vapours and holds (as we may so speak) A sea of water above the earth? That such mighty seas and floods of water hang in the air, and thence are distilled and sprinkled down (as Job speaks) in small drops, are acts and arguments of the wonderful power of God. Secondly, Behold in the rain the wonderful goodness of God: who by this means cools and refreshes, nourishes, and suckles all earthly living creatures. When the ground is enapt and gapes, as it were with open mouth, the Lord opens these bottles and gives it drink. And a miracle of goodness is seen in this forasmuch as when his very enemy's hunger, he thus feeds them, when they are naked he thus clothes them, when they thirst, he thus gives them drink. Mat. 5. 45. He sendeth rain upon the just and upon the unjust: They are maintained in life by the goodness of God, whose lives maintain a continual war against his justice. And as there is a wonder of goodness in giving rain for the use of evil men: So there is a wonder of bounty in sending rain upon those places, which are not of use to any man; he sendeth waters upon the fields, that is, all over the world. Hence when Elihu would set forth the marvellous power and bounty of God, he exemplifies it in this (Job 38. 25.) Who hath divided a water course for the overstowing of waters, to cause it to rain on the earth whereno man is, and on the wilderness, where there is no man? Such an open and bountiful house doth the Lord of Heaven and earth keep, that rather than any shall want, he will (in a sense) let the water run waste, God will not have so much as an herb or a plant to want: though there be no man to come there, yet the grass and shrubs shall have drink, and taste of his bounty. And so legible is that goodness of God, which is written with drops of rain, so wonderful his power and bounty in giving rain, that the Prophet wonders, at the stupidity of those men, who are not convinced of and taught obedience by it. They have not said, let us fear the Lord that giveth the first and the latter rain in his season, (Jer. 5. 24.) As if he should say, what a strange thing is it that sweet showers of rain have not softened the hearts of men, into the fear of God, and made them blossom with and bring forth abundantly the fruits of holiness? Hereupon it is very remarkable, how Moses makes this a motive to persuade the children of Israel to obedience in Canaan, because that country stood in much need of rain, which Egypt, from whence they came, did not, Deut. 11. Therefore shall ye keep all the Commandments, which I command you this day, ver. 8. For the land whither thou goest in to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowest thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, like a garden of herbs. That is Egypt being a flat plain country, all upon a level, when the Land wanted moisture, thou didst not stay for or depend upon the rain, to moisten it, but with thy foot, thou diggedst drains and madest sluices or watercourses, from the river side (meaning Nilus that famous river, which ran quite through Egypt) and that refreshed thy lands and made them fruitful. But (Canaan is another kind of Country, vers. 11, 12.) the Land whether thou goest in to possess it, is a Land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of Heaven. A land which the Lord thy God careth for, his eyes, are upon it, etc. As if he had said, Canaan is not a country capable of being watered by the foot, it is so mountainous and uneven. All the labour of hand or foot, cannot bring the streams upwards, to give thy thirsty land drink, it must drink from heaven, or be burnt up and parched with thirst, and if so, then, that must be the Lords care, his eye must observe▪ when tbou wantest rain, his hand must make watercourses in the heavens, and open the sluices and cataracts of the clouds for thee. And wilt thou not serve this God in duty, who in bounty thus serveth thee, and gives thee such a sensible evidence of his care over thee? The Apostle Paul preaches this to the Gentiles, as Natural Theology, to leave them inexcusable, Though he suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways (in that he gave them not either the light or restraint of grace, yet he did give them light and restraint too in nature) Nevertheless he left not himself, without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven. Acts 14. 17. As if he had said, though ye have not had the rain of the word, yet the rain of the cloud, if such a Preacher of God's power and goodness, as will leave you for ever without excuse. The Lord himself seems to glory in this, as one of the chiefest of his works: (Job 38. 37.) Who can number the clouds in wisdom? Or who can stay the bottles of heaven? I challenge all creatures to a competition with me in this. And again in this book (Ch. 36. 26.) Elihu lifts up the greatness of God in this act of his providence, Behold God is great, and we know him not; (wherein doth he instance his greatness?) it follows, ver. 27. For he maketh small the drops of water, they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof. Read parallel texts, Jer. 10. 13. Psal. 65. 10, 11. Psal. 147. 8. So much of this first work of God, the rain; and of his power, wisdom, goodness, bounty visible and apparent in it. The second instance of God's power and wisdom, etc. is in civil things, both in setting up and pulling down: First, in raising and setting up. To set up on high those that be low, that those which mourn may be exalted to safety. As if he should say will you see another way, wherein God shows himself in his power, wisdom and goodness? It is in looking through the world, for such as are low that he may lift them up: in espying out mourners and weeping eyes, that he may wipe them, and more; exalt them to safety. Some of the Jewish Writers connect this verse with the former; making this as an effect of God's bounty & wonderful work in sending rain. He sendeth rain and showers upon the earth with such plenty of blessings, that by this means, many who were poor, low, mean and sad-hearted, may be set in high estate, and exalted unto safety. And there is a truth in it, God's blessing upon the earth hath exalted many, that were low, to an high estate, to riches and prosperity. But rather, we shall take it in a more general sense; And so Eliphaz in these words seems to comfort Job by giving him a hint, that though his estate was now very low, yet if he would apply himself unto God, as he had advised, ver. 8. By seeking unto and committing his cause to him, as low as he was, he might be set high again; and though he was now a mourner, sitting in dust and ashes, He might be exalted to joy and safety; for in this the power, wisdom and goodness of God are usually put forth and exalted. The words carry an allusion to that custom of Princes and Magistrates, who sit in high places, upon erected thrones. As (1K. 16. 19) it is said of Solomon, that he built him a magnificent throne or chair of state, which had an assent of six steps to it, he sat on high. And the Prophet Isaiah (Chap. 6. ver. 1.) describes the Lord in the same manner, sitting in state, I saw the Lord (saith he) sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. The pride and arrogancy of the Assyrian is thus expressed (Isa. 14. 13.) He hath said in his heart, I will exalt my throne above the stars, I will sit also upon the Mount of the Congregation. So that to sit on high, is as much as to be preferred or advanced, whether we respect honour or riches, dignity or authority. To set on high those that be low. The word may note either those, that are low in their own eyes, or those that are made low by others, active or passive lowness. Grace in our own hearts causes the former lowness, and sinful oppression from the hand of others, causes the latter. The former are humble, the latter are humbled; The Lord sets both these on high. And Those which mourn.] The Hebrew word signifies to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obscurus, obscuritus, luce privatus fuit, nigruit per Metaphoram c●n●ristatus fuit, in tristitia enim fugit splēdor faciei. Sic latinè, Atriti dicuntùr lugentes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, maesti vultus. black, dark, or obscured. And the reason why that word is borrowed to note mourning or sorrow, is, because sorrow causeth blackness, or darkness of habit or countenance; Mourning and blackness usually go together (Jer. 4. 28.) For this cause shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above shall be black. And usually Mourners go in black, it is the die and dress of Mourners. As white is the colour of joy, Let thy garments be always white, saith the Preacher to him, that is to eat his bread with joy, Eccles. 8. 8. Yea the very beauty of the face is obscured, the light of the countenance shadowed or clouded with tears and sorrow. Hence the Seventy render it, They whose faces are sad or sour. It is the word used, Mat. 6. 16. When ye fast be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance; It implies an affected, studied sadness, severity, austerity, grimness, ghastliness, unpleasantness of countenance, proceeding from art, rather than from nature, much less from grace, as the words following imply; for they disfigure, vitiate or discolour their faces, corrupt or abolish their native complexion, so as it appears not, what it is, that they may appear, what they are not. Hypocrisy can paint the face with black, as well or rather worse than pride with red and white; and so doth real sorrow sometimes, whether for sin or outward affliction. True passion in the heart, will dim the brightness and stain the beauty of the face. These Mourners shall be exalted to safety.] The word which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in lo●●●ub●●mi sterit exal●a●us, adeò ut ab hostibus pertingi nequeat. Per Metaphorem, ta●us, in expugnabilis. Hinc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●u●●is. Olim munitiones extrueb●ntur in locis editioribus in montibus prae uptis & inaccessis, ut latinê, arx ab hoste arcendo dicto est. we translate Exalted, signifies to set in a high place, and in a place so high that a man so placed, is beyond the reach of danger or the power of an adversary; it is to be set upon a place impregnable; Hence the word is used for a Fort, Tower, or Castle, because forts and Towers, being places of defence, were for the most part built upon some high place, upon some rock or precipice (Prov. 18. 10.) The name of the Lord is a strong Tower; That is, we are as safe under his protection, as in a strong Tower founded on the steepest rock. And the Prophet describing the safety of him who walks uprightly, gives it in this word; The place of defence shall be the munition of Rocks, Isa. 33. 16. So Jer. 48. 1. Misgab is confounded and dismayed; That is, the high place or Castle of defence is dismayed, That word which is common to all places of safety, being supposed by our translators, as the proper name of some one place of more eminent safety. Further although this word (Exalted) implies safety, yet in the Original, we have two words, They are exalted to safety. He that is exalted (according to the sense of that word) is safe: But to show the completeness of their safety, safety or salvation is expressed. He is exalted to safety with salvation, or he is safely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Endyadis. exalted in safety. It is a full and a perfect safety, to which God exalts his mourners and oppressed servants. They are as safe as salvation itself can make them. That's the force of the Hebraisme. From the former clause of the verse, we may observe. First, That advancement is the gift of God. He setteth on high those that are low, Psal. 75. 6, 7. Promotion cometh neither from the East, nor from the West, nor from the South (neither this way nor that way, nor any way of man) but God putteth down one and setteth up another. When a man is advanced by the favour of a Prince, it is God that setteth him up. If a man be advanced by the vote of the people, yet it is God that setteth him up. Though a man be advanced by that, which may seem to have most contingency in it, by a lot, yet it is God that setteth him up, Prov. 16. 33. The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. The Lord gives special direction to man's peradventure, and certainly determines, what we call contingent. Secondly, observe; They that are low and mourning, are nearest to exaltation and safety. To be very low, it is to be (as it were) in a due posture and readiness to be exalted very high; He setteth the low on high (Luk. 1. 51.) He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek; or, hath exalted the lowly and the meek. We are not to understand it only of those, who are low, that is, lowly in mind (that frame of heart which is wrought above in the highest heavens (is in this sense) lowest upon the earth) but we may understand it likewise of those, who are low in their estates; (many that are low in mind, may be high in place; a man may have abundance of humility in the height of outward eminency) Therefore (I say) we must take in both; Before honour goes humility, as a high mind before a fall, Prov. 15. 33. And (Psal. 113. 6, 7.) He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and listeth the needy out of the dunghill, that he may set him with Princes, etc. And as it is in reference to particular persons, so to the Church and people of God in general; when they are low, then look for their raising up. The Scripture is frequent in this, Deut. 32. 36. Psal. 12. 6. Psal. 102. 13. And in that notable place, Isa. 33. 9, 10. The Ambassadors of peace weep bitterly, the earth mourneth, and Lebanon languisheth, and Carmel shakes off her fruit, etc. All places, every creature is brought in, mourning with that mourning people. When it was thus with them, Now will I arise, (saith the Lord) now will I be exalted, now will I lift up myself. There are three News for it, to note That the special Now of their exaltation. But the text saith, God would then be exalted. Was he brought low? God is always alike exalted in himself, but he is not always alike exalted in his people; therefore when he saith, now will I be exalted, the meaning is, I will exalt this people who are low, that my name may be exalted and lifted up in the sight of all people. Therefore our low estate should be so fare from sinking, that it should lift up our faith in believing deliverance and exaltation. A low estate, is a great advantage for faith; faith hath surest footing when we lie prostrate upon the ground: There faith stands firmest, because there faith meets with most promises; Promises are the foundation of faith. The people of God have never so much of the word about them, as when they have least of the world about them. The covenant sits closest to us, when we are divested of the creature. When the river is at the lowest ebb, we are sure the tide is coming in: The night is darkest a little before day breaks: When the days are shortest, and the winter sharpest, than the spring of mercy is at hand. As the highest flourish of ungodly ones, is the immediate forerunner of their downfall (Psal. 92. 7.) When the wicked spring as the grass, what then? would you know the meaning of it? The next words are a comment upon the former: It is, that they shall be destroyed for ever; So, the lowest downfall of the godly, is usually the immediate forerunner of their advancement. When the godly whither as the grass, the interpretation of it is, That they shall flourish for ever. Observe in the third place, from that word, exalted to safety That God can set his people on high, beyond the reach of all their enemies. Beyond the reach of their heads or counsels, and beyond the reach of their hands and swords; Isa. 33. 16. The munitions of rocks shall be their place of defence: He setteth them on high, that no ladders can be found long enough to scale these rocks, nor any Artillery or engine, strong enough to batter them down; And lest any should say, but we will hold the siege, till we starve them out; it follows in the text Bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure. I remember a story in Alexander's wars, that when he came to besiege the Sogdians, a people who dwelled upon a rock, or had the literal munition of rocks for their defence, they jeered him, and asked him whether his Soldiers had wings or no? Unless your Soldiers can fly in the air, we fear you not. It is a most certain truth, when God exalts a people, he can set them upon a rock, so high, that unless their adversaries have wings, and those more than Eagles wings, to soar higher than God himself, they are beyond annoyance. He carries his own upon eagle's wings, what wings then must they have, who get above his people? There are these two things, about which the thoughts of men are most conversant. The one is, to be set on high; the other is, to be set in safety. They both meet in the mercy here promised; He setteth on high those that are low, that's their honour; He exalts them to safety, that's their comfort. The first thoughts of men are spent to get a great estate, but their next thoughts are to keep and protect it. Experience hath often showed us the men of the world, rolling riches and Titles together into a mountain, but it hath been a mountain of snow, one hot day hath melted all down. The mountain of outward blessings, upon which God raiseth his people, shall be (if he pleases) like a mountain of Adamant, which cannot be melted, or like mount Zion, which cannot be removed. A high place is seldom a safe place: All high things are tottering, N●tare solent excelsa omnia. and the more high, the more tottering. Then how unsearchable is the wisdom, how great the power of God, who can set his people very high, and yet very safe? who can make a man stand as firm and steady upon the highest pinnacle of honour, as upon a level ground, or in a valley of the lowest estate and condition. He exalts to safety. And hence we may draw down a difference between God's exaltation of his own people, and the exaltation of his enemies and wicked ones. Wicked men are oft times exalted, and God exalts them, though they know it not: but how? He exalts them to a high place, but doth exalt them to a safe place? No, the Psalmist, after a long temptation, concludes, Thou hast set them in slippery places, thou castest them down into destruction; how are they brought into desolation, as in a mement, Psal. 73. 18, 19 Haman was exalted high, but not in safety: Many are exalted, as Jezabel exalted Naboth, high among the people; but it was to stone him, rather than to honour him. It is said of Pharaoh, he lifted up the head of his chief Baker, he lifted up his head out of prison indeed, but he lifted up his head to the gallows also; he lifted him out of prison, but it was unto his death. Such is the lifting up of wicked men, they may be set on high, but they are never set in safety. How many have we seen suddenly advanced, and as suddenly depressed? We are never safe, but where God sets us, or while God holds us in his hand. Fourthly observe; It is a wonder, a wonderful work of God, to exalt those that are low, and set mourners in safety. The 107 Psalm, is a Psalm, recounting the wonderful works of God; O that men would praise the Lord for his wonderful works! is the burden of that holy song. And all those wonders conclude in this, ver. 39 40. Again, they are minished and brought low, through oppression, affliction, and sorrow: what then? He poureth contempt upon Princes, etc. yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock. How wonderful is this, that the Lord will give Kings for the ransom of his people, and to raise his poor, will pour contempt upon Princes? The highest must downe, rather than his low ones shall not be set on high. There are four things, which increase this wonder, and make it exceeding wonderful. First, These poor have no strength, (Deut. 32. 36.) He sees that their strength is gone. Secondly, Many times they have no hope, no faith, When the Son of Man comes, shall he find (among low ones) faith (this faith to be exalted) upon the earth, Luk. 18. 8. Thirdly, They have many enemies, subtle enemies, powerful enemies, confident enemies, enemies (above hope) arrived at assurance, that they shall keep poor ones at an under for ever. Lord (saith David) how many are they that trouble me? So many they were, that he could not tell how many. Fourthly, They are supposed to have no friends, none to appear for them. Let us persecute and take him (say they) for there is Psal. 71. 11. none to deliver him. Not a man, no nor God, as they conclude, They say of my soul, there is no help for him in his God. I need not say, it is a wonder to exalt a people, upon all these disadvantages: The fact speaks; should you see a man trod upon the ground, and many there holding him down, one by the arm, another by the leg, a third laying a great weight upon his breast, were it not a wonder to see this man rise up, and rescue himself from them all? Thus it is with the Church and servants of God, when they are low, all the world is upon their backs; the world of wicked ones hang about them, one with his power, another with his policy, all with their utmost endeavours to hold them down; yet the Lord sets them on high, who were thus low, and exalts them to safety, who were thus in danger. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare his wonderful works to the children of men. And this is further cleared in the 12th verse, He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hand cannot perform their enterprise. As if Eliphaz should say, would you know, how God exalteth his people, and setteth them in safety? 'Tis true, they have many enemies many that plot and devise evil against them, but the Lord breaks their plots, he out-plots them; He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, etc. And as this is a proof of the former, so it is a further instance of God's wonderful works. The first was in natural things, sending rain; The second and third were in civil things, first, exalting his own people; and secondly, in defeating the policies and power of their adversaries: so then, this twelfth verse, may be taken either as it hath reference to the former, or as a further instance of God's wisdom and power. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty.] Or, he defeateth the purposes of the subtle (so Mr Broughton readeth it) that their hands can bring nothing sound to pass. The Apostle in 1 Cor. 3. 19 sets the holy stamp of divine authority, upon this whole book, by quoting this or the next verse, as a proof of his doctrine; For it is written (saith he) He takes the crafty in their own counsel; He disappoints the devices of the crafty (saith Eliphaz) and, He takes the wise in their own craftiness. He disappointeth.] The word signifies to break, to break a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fractus contritus. thing to pieces: and by a metaphor to disappoint or to defeat, because if an engine or instrument, with which a man intends to work, be broken, he is disappointed of his purpose and cannot go 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Confregit, dissipavit. Metaphoricè irritum fecit Latinè potest reddi●abrogari. on with his work: So here, He breaks the devices of the crafty, the crafty frame very curious engines and instruments, they lay fine plots and projects, but the Lord breaks them, and then they are defeated or disappointed. The word is often used for breaking or making void the law, as Psal. 119. 126. Ezra 9 13 because wicked men, as much as in them lies, would defeat and disappoint the holy purpose & design of God, in giving those laws. They would repeal & abrogate the laws of God, that they might enact their own lusts. They would do that by the will of God, which the Lord doth with their wills, Null and disappoint it. The devices.] The word which we translate, devices, signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cogitavit, excogitavit, denotat opus ingeniosum, inventum artificium, quia artificium fit p●r cogitationem. not barely cogitation or thinking, but excogitation, or studied thinking; not only a natural thought, but an artificial thought, or thoughts made up and form after long debate of a business in our own breasts: This is properly expressed, by devising. Those pools of water in the 7 ●h Cant. ver. 4. are called from this word, The pools in Heshbon; some take Heshbon for a City. (Numb. 21. 26.) and so it notes the place where those pools were: Others translate it thus, * Aisworth on the Cant. Pools artificially made; And we may observe much skill and curiosity used, in making pools or water-works. So (Exod. 28. 8.) the holy girdle which was made for the high-Priest, is called, a curious girdle; it is from the same root; because that girdle was made of cunning work, and exquisite embroideries. So that, this word notes, the very spirits and quintessence of sinful wit, drawn out for the devising of evil. In the 119. Psalm. vers. 29. David useth this word, to show the accurateness, and holy curiosity which he used in surveighing his own life. I thought on my ways, that is, I studied myself and my works, with greatest exactness, to find out every error or failing, or to frame my ways to a hair's breadth (if it were possible) according to rule; which answers the Apostles phrase, Ephes. 5. of walking circumspectly or exactly. Grace will vie it with sinful craft, for exactness, that will make as curious works or devices in holiness, as the other can in wickedness. Of the crafty. Here the workmen are described as well as their work; their works are devices, and the workmen are crafty. As the man is, so is his employment; we are in working as we are in being. Devices are the proper trade of crafty ones. The Original word, sometimes imports holy wisdom; and sometimes corrupt and sinful wisdom: We read it in a good sense (Prov. 1. 4.) and (Prov. 22. 3.) The prudent man (a man that hath holy craft and skill in him) foresees the plague, and hideth himself; Again, Prov. 8. 12. I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. But usually the word is taken in an ill sense, for subtle and sinful craft, for craftiness and subtlety to do mischief; therefore the vulgar translates it, He disappointeth the devices of the Malignants; noting, that it is not an honest craft, but a malignant craft, by which the counsels and devices of these men are contrived or acted: (Psal. 83. 3.) that word is used, They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones: And Gen. 3. 1. Now the Serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field; The word properly signifies to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nadus, significat etiam involutum vas●um, cuju● in animo plures sunt flexiones, & diverticula naked; and by a metaphor, to be subtle, fly, crafty, nimble; because men, who (as tumblers, racers, ropedancers) are to do a thing nimbly and speedily, subtly and slily, often stripped themselves of all, but will never cumber themselves with many . We know, that craft always puts a cloak or veil upon actions, and walks in a disguise: yet because the crafty man is so nimble to turn and wind, and vary himself a thousand ways, both for the plotting and acting of his designs, therefore he is elegantly named, from nakedness. Hence also in the Greek language * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exer●eo, unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Locus ubi nudi se exercebantur nanc sumitur pro ludo literatio ubi ingenia litteris d●scendis exercentur, Nudi s●nt agilio●es; & m●●us praepediti. , the word which signifies nimble acting or exercising the mind or body, as also places and Schools where those exercises were performed and taught, is derived from nakedness, or from being naked: And it is observable, that our first parents Adam and Eve, before they sinned, are called (Gen. 2. 25.) naked; And the serpent in the very next verse, (being the first of the third chapter) is called subtle, by one and the same word. Our first parents were naked outwardly (innocency needed none, and glory shall need no clothing) they were also (in opposition to evil) naked inwardly; they were simple, plaine-hearted, without any cloak of malice or wickedness. But the serpent's nakedness, notes only a fitness, slyness, readiness or activeness to do evil: For he was double clothed with craft, cloaked and hooded with subtleties, to act mischief unseen. The naked-crafty ones of the text, are the seed of the serpent, his children, and therefore they bear their father's name The Chaldee paraphrast tells us, that the crafty ones here meant by Eliphaz, were especially the Egyptians, who when they would oppress the people of God, said, Come on, let us deal wisely with Intell●git cogitationes Egyptiorum, qui sapiemes f●er●nt ad malefaciendum Isaeli. ●ac. them, lest they multiply, Exod. 1. 10. A crafty man, is one, who hath not always more understanding then his neighbour but ever less conscience: Yea, how great soever his wit is, his conscience is so little, that it never stands in his light, whatsoever he is doing. He takes measure of his actions, not by what he ought to do, but by what he would have done; and yet, he can seldom do what he would, for the Lord disappoints the devices of the crafty so, that as it follows in the text, Their hands cannot perform their enterprise To every business, two things are required, Invention and Action; or the electing of Means, and the pursuing of the End: The former is Head-work, the latter is Hand work. The hands are the instruments of action, as the head is the instrument of invention and consultation. These crafty heads were at work before, now their hands go to it: What they devise craftily, they would act industriously; but they cannot, Their hands cannot perform their enterprise. The word which we translate Enterprise, signifies Being, as also reason, wisdom, and virtue; because wisdom, virtue and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a●radi●e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Denotat essentiam, rationem sapientiam, vi●tuiem semper permanentem alijs rebus in mundo transeuntibus. Hinc significat, omne quod cum inteplectu & ratione sic; & hic specialiter proeo, quod qula sibi statuit ut faciat quo fineē optatum assequatur, etiam in malum. Mer. reason, are as it were, the being, stability & permanency of things; And therefore as in the Hebrew, this word signifying wisdom & virtue, is derived from a root, which notes Being. So the word signifying wickedness and folly, is derived from a root (as some Critics observe) which notes only a negative, or a not Being of any thing: because wickedness is nothing, or it is good for nothing: Those things which want wisdom and reason, are as if they were not, and shortly will not be at all. Hence some render the words thus; Their hands cannot perform their wisdom, that is, they cannot bring to pass that enterprise, which they had determined and laid (as themselves conceived) with so much wisdom and strength of reason. Mr Broughton to the same sense: Their hands brings nothing sound to pass. And the Chaldee exemplifies it in the Egyptians before mentioned, who as the holy story informs us, could not effect, that which they had consulted with those depths of policy; and principles of sinful wisdom, The destruction of the children of Israel. Here than we may observe. First, That The wisdom of natural men is nothing but craft or wit to do wickedly. The Prophet Jeremy gives us this character of them, They are wise to do evil (Jer. 4. 22.) And to be wise to do evil is very ill wisdom, the worst wisdom, indeed mere folly; better be a fool, than to be but so wise: And these have it from their father, it dwells and is derived in their blood, They are the seed of the Serpent (as was touched before) and his subtlety was made the instrument of the greatest evil, the tainting of that first created innocence▪ and the overthrow of man: Now they are called the serpent's seed, because they are like the Serpent; the Serpent was the subtlest of all the beasts of the field, and these (as Christ speaks of the men of the world) are wiser in their generation than the children of light; yet is but in their generation, and their wisdom lasteth but for their generation, if it last so long: Elymas (Acts 13. 10.) being charged to be full of all subtlety and mischief, is called at the next word, child of the Devil. Subtle to do mischief, is the Genius or disposition of the Devils children; and they shall have the serpents, the Devil's portion: For as the serpent, who was once the subtlest of all the beast of the field (applying his subtlety to mischief) became the most cursed of of all the beasts of the field; so they who are thus the subtlest among the children of men, shall be the most cursed of all the children of men, Jer. 18. 18. we find crafty men in consultation, and under a curse. Come (say they) let us devise a device against Jeremiah, and let us smite him with the tongue; Let us devise devices, it is the same word in the text, but doubled for greater emphasis: These were their craftimasters; To devise devices, notes more than ordinary skill in that black art; as to work a work (Joh. 6. 28.) notes great industry and intention of the mind in working. Some play their works rather than work their works. I must work the works of him that sent me, saith our Lord Christ, Joh. 9 4. None ever laboured as Christ laboured, therefore his was working a work. As (I say) to work a work, notes great industry in working; so to devise a device, implies much cunning and skill laid out in devising. Now as these men would be witty above others in devising evil, so they are cursed above others in bearing evil. The Prophet gives them their load, ver. 21, 22. Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword, and let their wives be bereft, etc. And it is most just, that they should be deepest in the curse, who are deepest in such craft; for the truth is, that, Every sinful act, the more skill there is in it, the more sin there is in it; it is best to be a dullhead, a very bungler in doing mischief. Wit commends and sets off other things, bue it makes sin the more sinful and deformed. Secondly observe; That Satan makes use of subtle, crafty men, and abuseth their parts for his own purposes. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty. God never disappointeth those, whom he sets a-work: If God disappoints the devices of men, these devices were not of God; Satan sets those a-work, whose work God spoils. The Lord loves to break Satan's engines, tools and instruments. Christ came to destroy the works of the Devil, both his works within us, and his works against us. All Satan's works and workmen shall rue it, when Christ pleases. And here we see whom Satan sets a-work, even men of the finest wits, of the most reaching brains, of the decepest judgements and richest endowments: these he draweth in to his pay, and makes serviceable for his ends; that's Satan's design; such as are amongst men, as the serpent amongst the beasts, the most subtle of all, these Satan makes use of: The deep policy of an Achitophel, the Great Oracle of his times for counsel, he desires to improve against a David; The high parts and learning of a Julian, he desires to improve and boil up against the Christians; such a one will not only Fire and sword, but set hard to jeer and wit them out of the profession of the Gospel. And it is observable, that the seeds of the greatest heresies and errors, that ever poisoned the spirit of man, or vexed the Church of God, have been sown in that rank soil, the wits of Philosophers. Which gave Tertullian occasion to call Philosophers, The Philosophi haereticorum Patriarchae. Tert. Patriarches of Heretics, or The Patrons of Heresies; They were men of high conceits and apprehensions, and in those fertile and rich grounds, Satan with great success cast the tares of error. When Christ came into the world, he had most opposition among the crafty Scribes and Pharisees; And Herod the Fox (as Christ himself calls him for his subtlety) was a notorious instrument of Satan, to hinder the receiving of Christ. Our Lord Christ sometimes chooseth the simplest the meanest the plainest men, fishermen to do his work. But Satan chooseth the subtlest he can find in learned Throngs, to send of his errand. The reason of this difference between Christ's choice and Satan's, is; Satan cannot make a Mercury out of every block, he is not able to give a man understanding, wisdom or abilities for his work: neither can he increase or improve any man's parts and gifts: he must have instruments ready to his hand, he can but put them forward and tempt them on. He will give such as are strong and crafty, many motives to serve him, but he cannot furnish them with strength or craft to serve him. But Christ can give gifts to men, which they have not, and raise the parts, which they have. He can make himself a Mercury, a messenger out of any block. Christ can send a fool of his errand, and cause him to do it wisely; He can cause the stammering tongue to speak plain, and the plainest man to speak the highest Rhetoric. When a Moses complains of a slow tongue, he can say, I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say, Exod. 4. 12. If he finds us not fit to do his business, he can make us fit. If Christ please, he can make a man master of his trade, before, or as soon as ever he is a servant to it. Thus, without the wisdom of the world, Christ overcomes the wisdom of the world; And by the foolishness of preaching (as men count foolishness) saveth those that believe (1 Cor. 1. 21.) the foolishness of God is wiser than man, That is, those instruments which Christ impioyes, how foolish soever men account them, shall foil all the wisdom of man. Therefore let no man boast of his natural parts, unless they be spiriualized, and resigned up (for such Christ commonly uses, though he can make use of others) to the service of Christ. Consider to whom you are instrumental, with your parts and knowledge. All wit out of Christ's work, degenerates into craft, and wisdom into wickedness. It is Satan's work to solicit the learning of men (even as an Adulterer solicits the beauty of women) that he may commit folly with it, and beget some monstruous birth of mischief and villainy. For, when such appear on Satan's side, they are a great credit to his cause, and by the reputation of their learning and parts draw others to it. Do ye not see (will he suggest to inferior ones) such and such wise, learned men, go this way; such learned Divines, such learned Lawyers, such deep Politicians, and do you scruple? And how many have been caught in this sna●e, and led aside by the noise of their abilities, whom Satan abuseth to his own side; what? such wise men, such learned men, think thus, and do you simple ones stand off? Hath he not reason then to say of wise men, (as it was once said of one) Seeing ye are such, I wish you Cum talis sis, utinam noster esses. Habeo Themistoclem Atheniensem. would come over to me: and to brag of them, as much as ever that Persian Monarch did of Themistocles, whose revolting to him, from the Grecians transported him so, that he broke suddenly out of his sleep with these words, I have Themistocles the Athenian. I remember what Augustine observes (it is a very remarkable passage) in an Epistle unto a young noble man of great learning, who it seems had been sometimes his Scholar. Augustine having received from him a Poem or copy of accurate verses (but Augustinus ep. 39 ad Licentium Juvenem nobilem & doctum Da Domino meo te qui tibi illud donarit ingenium etc. Accepisti a Deo ingenium spiritualiter aureum, & ministras inde ●ibidi●ibus & in illo Satan● pro●in●s teipsum? Ornari abs te diabolus qua●it. perceiving that he abused his wit to wantonness or useless curiosity) returns him answer to this effect. I have read this Poem, and I know not with what verses, or with what lamentation to mourn over it; because I see an excellent wit sparkling in every line, but such an one, as I cannot dedicate unto God. A little after he thus exhorts him, Give thyself unto my Lord, who hath given thee this excellent wit; If thou hadst found a golden Cup, what wouldst thou have done with it? Wouldst thou not have given it to some good public use? God hath given thee a golden wit, Thy understanding is a golden Cup, and wilt thou let thy lusts drink out of it, or wilt thou drink thyself to the devil in it? I tell thee thus much the devil would feign make thy wit his ornament, and thy parts, the oredit of his Court and Cause. Satan serves himself of the best wits, and his is the worst service of wit. Such shall be paid at last with crying. We fools. Of all fools the knowing; wise fools, will be in the saddest condition: Observe thirdly, The crafty are full of hopes, that their devises will succeed, and full of trouble, because they succeed not. Otherwise it could not be said, that God disappointeth the devises of the crafty; Disappointment implies expectation; And it is no afflicting affliction to miss of that, which we never looked for. These thought all sure. These doubted not to over-wit and overpower all, at last. This brought them somewhat beyond hope, even to the borders of assurance at least it so endeared them their hopes, that they would rather hazard their souls, than lose their plots, they were burdened to be delivered. Having conceived mischief, they were in travel with iniquity Psal. 7. 14. As the Lord suffers his own people to fear much, that when deliverance comes, their joy may be full: so, he suffers wicked men to hope much, that their sorrows may be full, when they cannot be delivered. A woman forgets the pains of her travel, for joy that a man child is borne into the world; And these men shall remember the pains of their travel, for sorrow that a monster (such are their designs) is not borne into the world. That their mischief comes not (in their sense) to light, leaves them in desperate darkness. Fourthly observe, What such plot and devise, they labour to act and effect; Their hands cannot perform their enterprise; which intimates, that they put their hands to the work, as well as their heads; as soon as they have laid their plot, they fall to acting. We should in this imitate our enemies, not to stand devising and consulting, this is a good way, and tother's a good way, and then do neither; or then sit still and moulder away in expectation; love to, and zeal for Christ, and his truth, should render us as full of action, as of invention, of execution as of design. Fifthly, though they did attempt it with their hands, yet they could not effect it with their hands, Their hands did not perform their enterprise. Hence note, That Crafty men may devise strongly, but they have not strength sufficient to accomplish their devices. The Pharisees after all their confederacies against Christ were forced (without any rack, but that of their own consciences) to make this confession, Joh. 12. 19 Perceive ye how we prevail nothing. At this day, they have many fine devices and Ideas ready framed in their heads, but the hand shakes, They cannot perform their enterprise. They want not counsel, nor craft, nor skill▪ nor will, nor desires, nor endeavours, only they want God with them. Hence it is, that though they gather very proper materials, and lay very strong foundations, yet they cannot rear up their building. And in the issue (Luk. 14. 29.) All that behold it shall mock, saying, These men began to build, and were not able to finish; It is the main work of God to stop evil men in their works: what they would do, he saith they shall not, and what they would not do he saith they shall. Pharaoh devised a devise against the children of Israel, but his hands could not perform his enterprise, Haman devised a devise against the Jews, but his hands could not perform his enterprise. Achitophel gave crafty counsel against David, but his hands could not perform his enterprise. Herod the Fox plotted against Christ, to hinder the course of his Ministry and Mediatorship, but he could not perform his enterprise; 'Tis so all along▪ therefore (Psal. 2. 1.) it is said, Why do the Heathen imagine a vain thing; a vain thing, because a thing successelesse, their hands could not perform it, It was vain, not only, because there was not true ground of reason, why they should imagine or do such a thing, but vain also, because they laboured in vain, they could not do it. And therefore it follows, v. 4. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord hath them in derision. The Lord sees what fools they are, and men (yea themselves) shall see it. The Prophet gives us an elegant description to this purpose (Isa. 59 9) They wove the spider's web, but their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works. As if he had said, they have been devising and setting things in a goodly frame to catch flies, they have been spinning a fine thread, out of their brains, as the Spider doth out of her bowels, such is their web; but when they have this web, They cannot cut it out, or make it up into a garment. They shall go naked and cold, notwithstanding all their spinning and weaving, all their plotting and devising. The next broom that comes will sweep away all their webs, and the Spiders too, except they creep apace. God loves and delights to cross worldly proverbs and worldly crase. How many visible demonstrations have we of this in our times! How many cunning, but ruining devices, lie by the walls at this day unacted! They went through the Head-worke, but they could not get through their Hand-worke. We may say as in the Psalm (76. 5.) None of the men of might have found their hands: The men of craft sound their heads, but the men of might (blessed be God) have not yet found their hands, to execute up to the height of the divisers, either, wit or malice. In this we see the glorious prerogative of God. How many thousand, thousand, thousand thoughts do men lose. The thoughts of many years are lost in a moment. God never lost, nor never shall lose one thought. And therefore David puts these two together in a breath. Having said (Psal. 33. 10) The Lord bringeth the counsel of the Heathen to nought, he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. In the next verse, he subjoins, The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all Generations. And as the counsel of the Lord stands so he causeth the counsel of those to stand, who consult for him. He confirmeth the word of his servants, and performeth the counsel of his Messengers, Isa. 44. 26. So that their hands shall perform their enterprise, as the Lord encourageth the ancient people (Zac. 4. 9) The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, his hands shall also finish it: And again, Chap. 8. 13. Fear not, let your hands be strong. As if he had said, Fear not, go on with your work; For your hands shall perform their enterprise, you shall not beaten from your work, neither shall ye work in vain. The Lord himself hath no barren counsels, and he makes all the counsels which are for him, bring forth in their due time, desired fruit, the longed for and beloved issue. Lastly, observe; That It is a great and wonderful work of God, to disappoint the devices, and stop the enterprises of crafty men, Eliphaz puts this among the wonders of God. This is reported in a way of admiration concerning God (Isa. 44. 25.) He frustrateth the tokens of the liars and maketh diviners mad, he turneth wise men backwards, and maketh their knowledge foolish. The wisdom of God is most seen, in defeating the wise, as the power of God is most seen, in overthrowing the strong. While we consider that Theirs are secret devices, and that they are subtle devices, that they have many devices, and that they have many ways to bring these devices to pass, it cannot fall below a wonder in our thoughts, that their thoughts, or devices are not accomplished. Therefore the Psalmist concludes (Psal. 124.) Unless it had been the Lord, who was on our side, etc. we had been swallowed up quick and taken in their snare. As if he had said, if we should have had any less than God, to help us, we had been gone, all the world could not save us. To pass through a place full of gins and snares and pits set and made on purpose, to take a man, and that man not taken, is marvellous in our eyes. Thus it is with the people of God, they walk among snares and traps; The trade of most wicked men, is to be Trap-makers, Snare makers, if not Sword makers against the Saints of the most high. They meet with devices upon devices, and plots upon plots; now, that God shall disappoint all these, and exalt his people to safety in the very face of death and dangers, how admirable! But some may object; Yet we see that, at least some of these plots are not disappointed, at least some of these devices take, and we have seen bloody hands performing their enterprise. I answer, in a word; First, this text and the observation bottomed upon it, are to be understood of what is often done, not strictly of what is always done. The Lord very frequently disappoints the devices of the crafty. But secondly, their very success is a disappointment, and their prosperity is their curse. For their cause is under a curse, and so are their persons, when both seem most successful. If outward judgements slay not wicked men, Their prosperity shall, Pro. 1. 32. Thirdly, all the success, which the devices of wicked crafty ones have, tends to the fulfilling of God's counsels, more than their own: So that, though it be to the eye, or in the letter, success to them, yet in truth, and upon the matter, it is success to the cause of God, Craft prevails no further, & no longer on earth, then serves to accomplish the counsels of heaven, and fulfil what infinite wisdom hath devised. Therefore when you see any devices of the crafty thrive, know, that God is serving himself upon them, and that they are but acting, What his hand and counsel hath determined before to be done, Act. 4 28. As Christ himself overcame by dying, so do they who are Christ's, they have success in all their disappointments; and these are disappointed in all their successes, and die while they overcome. No sinful device of man ever did, or ever shall prevail, beyond a contribution to the just and holy purpose of God. All their prevailings are disappointments, who intentionally oppose, though they really accomplish the good pleasure and purpose of God. JOB Chap. 5. Vers. 13, 14, 15. 16. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness; and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. They meet with darkness in the day time; and grope in the noon day as in the night. But he saveth the poor from the Sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth. IN these four verses Eliphaz proceeds in, & finishes the former argument, by a further & fuller clearing of the power and wisdom of God, in catching and over-matching crafty ones, in their ways and counsels. Having showed before (in the 12th verse) that their devices are disappointed, he showeth now, that they are entangled in their devices. There, we say they could not perform their enterprises; and here we shall see them ruined in their enterprises. It is a sore trouble to ungodly men, when they cannot do the mischief; which they intent to others; but is a far sorer trouble, when their counsels recoil, and when their own projects promote their own ruin: when their own actions effect that, which they had rather die, then see done, when that mischief falleth upon their own heads, which they intended others; That's their calamity in this text. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. These wise men, are no better than the crafty, before mentioned, for we see their wisdom is but craftiness. We had the Crafty in the former verse; and here we have their craft or craftiness. The Apostle in 1 Cor. 3. 19 quotes this text of Eliphaz; The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. The Greek word there used hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, quasi di●as, ad quodlibet opus promptus, qui dexteritate ingenij valet ad quodlibet agendum. somewhat more in it, than the Hebrew word, opened at the 12 v. For it notes a fitness for all purposes, a dexterity to serve any turn be it never so sinister or evil. Such a man can be on any side, and is for any purpose, you will turn him to. A godly man hath but one work, and he can do but one work, that is, one work in kind, Every work he doth (as a godly man) hath a stamp of goodness, or godliesse, of holiness, or justice upon it. But these crafty ones are for any work, for various works, you may turn them lose to any service; they are ready to do good for a need, to serve their own ends, and they will not stick at any evil, for their own ends. Their bias is not within them, but upon them, and they can clap it to which side they please, or may be most pleasing to, or taking with others; yet this Turncoat Crastines shall not serve their turn; For saith the text, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. The word which we translate [He taketh] is very significant. It imports a taking by force or strength, and it imports a taking by skill or stratagem. God will have them both ways: If these cunning men work by their wits, He can take them: The Lord hath more stratagems to take them, than they have had to take others: Or if they work by power and by plain strength, he can take them. The Lord hath more strength to take them, than they have had to take others. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 C●pi●, apprehendit de ●o●o aut urbes expugnavit in opinatu & violenta expugnatione. The word is applied to the taking in of Cities or Forts, places strengthened both by art and nature, and to the taking of them (which includes both senses) either by siege or sudden surprisal; Read Numb. 21. 32. Josh. 6. 2▪ Deut. 2. 34. And so the sense may be that, although these men think, they have so entrenched & fortified themselves by their wits, policies and counsels (as it were in a strong City or Castle) that they seem impregnable, and laugh at all opposite power: Yet, then God besieges, batters and takes them presently; he takes in, and sleights their works with ease, he levels to the ground their great thoughts, even the high Tower of their imaginations; That may be the force of the word [He taketh them.] For as every natural man labours to secure himself and his insts, against the power of the word of God, by carnal reasonings and plead for them. All which the Apostles calls strong holds (2 Cor. 10. 4, 5.) The weapons of our warfare are not carnal: but they are mighty through God to the casting down of strong holds. Now (I say) as natural men secure themselves (a● it were in strong-holds) by their carnal reasonings; so wicked Politicians think to secure themselves, and fortify their designs by plots and platforms of crafty counsel. But as God in the ministry of his word, casteth down all the arguments which a man frames in his heart, to protect his lusts. So the Lord in the administrations of his providence, throws down all the fortifications, which crafty men frame in their hearts, to protect their lawless practices, and takes them in Secondly, The word may imply the taking & binding of a man in bonds or in fetters. He takes the wise in their own craftiness, that is, he takes and binds them as with a chain, or he fetters them in their own craftiness, so the word is used (Prov. 5 22.) His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. Thirdly, The metaphor may be carried in an allusion to Hunters of wild beasts, or to bird takers; who set nets and gins, traps or toils to take them: These wise, crafty men, are cunning hunters, their trade and business is, to set nets to catch, and toils to entangle, they dig pits and lay snares for others to fall into; So the Prophet describes them (Jer. 5. 26.) They lay wait as he that setteth snares, they set a trap, they catch men: But at last, God takes the wise in their own craftiness, that is, the pits they have digged, and the snares they have laid, and the nets they have set shall catch themselves. Fourthly, The word is applied in Scripture, to a taking, or a discovery by a lot; So (Josh. 7. 15.) The rule was thus given, He that shall be taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt; and vers. 18. Achan was taken, that is, taken by a lot, the lot discovered and catcht him. Achan had hid the Babylonish garment, and the wedge of gold safe enough, as he thought: and one would have thought, that in such a multitude, in such an huge host and throng of people, he might have been hidden too; but God sends a lot, and takes out Achan from the midst of all the multitude, he calls him out by name, this is the man. There may be a like meaning and use of the word in this place, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness, that is, men who think to shelter themselves amongst the multitude, or to walk in the clouds of craft; men who hid and shadow themselves from the eye of the world, as if none should see who they are, or what they do; even these God will take, he will direct a divine lot. one time or other to apprehend and lay hold on them; he will discover achan's, the troublers of his Israel in their wicked counsels; and bring to light their stolen wedges of gold, and their Babylonish garments. There is one thing further considerable, from the sense of that Greek word, which the Apostle uses (1 Cor. 3. 19) * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Manu capio & firmiter teneo fugientem in cursu deprehendere ●anuque injecta capere, quicquam ut n●n elebatur; unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 manipulus pugillus, Erasm. He taketh the wise, &c The Apostles word signifies properly to take, or a taking with the hand, a laying hold upon one that is flying: As in a battle, when the enemy flies and runs, the pursuer taketh hold of him, and will not let him escape: And so the sense is, that though these crafty ones think to make an escape, when they have done mischief to out run the justice of men, yea, to get out of the reach of God, yet he taketh them, as flying enemies or malefactors, that would make an escape; he catcheth them by the back, takes them by the shoulder, lays fast hold on them, so that they shall not be able to get away. He takes the wise in their own craftiness. Lastly, It is observable, that the Preposition [in] he takes them [in] their craftiness, may be understood instrumentally; Plerosque astus illorum facit Deus instrumentum ad arcendum ab ijs quod cogitant. Rab. Levi. and so it as much as the Preposition [by:] He takes them in, that is, he takes them by their devices; That preposition is often put instrumentally (Gen. 32. 10.) Jacob saith, In my staff I passed over this Jordan; we translate, with my staff, or, by my staff I passed over this Jordan. And so Heb. 1. 1. God who at sundry times, spoke in time passed to the fathers [in] the Prophets, so the Greek; we translate by the Prophets, because they were the means or the instruments, which God employed to speak by. Thus here, He takes the wicked [in] their craftiness; or [by] their craftiness, their craftiness is the very means and instrument by which God apprehends and takes them. So much for the opening of the first clause. We may note hence, first, That No wisdom or craftiness of man, can stand before the wisdom and power of God. He not only takes them in their foolishness, but in their craftiness; He stays not, till they begin to dote and do weakly, before he takes them; but when they are in their height of wit, and in the depths of worldly wisdom and policy, when they put forth the quintessence of craft, and give counsel like the Oracle of God (2 Sam. 16. 23.) than God takes them. He takes them in their craftiness. (Pro. 21. 30.) There is no wisdom, nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord. No counsel against the Lord. How is it then said in the second Psalm, The Kings of the earth set themselves, and the Rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed? There are many counsels opposed against the Lord, but there are none prevailing against the Lord. The meaning of that holy Proverb, is, That no wisdom, not the most sublime and refined wisdom; no counsel, not the most machivilian or Achitophelian counsel, can prevail against the Lord. Men, usually catch others, when they are at a fault, or take them upon some advantage, and error in their counsels. Most successes of men, are made out of the slips and defects of their adversaries: They take, upon mistakes, either in advising or acting; but after the most deliberate and grave debates, the choicest and best grounded resolves, the Lord takes them. For (1 Cor. 1. 25) The foolishness of God is wiser than man: And if the wisdom of man cannot match the foolishness of God, how shall it contend with the wisdom of God? As the Prophet Jeremiah speaks in another case, If I have run with footmen and they have wearied me, how can I contend with horses? so if these men are not able to deal with the foolishness of God, how shall the, deal with his wisdom? Not, that there is any, the least imaginable foolishness in God, for as God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all, so God is wisdom, and in him there is no foolishness at all; but the holy Ghost speaks thus, to put God as low as the foolishest thoughts of man can put him, which is to think there is foolishness in God, yet in that, or then, he is wiser than they. Secondly observe; That God turneth the counsels of wicked men against themselves: He taketh the wise, not only in, but by their craftiness; He beats their own weapon against their heads; He wrists their weapons out of their hands, and with them wounds their hearts. Those counsels and contrivements, by which they thought to secure themselves are their destruction. He destroys them in their counsels and by their counsels. This wonderfully magnifies and commends the wisdom of Qui scipserunt de arte militari, di unt summum genus demicandi, quoties calcato u●b●me adversarij, se in hostilem cly●eum e●ig●t m●les & ●a contra stan●is vulnerat te●ga. S●●v. in V●rg. Aen. 1 ●. God: He doth not trouble himself to devise some new way or stratagem to take these men, but he makes use only of that which they have devised. It is the noblest way of conquering, to conquer our enemy with his own weapon; such was that victory of David over Goliath: and that was a type of Christ's victory over the Devil and all spiritual wickednesses. And such will his victory be over all the wickednesses of this world. The Lord is (and shall ●ver be) known by the judgement which he executeth, the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands, Higgaion Selah * Rem medit●●dam sum●è, Jun. in loc , Mark and meditate, Psal. 9 16. It was the plot of Satan, to tempt man, who was made in the image of God (for the doing of good and avoiding evil) to desire to be as God, knowing good and evil; he tempts man to affect a Ditty, or a God ship, and his plot was to ruin man below the beasts, by aspiring to an equality with God; or to make man less than he was made, by seeking to be, as much as his maker. Now the Lord takes (as it were) this weapon out of Satan's hands, and destroys him by it. Satan would have man aspire to be a God, that he might be ruined; and God becomes man to ruin Satan; This was the greatest counterplot that ever was. God took the Devil in and by his own craftiness. As if God had said; Satan, thou shalt see what a fine device thou hast devised I will meet thee in thy own way, and turn it upon thee. Thou wouldst have man become God, so to ruin him; now God shall become man, and by that I will at once ruin thy counsels, and repair the broken condition of man. joseph's brethren, had a device to hinder his prophecies, & make his dreams but fancies; Joseph dreamt that his brethren should worship him; they sell him for a captive into Egypt: what more opposite to honour among his brethren, than captivity among strangers? yet this device effected what they opposed; Joseph was exalted in Egypt, and his brethren pressed with want, worshipped or bowed unto him for bread. The Jews took counsel to kill Christ, and what was the motive? A wise man among them suggests this fear; If we let him thus alone, the Romans will come and take away both our place and Nation (Joh. 11. 48.) But the Lord took the wise in this craftiness; For that cruel act in kill Christ, brought the Romans upon them; The time cometh (saith Christ, he foresaw what would come) that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and they shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation, Luk. 19 43. 44. And thus as the Psalmist (Psalm. 64. 8.) prophesied of his enemies, they made their own tongues to fall upon themselves. A strange thing, that the fall of a man's tongue should oppress his body, and whole estate; yet so it is, the weight of a man's tongue falling upon him crushes him to powder. The seventh Psalm is the paraphrase of this point (ver. 14.) He traveleth with mischief. and hath brought forth a lie; (that answers the 12th verse, He disappointeth the devices of the crafty:) He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made; his mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent deal shall come down upon his own pate: Here is the 13th verse made good, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. How doth this aggravate the sorrows of crafty men? It is sad enough with the crafty, when they are taken by the craftiness of other men; That any man out-wits them, is enough to put them out of their wits; How then will they live, being taken and ensnared b● their own wit, when they see themselves accessary to their own undoing; when they see they have pulled down their estates with their own hands, and have put fire to their own houses? As it greatens the sin, so it greatens the punishment, when a man falls by his own hand; self-murder is the most sinful and most bloody murder. Neither is their sin or punishment less, who die, by the craftiness of their own heads, than theirs, who die by the violence of their own hands. This is a visible truth among us, & he that runs may read it in the book of God's later providences, I believe our age will be able to make as fair a record of this point for posterity, as any that hath passed, if not as all that have passed for many generations; my work not admitting long confirmations, I shall give but three instances, that by them this truth may be established. First, The Prelates procured a stinted, and (in some passages) a corrupted Liturgy, to be sent unto, and imposed upon the Scotish Nation and that occasioned the total suppression of their Prelacy in that Nation. Secondly, The Prelates who were rooted fast enough in the Laws of the Land before, would make a Canon Oath, to settle themselves in the consciences of men to, that they being established both by Law and conscience, might be like Mount Zion which cannot be removed, but standeth fast for ever: yet that very Canon Oath, hath been turned upon themselves, and hath not only blasted their pomp, but battered down their power & hath produced a Sacred Covenant-Oath, by which both Houses of Parliament and the people of these three Kingdoms, are engaged for their extirpation. Thirdly, That act of many of the Prelates protesting against the validity of any proceed in Parliament, in that their absence from the house, as being against Law; Gave occasion for a Law (which hath also passed the Royal assent) for their absence from that house (as members of it) for ever. O that men would acknowledge and praise the Lord in his wisdom, and in these wonderful works, which he hath done among the children of men! He takes the wise in their own craftiness, And, as it follows in the text; The counsel of the froward is carried headlong. The counsel.] There is somewhat further in that; not only are their devices disappointed, but their counsels; Counsels are the results Consilium est ali quid faciendi non faciendiveè excogitata ra tio, Cicer, l. ●. de Invent. of serious and sad debates; Craft is of one, counsel of many heads laid together. Counsel is the extract of reason, both about what we are to do, or leave undone: These counsels God carries headlong: There is nothing more opposite to counsel then precipitation, long deliberation should go before determination, but their counsels shall be carried head long: They shall either be overhasty in counsel, or their counsels being solemnly enough settled, shall be overhastily acted: Rash headlong execution may be as dangerous as rash headlong resolutions. But whose are these counsels? the same men's still, though under another notion. The counsel of the froward Before we had, the devices of the crafty; and again, the craftiness of the wise; Now here, the counsel of the froward. The Spirit of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à r●u●c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et in niph●● Niph●●, tortus, d●●ortus, per Me●●nyn. ●● luctatus fu●t, qui enim lacta●ur cum al●quo, eum varié torquet ●one● eum vincat & prosternit. Notatur hic talis vel versutia, qua quis facilè alium a●icumq▪ habium ind●i● ut nec facite caveri, nec facile teneri possi● in actionib●s suis; vel ad luctatoes alludi●ur, Goc. God varies words, but the men are the same. There is scarce variety enough of words in all languages, to express the variety of wickednesses, which one heart speaks. The Hebrew word in the root, signifieth to wrest or to writh a thing, or to rest and turn a thing as wrestlers their bodies. Hence by a trope, it is translated often, to wrestle; because a cunning man in wrestling, turneth and windeth his body, and works himself in and out every way, to get an advantage of his adversary any way; therefore your cunning-headed men, your crafty men, are fitly presented under this word; they are like wrestlers, who turn, and wind themselves in and out, and lie for all advantages; or, as we speak, they lie at catch. A man knows not where to have them, or what they mean, when they speak plainest, or swear solemnest: when we think we see their faces, we see but their visards, all their promises and performances too, are under a disguise. Such cunning gamesters or wrestlers are here intended. One of the Patriarches had this name (Gen. 30. 8) Napthali, and the reason is there given, for (saith his mother) with great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed, and she called his name Napthali: The Hebrew is, with wrestlings of God, that is divine and vehement wrestlings; As if she had said, I have used great and earnest endeavours, both with God in prayer, and all other means, as a wrestler by might and flight, to obtain these blessings (given before to my sister) and now I have prevailed. And it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No ●●ne lite●●s●, g●minatis, u● insignis vafricies, & qu●si duplica●a ca●●dit●s signif●●etur. Con●o●tupl●catus. is observable, that the Hebrews call an extraordinary cunning wrestler, Pethalthol, which is this word doubled in the latter syllable because he is a man of a double or extraordinary skill in wrestling, the word is doubled: and so it expresses one that is double witted, or that hath craft enough for two or three, though not honesty enough for one. And this word is applied to the Lord himself (Psal. 18. 26.) * V●iur hoc ve●bo, ut indicetur maxima quaedam & invicta Dei quasi distor●io, impl●●atio & sacra caliditas adversus pravos, calidos, distortos, q. d. adversus Cretensès cretiz at Deus, cum vafro luctatorevare luctatur Deus, supplantatores supplanta●. with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward: that is, If men will be winding and turning, and thinking to catch others, or overreach the Lord himself, with tricks and turn of wit, the Lord will meet and answer them in their own kind, he can turn as fast as they, he can put himself into such intricate labyrinths of infinite wisdom and sacred craft, as shall entangle and ensuare the most cunning wrestler or tumbler of them all. He will Cretize the Cretians, supplant the suppla●t●rs of his people. Some of the Greeks' * Olymprodorus vertit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, homin●s varios, nodoso●, im●licitos, intricatos. interpret this elegantly by a word in that language, noting a thing that hath many knots, folds or twists wreathes or plaits in it, as plaited hair, or a folded garment; thereby shadowing out men like a serpent, of knotted, twisted, enfolded spirits, men who wreath and plaite their actions so closely and artificially that few can understand or tell what to make of them, or where to find them: The counsels of these cunning, intricate, froward men, Are carried headlong.] It is very observable (Isa. 44. 25.) how the Prophet threatneth, that the counsels of the wise shall be turned backward; And here, their counsels shall be carried headlong, that is, froward. God hath ways of all sorts to cross ungodly policies: he turns them sometime backward, and sometime forward, by both or either they are disappointed: Counsels, are turned backward, when the event is quite cross to the design, or the motion of things, to the resolutions of the mind: As if a man purposing to go Eastward, should be turned about (he knows not how) with his face into the West: Counsels are carried headlong, when Omne consilium a●ta 'em in se●●●na●●one est stultitia. Rab. Sol. they go● too fast forward, and make so much haste on in their way, that they tyre and are out of breath, or stumble and break themselves before they can attain their journey's end. The Original word, signif●●s to hasten, and thence to be precipitate, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Accel●rare, festinare, a●q inde praecipitem esse, impruden tem, stultum; tam prudentia tranquil●●a●e & deliberatione gaudet. Eruto impeturuunt in su●m pestem. Coc. rash or foolish in counsel; Prudence uses to go softly, wisdom keeps a kind of state in her pace, and loves to go step by step, not headlong; A prudent man sets his head before his feet; his head goes before his feet in consultation, but he loves to go upon his feet, not upon his head, in action: It is the curse of the froward, their counsels are carried headlong; when they should go steadily upon their feet, they run upon their heads or run their heads against the next wall; The meaning (in a word) is, They shall make more haste then good speed: or, they shall go so fast to their ends, that their end shall be their undoing: As the Lord (in mercy) makes the rash understand, so (in judgement) he makes the understanding rash. As this is here threatened, so the former is graciously promised, (Isa. 32. 4.) The heart of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerer shall speak plainly. When the Prophet would show, how great a blessing God pours out upon his people by Christ, he thus expresses it: Christ, who is the wisdom of the Father, causeth the heart of the rash to understand knowledge; it is the word of the text, the heart of those who naturally run headlong upon businesses, who have no steadiness nor stableness in their understandings, shall be stayed and balanced with wisdom and gravity from above. Christ will take them off their hurrying pace, and teach them to go and do, to advise and act with sobriety and deliberation. The letter clause of the promise, joints fitly with this, And the tongue of the b●●sit do l●●g●ae accelerationem habet cum fitan haesi●ia, ut nihil experite pronunciare possit, & quo magis prope●at eo minus proficit, citata illa ling●a votubilitate. Ita qui intelligentia festinus est. nullum profert util● & integrum consilium sed manca omnia & 〈…〉. Bold. Bold. stammerer shall speak plainly; such as stammering is to speech, the same is rashness to counsel; A man that stammers huddles his words: he that hath an impediment in speech, speaks fastest, and because he cannot speak one word well, he speaks many words at once: This haste is his hindrance: in making so much hast to speak, he cannot speak at all; therefore we usually advise stammerers, to take heed of speaking hastily, that they may speak plainly. The Prophet joins these sweetly, to note the complete abilities of a Cstristian, The rash shall understand, & the stammerer shall speak plainly; that is he shall advise judiciously, and speak elegantly; depth of wisdom, and sweetness of elocution shall meet in him though before rude and rustic. But the counsels of the froward, though men of great parts, and filled speech, shall be crried headlong. Observe hence, Hasty counsels are successelesse counsels. Hast in counselling always makes waste, and so doth hastiness in acting. Hast in either may hurt, as much as sloth, though usually we may divide the miscarriages that are in the world; between hastiness in counsel, and slowness in action. I know not which is the greater prejudice to an honest design, to be quick in concluding, or to be dull in executing. They who will not take time to consult about what they a●, may have time enough to repent of what they have done. And they who will not take the time for doing what they consult, lose all the time they took for consultation. Note Secondly, That God disappoints evil counsels, as by stopping them, so by putting them forward. The Princes of Zoan are become fools (saith the Prophet) Why? The Lord hath a mingled a perverse spirit (or a headlong vertiginous spirit) in the midst thereof, and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit, Isa. 19 13, 14. Verse 14. They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noon day, as in the night. Here is a further agravation of the misery upon crafty, froward Counselors, They meet with darkness in the day time. Some understand this for the darkness of trouble, falling upon these men suddenly in the day of their prosperity; as if the holy Ghost had said, In the day time of their greatest glory, when they think their Sun at the height, than they are clouded and over cast, they meet with the darkness of sorrow, and are benighted in a moment, Amos 8▪ 9 I will cause the Sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the Earth in the clear day; (it is meant of great afflictions, as the next words interpret) And I will turn your feasts into mourning. But rather by darkness in the day time, we are to understand the Diurnae tenebrae ignorationem denotant rerum clarissima●um. ignorance of those things which are very plain and clear. They meet with darkness in the day time, that is, they are puzzled to find out and discover those things which are as clear as the light. God often sends such a spirit of giddiness and blindness upon the counsels of his enemies; that easy things are hard, plain things, obscure, and common questions very riddles to them. They meet with darkness in the light. There is a double light necessary to the seeing, or discovery of a thing. First, an external light. And secondly, an internal light. External light is of the Medium or place, in which we see: the air must be enlightened: Internal light is, of the Organ or instrument by which we see; the eye must be enlightened. Though there be much light in the air, a blind eye sees nothing. So the meaning of these words may be explained [They meet with darkness in the day time] though these men have outward light, though the business they are about, be plain, a clear case (as we speak) yet they are so darkened in their understandings, that they cannot apprehend or make it out. The Idol▪ shepherd is threatened with this woe, Zach. 11. 17. The Sword shall be upon his arm (his power shall be broken) and upon his right eye (his understanding shall be darkened) The Idol shepherd, shall be like an Idol, having eyes, but seeing not; He was before a blind Seer, sinfully, and now he shall be a blind-Seer judicially. A● that wicked Priest, so these wicked Politicians in the text, shall have a sword upon their right eye, a wound in the best of their understandings, which shall make them also blind-Seers, and make the light to be darkness round about them. The latter clause clears it farther. They grope at noonday, as in the night. To grope at noonday.] is the description of a blindman. For what the eye is to a man that sees, the same is the hand to a man Palpare in merid●e est caeci periphrasis▪ Caecus tentat & palpat manibus antequam pedem effect. Praebent manus ●aecis ●ulorum usus & ministe●ia, Sanct. in ca ●9. that cannot see. A man that sees, looks his way, but a blind man feels it, his hand is in stead of an eye to direct his way. They as it is said in the text, Grope at noonday, as in the night. When the Sodomites were smitten with blindness, They wearied themselves to find the door of Lot's house, Gen. 19 11. And when the Philistines had put out Sampsons' eyes, and he was brought to make them music at their feast, he said to the lad that held him by the hand. Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, etc. he could not see them, but he could grope or feel them out Groping infers either want of light or want of sight These in the text, had light enough, therefore the failing was in their eyes, They grope at noonday. This fearful judgement the Lord threatens against his own people, Deut. 28▪ 29. Thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness. And it was brought upon them, as themselves lamentably complain, Isa. 59 10. We grope for the wall like blinde-men, and we grope, as if we had no eyes, we stumble at noonday, as in the night, In that as it is here added as a further aggravation of the judgement of God upon these, who thought themselves Eagle-eyed, all eye, and all the world blind, That they shall meet with darkness in the day time. We may observe; first, It is a sore judgement not to see when there is light. It is like starving at a full Table, or perishing with thirst, in the midst of a fountain. It is a great judgement not to have light to see by, but it is a greater judgement, not to see by the light. It is a great judgement to a people, when they have not the light of the Gospel; when Christ who is the light, is not shiningly preached among them; but if light shine, if Christ be preached, and a people see it not, This is a fare greater judgement. The poor Gentiles before the light of the Gospel came to them, sat in darkness, and in the shadow of death; and in that estate, they could only (like blind men) grope after God, as the Apostle elegantly expresses it Act. 17. 27. He hath made of one blood all Nations of men, etc. that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him. The Gentiles were inexcusable, if they did not find the Lord by Feeling after him in the dark: What then are they, who find him not by seeing in the light? The Apostle shows us them as lost men, and blinded by Satan, to whom the light of the glorious Gospel doth not shine, when it shines (2 Cor. 4, 3, 4.) To grope in Gospel-light, to be in darkness, when truth is at her high-noon, is, as the shadow of death. It is the worst of sins to sin against the light, and it is the worst of judgements, not to see the light; by which we may avoid sin. The heat of divine wrath breaks out in this, when abused light is hunished with want of sight, or when light is sent, and eyes taken away, (Isa. 6. 9, 10.) When the Prophet brought killing light to the Jews, he saith, See ye indeed; but perceive not, that is, because ye have had light, and would not see beleevingly; Now ye shall have light, which ye shall not see, perceivingly, or distinctly: as the man in the Gospel saw, but he did not perceive, when he saw men walking as trees, he had not a distinguishing eye, or a discerning sense, as the Apostle speaks, Heb. 5. 14. But why shall they not perceive, when they see? The Prophet tells us, because the Lord had said, Shut their eyes lest they see. The work of a Prophet is to open eyes, but when men wilfully shut their eyes, than God shuts them judicially, and blinds them with light. The Apostle quoting this text, Acts 28. 27, expounds it so, Their eyes, have they closed, lest they should see; for this, God closed them that they could not see. Paul was preaching, and he preached Christ the true light, The Sun of righteousness: Behold the misery spoken of in this text, They met with darkness in the day time. This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light. Why love they darkness? Because they see not the light: And because they see not the light, therefore they cannot love it. It is impossible to see the light, the beautiful face of the truth, as it is revealed in Christ, and not to love it. A Heathen said, if virtue (much more if Gospel's truth) were seen, every eye would be taken, and every heart led captive by it. A great part of the world hath not this light to see, and the greatest part of those, who have this light, see it not. They must needs meet with darkness, who are darkness, in the daytime. And they must grope at noon day, as in the night, who are night. If men hear the law and the testimony, and neither speak nor do according to that word, it is (as the Prophet gives the reason) because there is no light in them; or as the Hebrew, No Morning in them, Isa. 8. 20. Till the day star arises in our hearts, the day before our eyes, is night. Secondly, observe, Plain things are often obscure to the wisest, and most knowing men. They grope at noon day, as in the night.] That which a man may see with half an eye (as we say) these men, who think themselves All eye, cannot see. Men of acute and sagacious understandings, men quick-sighted like Eagles, prove as dull as Beetles. Owls and Bats see in the dark, better than in the light; And (in a sense) it is true of these, they can see about the works of darkness, but the light of holiness and justice, they cannot see. The reason is given in that of Christ, The light that is in them is darkness, no wonder then, if the light without them be darkness; if the inward light, the light that i● in them be darkness, how great is that darkness; so great that it quite darkens the outward light. Inward darkness is to outward light, as a great outward light is to a small one (in regard of our use or benefit) it extinguishes and overcomes it. Hence these men cannot see, the plainest object, in the clearest light. Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not, Joh. 1. 5. Christ breaks forth into a vehement gratulation to his Father, (Mat. 11. 25.) I thank thee O Father, Lord of heaven nnd earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. The wise and prudent could not see, so much as children. They were so wise in their own conceits, that they could not conceive the things of God. As it is in spirituals, so likewise, in regard of civil counsels. God hides wisdom from the wise, and understanding from the prudent. They shall not be able to do or see, what a child might have done or seen, they shall do such things, and so absurdly, that a child would not do them. Mysteries are plain▪ when the Lord opens, and plainest things are mysterious, when he shuts the eyes of our understanding. Thus fare Eliphaz hath set forth the power and justice of God against subtle, crafty counsellors. Now he shows the opposite effect of his power and goodness. Vers. 15. But he saveth the poor from the Sword, from their mouth and from the hand of the mighty. But he saveth the poor.] It is very observable in Scripture, that usually, if not always after the mention of judgement and wrath upon the wicked, the mercy, goodness and love of God unto his own people are represented, lest any should think, that judgement is a work wherein God delighteth, he quickly passeth from it, and concludes in what he delighteth, Mercy. As he retains not his anger for ever towards his own people, so he stay ●s not long upon the description of his anger against his enemies, because he delighteth in mercy, Mich. 7. 18 A subject of mercy is most pleasant both to the hand and pen of the Lord. He wishes rather to write in honey than in gall, and to draw golden lines of love, then bloody lines of wrath. Satan is a Destroyer, and he doth nothing but destroy, and pull down. The Lord destroyeth and he pulleth down, he defeats and disappointeth, but he hath another work besides, he saves and delivers, he builds up and revives the hopes of his people. He saveth the poor.] These poor, are Gods poor; Some may be called the Devils poor, for they have done his work, and he hath given them poverty for their wages. Satan will give all his hirelings full pay when they die, The wages of sin is death; while they live, many of them receive only the earnest of it, poverty and trouble. All that are poor, stand not under the rich influences of this promise, He saveth the poor. Wicked poor are no more under God's protection, then wicked oppressors or wicked rich men are. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard. Ps. 34. 6. Not every or any poor man. Some poor men may cry, and the Lord hear them no more, than he did the cry of Dives, the rich man in hell, Luk. 16. Forget not the Congregation of thy poor, Psal. 74. 19 Thy poor, by way of discrimination: There may be a greater distance between poor and poor, then there is between poor and rich. There are many ragged regiments, Congregations of poor, whom the Lord will forget for ever. But his poor shall be saved. And these poor are of two sorts; either poor in regard of wealth and outward substance; or poor in regard of friends or outward assistance. A rich man especially a godly rich man, may be in a poor case, destitute and forsaken wanting patronage and protection: God saveth his poor in both notions, both those that have no friends, and those that have no estates. The Hebrew word for Poor, springs from a root signifying desire; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, quod est desiderare, quasi pauper omnia de●ideret, cum nihil habeat, inde Ebion haer●ti●us, quasi mentis, & inteligentiae inops, Schiud. Quia omnibus indiget omnia cupit & g●ata habe●. Rab. Da. and the reason is, because poor men are commonly rich in desires. They that are full of sensible wants, are full of earnest wish. They that are empti●st of enjoyments are fullest of hopes and long. And the reason why poverty of spirit, in our spiritual estate, is pronounced a blessing, is, because the poor in spirit are full of desires after spiritual riches. They are ever craving and seeking to be filled with that fullness, which is in Christ, with grace for grace; they would have every image of every grace in Christ engraven upon their souls. Or (in a holy covetousness) they would be as rich in grace as Christ is. Grace for grace: as a covetous man, would have penny for penny, pound for pound with his richest neighbour; or as an ambitious man would have honour for honour, title for title with his greatest neighbour. That Christian who sees his estate lowest, usually set, his desires highest, his affections are ever upon the wing, for supplies from Christ. Both the civil poor man, and the spiritual poor soul, would fain be enriched. He saveth the poor from the Sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. Some read this by apposition, he saveth the poor from the Sword, their mouth, making the latter to be but an exposition of the former, From the Sword, their mouth, that is, their mouth is the Sword, from which God saveth his poor. So taken it is a truth for the mouth is a sharp Sword, as killing as any instrument or engine of war. Hence others who keep this sense, read it thus, A gladio or●●●orum. Vulg. Ab o●●isione oris eorum Chas. 〈◊〉 genn●ivum. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 G●ad●● oris est ipsa lingua mala. i e. calumnia falsa, qu● homo tanquam g●adio ne●a●ur. Sed me●ius a gladio qui ●x ore ipso●um, i. e. a falsis Testimoniis Drus. He saveth the poor from the Sword of their mouth, or from the kill stroke of their mouth; making the particle Man, in the Original, to govern the genitive case, The Sword of their mouth, or the Sword coming out of the mouth. There are two Swords of the mouth, two coming out of the mouth, or one double edged. 1. Slander. 2. false-witness, by which often the reputation and sometime the person of a man is murdered, But I conceive that the clearest meaning of the Original (though both are good) is, to read these as distinct evils from which, He saveth the poor, namely, 1. From the Sword. And 2 From their mouth. 3. From the hand of the mighty. That is, From Nimrods', mighty hunters, oppressors of the poor; or from the violent man. I returned (saith the Preacher, Eccles. 4. 1.) and considered all the oppressions that are done under the Sun, and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter and one the side of their oppressors there was power, but they had no comforter. Oppressors are always clothed with power, and the oppressed seldom find so much pity, from men, as to be their comforters, Therefore for the oppression of the poor, and the cry of the needy, the Lord arises, and he saves his poor. From the slaying Sword. slandering tongue. oppressing hand. These three ways crafty, powerful men seek to destroy the poor. First, by the Sword to cut off their lives. Secondly, by slander to blemish and blot out their good names. Thirdly, by strong hand, to captivate their persons or oppress their estates and liberties. To be saved from all these destructions is complete salvation. Let the wicked attempt as many ways as they will or can, to destroy, the Lord both will and can find out as many ways to save. The malice of man shall never out act or over-match the mercy of God. He saveth the poor from the sword, etc. I should here more distinctly open these great evils, The Sword, The mouth, and the hand of the mighty, with the goodness of God in saving his poor from them; But these particulars occur again, v. 20, 21. Where you may find a more distinct explication of them. From these words thus fare opened. Observe, First, to what all the devices and crafty counsels of ungodly Politicians tend. Here we have the issue or English of their counsels, the meaning of their State mysteries is interpreted, Oppression. Their craft concludes in cruelty, and their witty devices, in drawn Swords, slandering tongues, or the hands of violence. We may say of them, as Jacob of his sons Simeon and Levi, Gen. 49. 5, 6. Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul come not thou in their secret, for in their anger they will slay men, and in their selfe will dig down a wall. Secondly, observe their method. First, here is the bloody Sword, they will cut them off, and rid their hands of them, if they can: They could wish (as that bloody Roman Emperor) that the heads of their smpposed enemies (possibly their best friends) were set upon one shoulder, and that they might cut them all off at one blow. But if God save his poor from the mouth of the Sword; then, the next weapon is the Sword of their mouths▪ Slanders and defamations, lies and false accusations shall reach them, whom, iron and steel, pike and shot cannot. The tongue is a little member, but it is a world of iniquity, and beasteth (often acteth) great things, Jam. 3. 5, 6. But if God saves his poor from both mouth and Sword, so that their enemies cannot prevail at sharpes. Then they try at blunts, by a heavy hand, to over-loade, oppress and keep them down, in their estates, liberties and privileges. Observe thirdly; That Salvation is of the Lord. The faith of David grasped this, as his richest treasure, Psal 68 20. He that is our God, he is the God of salvation; The Lord is called, the God of salvation, as the God of comfort, both affirmatively and negatively. Salvation is to be had in him, and there is no salvation to be had without him. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains (from Armies, or from counsels; from the power and polices of men) In the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel, Jer. 3. 23. Fourthly, it is observable against whom these crafty, cruel men muster up and levy the united forces of sword, tongue and hand, They are the poor. He saveth the poor. Why, will not God save the rich, will he not save the mighty, the Princes of the earth? Yes God will save all that fear him, both high and low, rich and poor. Why then is it said, He saveth the poor? As it were, determining Salvation upon them. The reason is, because as the poor are most easily oppressed▪ so usually they are most oppressed: where the hedge is lowest, men go over fastest. And because, for the most part, God's people are poor, comparatively to others they are the valleys the lower parts of the earth; and wickedness is commonly advanced upon the mountains of wealth honour and greatness; therefore the denomination is taken from them; He saveth the poor. They whom God loves most, the world loves least, and they have least of the world. The world gives most to its own; And God hath given his own so much beyond the world, that, the loss of a world, is not discerned in their estate, and worldly gains are not often discerneable in their estates; therefore, though in Christ, they are heirs of all things, and all is theirs, yet their rank and titles are among the poor. Fifthly observe: They are poor ones, yet what devising and plotting is here against them? Crafty counsels, drawn swords, envenomed tongues, strong hands lifted up: Against whom are all these? Against the poor: Note thence, That Wicked men plot against the people of God, how poor and low soever they be. As David said unto Saul (1 Sam. 24. 14.) After whom is the Facis quod est tanto rege indignum, dum me tenuissimum tanto comi●atu persequeris, Jun. in loc. King of Israel come out? after a dead dog; after a flea? As if he had said, whom dost thou pursue? thou dost that, which is unworthy and much below so great a King; wilt thou set thy strength against my weakness? Why dost thou arm against him, by whose conquest thou canst get no honour? Alas, I am but a poor man, a mean subject, no match for thee; I wonder you trouble yourself so much in following or opposing me? I am (in comparison) but as a dead-dog, or as a flea. A dead dog cannot by't, or if I by't, it is but a flea-bites; A dead dog can do no hurt, and a living flea can do but little. The people of God (as such) never have any will to do wrong, and it is seldom that they have any power to do wrong, and yet the world is all up in pursuit against them; What's the reason of it? what's the matter? The truth is, how poor and low soever they are, yet there is an eye of jealousy awake upon them: The world looks upon them as a suspected party, the world hath secret misgivings, that one time or other, they must rise upon their ruins; and therefore they will keep them down (yes that they will) as long as they can. What a distance was there between Haman and Mordecai? the one sat in the gate, and the other stood at the King's elbow, and had his ear, yea and his signet (upon the matter) at his command: yet this Haman must needs oppress Mordecai, because he would not bow: Haman had a jealous eye upon him, he was a suspected person; Though he could not reach Haman yet Haman feared he might undermine him. Again there is a continual Antipathy between the two seeds; and Antipathy is incurable; To oppose the godly, is not so much the disease, as the nature of wicked men: And we know, antipathies are against the whole kind, revenge against this, or that individual is no ease to it; Antipathy is not spent, but in the consumption of the whole kind. It is not this or that sheep which the wolf hates, but every sheep, fat or lean, shorn or unshorn, that's all one to the wolf; he will suck the blood of a sheep that hath not a l●ck of wool upon his back, as greedily as if that sheep had a golden fleece. Let a godly man be poor or rich▪ low or high, their sword shall be unsheathed, and their mouth opened against him; the old hatred and quarrel is against all. Haman thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecay alone, wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, Hest 3. 6. He hated those whom he never saw, those who had never wronged him, haply had bowed unto him; yet, because Jews, die they must. Sixthly observe (But he saveth the poor) God delights to help the poor. He loves to take part with the best, though the weakest side. Contrary to the course of most, who when a controversy arises, use to stand in a kind of indifferency or neutrality. till they see which part is strongest, not which is justest. Now if there be any consideration (besides the cause) that draws or engages God, it is the weakness of the side. He joins with many, because they are weak, not with any, because they are strong; therefore Psa. 10. 14. 18 Hos. 14. 3. he is called, the helper of the friendless, and with him the fatherless (the orphans) find mercy; By fatherless, we are not to understand such only whose parents are dead, but any one that i● in distress; as Christ promiseth his Disciples, Joh. 14. 18. I will not leave you orphans, that is, helpless, and (as we translate) comfortless, though ye are as children without a father, yet I will be a father to you. Men are often like those clouds, which dissolve into the sea, they send presents to the rich, and assist the strong; but God sends his rain upon the dry land, and lends his strength to those who are weak. This poor man cried, and the Psal. 34 6. Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. Forget not the Congregation of thy poor for ever: The truth is, he never Psal. 7. 4. 19 firgets them. They are graven upon the palms of his hands, such poor are his treasure, his Jewels, as the signet upon his right hand; Therefore always in his eye, yea always in his heart, though they lie in the dirt, or be trodden under foot like mire in the streets. The Prophet makes this report to God of himself (Isa. 25. 4.) Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, etc. Thus fare Eliphaz hath given instance of the great, marvellous and unsearchable works of God, in a double reference: First, to wicked crafty oppressors; Secondly, to poor helpless innocents'; He shuts up this narration with a double effect of these works upon those two sorts of men. First, showing what effect they produce in the poor▪ namely hope: Secondly, what in the wicked, namely, shame and confusion of face, Vers. 16. So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth. Here is the conclusion or result of all, the Epiphonema or exulting close, in which Eliphaz perfects the story of those admirable works of judgement and of mercy; So the poor hath hope, etc. This Original word for [poor] varies from the former, though a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exhaustus, de humo repropriè, per metaphorun de vi●ibus corporis & opibus attenuatus, tenuis fortunae homo. the persons and their estate be the same: That word noted them full of desire, and this (which is the cause of it) empty of comforts: Properly it signifies one, that is exhausted or drawn dry; Poor persons are exhausted persons, exhausted of their strength, exhausted of their estates, exhausted of friends and credit in the world. It is a metaphor taken from rivers, ponds or pools, that are drawn dry, when we would take the fish, or take away the defence which they give to forts or Cities. Isa. 19 6. And they shall turn the rivers fare away, and the Brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: which also enlightens that text, Isa. 33. 21. Where the righteous Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers. A river that shall not be drawn dry or sluced out (as Euphrates was by Cyrus when he took Babylon) but shall fill its banks and shores perpetually; that is, the Lord will be there a perpetual defence: A river that shall never be impoverished, but shall keep a full stock and treasure of streams and waters. Dalilah had her name from this root, and it carries an elegant allusion to the qualities of all dalilah's, or insinuating lascivious women, they drayne the strength, exhaust the purses, dry up the credit, wast the All, of the mightiest sampson's, whose hearts are entangled by their flatteries, or ensnared by their beauties The poor have hope.] The word hath been opened at the 6th verse of this Chapter, to note strong and earnest expectation; The poor man observing the wonders, which God doth in the world, cannot be out of hope, though he be out of possession; And though his own strength be gone, yet he lives upon the strength of Christ; he hopes strongly (that's the force of the word) when he feels no strength. When I am weak (saith the Apostle Paul, 2 Cor. 12. 10.) then am I strong, that is, I am strongest (through hope) in Christ, when I am weakest through sense in myself. More distinctly, this hope may be taken two ways. 1. For the object or thing hoped for. 2. For the act or grace of hope. In the former notion of hope, the sense runs thus; God having taken the wise in their own craftiness, and disappointed the device of the crafty, having delivered the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty, now the poor hath the thing he looked for, the thing he prayed for, the thing for which he hath been seeking and waiting upon God: So the poor hath hope, that is, he hath the mercy, he expected, salvation from the sword, etc. he is made partaker of his hope, by those glorious administrations of the justice and mercy of God. Hence observe; First, God's poor, hope for good in the worst times. When deliverance comes, these poor have but that which they looked for; they looked for light, when they were in the darkest condition. When they were exhausted, they knew God was not exhausted; and when they were drawn dry, they knew the Lord was not; though their treasure was spent, yet they were assured the treasury of Heaven was full: When strength is gone, and money is gone, and friends are gone, yet God is not gone; and therefore they know the good may come, which they hope for. Turn ye to the strong holds ye prisoners of hope, saith the Prophet, Zech. 9 12. The people of God (though prisoners) are yet prisoners of hope, that is, they have hope of deliverance and enlargement, in their greatest straits: The power of God is never imprisoned, and while his people can make this out, their spirits are not. Secondly observe; It is no vain thing to hope in God. The poor hath his hope. The Prophet brings in the Jews thus triumphing in God, (Isa. 25. 9) And it shall be said in that day? What day was that? The former verse points it out, A day wherein death shall be swallowed up in victory, wherein tears shall be wiped away from off all faces, etc. And in that day the people of God shall thus boast of God, and (as it were showing him to the world) shall say, Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us: This is the Lord, we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation; vain hopes fill our face, with shame; but hopes fulfilled, fill our hearts with rejoicing. The poor hath his hope; he can show his hope, 'tis visible: As Hannah, when she came to present her Son unto Eli, For this child I prayed, as if she should say, Sir, here is my prayer, you could not hear my prayer, when I was in the Temple, you thought I was drunken, but now you may see my prayer, here it is, for this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition which I as●ed of him, 1 Sam. 1. 27. So the soul saith; In such a time of trouble, personal or national, I was praying and seeking God, I was believing and hoping, men knew not, understood not the workings of my soul, toward Christ, yet now they may see them, here is the thing I prayed for, here is that I hoped for; So (first) the poor hath hope. Secondly, The poor hath hope, that is, the grace of hope, or the gracious actings of hope; and taking it so, the sense rises thus: So (that is) God having done such great things, in disappointing the devices of the crafty, and in saving his poor, by this means, the poor come to have hope, the grace of hope strengthened and confirmed in them. Hence observe, That The experience we have of God's power and mercy, in saving us out of former troubles, breeds and nourishes hope, against future times of trouble. So the poor hath hope. Though the poor man was in a hopeless condition before, yet now seeing the works of God, he hath hope laid up for ever. Psal 64. 9, 10. All men shall fear and declare the works of God, for they shall wisely consider of this thing: And what follows? The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and trust in him; that is, if they have failed in their trust heretofore, and not given God honour by confiding in him, yet these wonderful works of God (of which he speaks in that Psalm) work this hope. Rom. 5. 4. Tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope. Grace's have a generation one from another, though all have but one generation from Christ at once. We have here the genealogy of hope in three descents. Experience is the next, or immediate parent of hope. So the poor hath hope. Thus it is begotten. 2 Cor. 1. 10. God who hath delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in him we trust, that he will yet deliver us. An armed daring Goliath, should be looked upon as vanquished already, when we can but remember a vanquished Lion and a Bear. Again, The poor hath hope: He doth not say, God having thus destroyed the ungodly, and saved his own people from the sword, etc. now they have liberty, now they have peace, now they have abundance of riches and prosperity; but he makes this the issue, now they have hope: Whence note, That Hope is a greater and better possession unto the people of God here, than all the great and good things which they possess. Put as much into their hands us you can, there is more than that put in their hearts by hope. The poor hath hope: he looks over all his possessions, and pitcheth upon expectation as his portion. The estate which a believer hath in the promises, is more than the estate he hath in possession: Riches in the promise, is better than riches in the chest. And so the deliverances and protections which are laid up for the Saints in promises, are more than all the deliverances and protections received and enjoyed: There is no enjoyment but that in Heaven (where we shall enjoy all that ever was promised) so good as hope, for what is promised. Alexander an Heathen, had such a notion about an earthly hope, which had no ground neither, but the great things his own ambition promised him, for when one seeing him give away all his present inheritances, Persp●ctâ hac Dei providentia erga pauperes & humiles, maligni & nocendi studiosi retrahent seize, neque inter se amplias ineant prava & iniqua adversus pios consilia Aquin. said, what Sir, will you make yourself a beggar, no (saith he) I will reserve hope for myself. And iniquity stoppeth her mouth. Here is the opposite effect, iniquity; the abstract is put for the concrete. iniquity, for men of iniquity, wicked men, these stop their mouths. And it is observable, that as before God made them active in their own destruction, so here he makes them active in their own silence; he saith not, God stoppeth their mouths, but they stop their own mouths; that is, the wicked seeing those wonderful works of God, have not a word to say, nor a counsel to give more against the godly; they are as mute as fishes, as dumb as dogs, they know not how to slander, or of whom to complain, and therefore they suspend, and enjoin silence upon themselves. As that word of Christ, Friend how camest thou in hither, not having on a wedding garment? (Mat. 22. 12.) so these works of Christ shall make his enemies speechless, Iniquity stoppeth her mouth, This stopping their mouths, is caused two ways; First, from shame; A man is sometime silent, because he is ashamed to speak: disappointments (especially such as theirs before noted) produce shame naturally, and shame makes silent. A man that blushes much, speaks little, and he that days not lift up his head, will not be forward to lift up his voice. Mich. 7. 16. I will show marvellous things (saith the Lord, and what then?) The Nations shall see and be confounded, they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf: They shall see it, and be confounded, that is, they shall be greatly ashamed; confusion of face is but shame heightened, and the Holy Ghost puts shame and confusion of face together in divers places. Now this great shame lays their hands upon their mouths, and puts their fingers in their ears; they are resolvedly both dumb and deaf, at the sight of those marvellous things. Secondly, Admiration and amazement silence them: The works of God being marvellous, they shall stand admiring and wondering at them, till they cannot speak. Read the like, Isa. 52. 15. and Psal. 107. 42. where, when the Prophet had reckoned up many wonderful works of God, he concludes as in the Text, ver. 42. He setteth the poor on high, etc. the righteous shall see it and rejoice and all iniquity shall stop her mouth; while the Lord seems to do nothing, or to do but little, iniquity will do nothing, but talk, or it talks very much, it is very talkative; but if once God begin working, iniquity has done speaking, you shall hear no more of them, till the next success on their side. Then observe, First, Wicked men will never cease slandering and censuring, bragging and boasting, till some eminent judgement stops their mouths. So iniquity stoppeth her mouth, they will never stop their mouths before: Isa. 26. 11. Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see, but they shall see, and be ashamed for the envy at thy people; I will make the judgement bigger and greater; writ my wrath in fairer, or rather in bloodier characters, that they may see them: As small judgements will not open the eyes of wicked men, so small judgements will not stop their mouths, but when God gins to work wonders, they are dumb, they have done. Secondly observe, That God will do such things for his people, as shall put the crafty to silence. The Saints ought to live so holily, that by well doing they may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, 1 Pet. 2. 15. The Lord will do so justly and gloriously, as shall put to silence the malice of the wisest men: These two, the holiness of the Saints, and the Justice of God, are stopples in the mouths, or the stop-mouthes of ungodly men. As they by unrighteous acts have stopped other men's mouths, and silenced them, so God by terrible things in righteousness, will stop their mouths, and silence them for ever: They shall have nothing to say at last, either against the justice of God, or a 'gainst the innocency of his people; against both these their mouths chief open. They impute and fasten unrighteousness on God: you talk of God, and boast of his promises, where is he? where are they? The Prophet brings them in, belching out such blasphemies (Isa. 5. 19) They say, let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it; and let the council of the holy One of Israel, draw nigh and come that we may know it. Words filled with as high a sense of spiritual wickedness, as wit and malice can infuse. They jeer the patience of God, as slackness, and as if Justice itself were tired, or too slow paced, they spur it on, to ruin themselves. You have often told us of the Holy One of Israel, and what he would do, but threatened men live long, we see. You are nimbler of your tongues, than your Holy One of Israel is of his hands: Therefore let him make speed (if he can) and hasten his work that we may see it. Will not the jealousy of the Lord awake, at the noise of this hellish blasphemy? will he not stop the mouth of this iniquity? surely he will: And the Prophet assures us he will at the 24th verse: Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and as the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be rottenness, and their blossoms shall go up as dust. But how doth the fire devour the stubble? how doth the flame consume the chaff? even in a moment; fire needs no blowing, to make it take hold of dry stubble: Stubble is at once flame and ashes. So speedy shall the consumption of these men be, who called the Lord to make speed; Then (I believe) they'll not more bid him make haste, The mouth of this iniquity will be stopped for ever. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. A fire shall devour before him, Psal. 50. 3. And then the wicked shall be silent in darkness, 1 Sam. 2. 9 The fire of wrath is all heat, no light. Lastly, all their slanders against the innocency of the Saints shall be so confuted, that the adversary shall have nothing to say against them, Their innocency shall be made, as clear as the light, and their justice as the noonday: Yea God will so order it, that these crafty oppressors shall carry a justification of God, and of his people in their own hearts. Their conviction shall be so strong and their light so clear, that iniquity itself shall not be able to gainsay, but must stop its mouth for ever. JOB Chap. 5. Vers. 17, 18. Behold happy is the man, whom God correcteth, therefore despise not thou the chastning of the Almighty. For he maketh sore and bindeth up: he woundeth and his hands make whole, etc. WE have finished the first branch of exhortation, begun ver. 8. wherein Eliphaz moves Job, To seek to God, and unto God to commit his cause; with the several arguments and reasons, strengthening that Exhortation. At this 17. vers. Eliphaz gins a second branch of exhortation, and it is continued to the end of the Chapter. We have the exhortation (or dehortation rather, for it is expressed in the negative) in the latter clause of the 17. verse. Despise not thou the chastning of the Almighty. The first argument by which he quickens Job to receive this counsel, lies in the former part of the same verse, Behold happy is the man, whom God c●rrecteth: The argument may be framed thus. That condition is not to be despised, wherein a man is truly happy. But, under the correcting hand of God, a man is truly happy. Therefore that condition is not to be despised. Behold (saith he) happy is the man, whom God correcteth, therefore despise not thou the chastning of the Almighty. Behold, happy is the man. To behold, calls here both for attention and admiration: For here is a strange sight, An afflicted man, a blessed man, N●●●●ll sense and reason cannot agree about this conjunction. They know not how happiness and correction should meet, and kiss the same person: Therefore raise up thy attention (saith Eliphaz) to consider this wonder. When the Angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, he looked and behold the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt, Exod. 3. 2, 3. Such a great sight, this text shows us. A bush burning, and not consuming, yea a bush burning, and yet flourishing, a bush on fire, and yet a fruit-bearing bush, a bush blooming and blossoming with the pleasantest and sweetest fruit on earth, or rather with the fruit of heaven, fruit upon which we shall feed for ever in heaven, Fruit, the tastes of which, make a heaven here on earth, Happiness. Well then, is this strange sight presented to us, with A Behold. Happy is the man whom God correcteth, etc. Happiness is the enjoyment of good commeasurate to all our desires. That's perfect happiness. Happiness is the sum of all our desires, and the aim of all our endeavours: And when we have attained perfect happiness, we shall be at a full point, both of our desires and endeavours. But though all men have happiness in their eye (to be happy is their end, and this happiness is but one) Yet the ways, which men have chalked out, as leading to happiness, have been not only various, but almost infinite. Some of the learned have reckoned up two or three Centuries, or hundreds of opinions, concerning this one point. And it is well observed, that men varied thus in opinion about happiness, because they thought the enjoyment of that, wherein any of them was defective, would make them happy. He that was poor, said, I should be happy, if I had riches, and thence grew his opinion, that happiness consisted in riches: The sick man said, I should be happy, if I had my health, and thence grew his opinion, that happiness consisted in health: Another was obscure, mean and low, O (said he) how happy were I, if I were honourable, and thence grew a third opinion, that happiness consisted in honour; Thus they varied according to their particular necessities and interests. But amongst all those Opinionists; we meet not with any one, who pitched upon this in the Text. This is a Paradox to them all, A natural man cannot place happiness in correction. No Philosopher or pure Moralist ever said, happy is the man, that is sore; happy is the man, that is sick; happy is the man that is disgraced; or happy is the man, that is in prison; These are riddles, such as nature is not able to expound or make out; the Philosopher would as soon place light in darkness, the Sun in a cloud, heat in coldness, the element of fire in the water, as blessedness in sufferings. Therefore no marvel if Eliphaz usher it in, with a Behold, Behold happy is the man, whom God correcteth. The word, Happy, is of the Plural number, or rather of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beatudines constat indeclinabile esse, & formam habere n●n tam pluralis quam dualis; Dual in the Hebrew. Some translate it in the Abstract, Behold the blessednesses of that man whom God corrects: But it is fully rendered by the Adjective, as we, Behold happy is the man, etc. There is much contention among the Grammarians about the word, whether it be abstract or concrete, a Noun, or an Adverb: But I will not stay on those, only consider a little what account is given, why the word is used plurally or dually. First, it is to increase the signification, and heighten the sense; as noting the confluence of many good things in happiness. Happiness Beati, beatitu do in multis bonitatibus consistit●. Rab. D. is not a single good; happiness consists in the concurrence or meeting together of many good things: God, who is infinitely happy, infinitely blessed in himself, and an infinite blessing, all blessing to his people, is not a single good, or a particular good, but he is all good, both to himself, and to his people. A godly man is happy in the largest sense, in all senses; because his, is not this or that particular good, but all good. And he is not happy only at this or that particular time, but at all times. He is as happy, when he is suffering under the hand of God, as when he is serving God, as happy in his passive as in his active obedience. And therefore the same word expresses his condition, both in the one, and in the other. Secondly, because there is a twofold happiness: First, the happiness of this life. And secondly, the happiness of the next; Temporal happiness, and eternal happiness; Corporal happiness and spiritual happiness. To note a complication of all these, the word may be given in the Dual or Plural number; He that is thus corrected, loses not temporal happiness, and he gains in spiritual, and toward eternal happiness. The present and future happiness of the Saints, the happiness of grace and of glory, differ but in degrees; It is the same state in a higher stature: The same book in a more correct edition and fairer letter. These differ as a child from a man, or as the morning light, from the light at high-noon; So then, this word includes all kinds and degrees of happiness: yet, here it is properly to be understood of the happiness of this life, which only is consistent with correction; There are no rods in Heaven, and we shall be passed children, before we come thither. Thirdly, we may answer plainly, that the word in the Hebrew Simplex & genuina responsio est quod nomen ipsum quo He braei bea●itudinem notant, est plurale tantum, ut latinis opes d●vitiae Ames: in Ps 3. is only Plural or Dual, being never read in the singular number: As in the Latin we have many the like words. It is further observable concerning this word, that it is always applied unto man, whereas the word (Barac) blessed, is applied both to God and man. This happiness is a special and peculiar happiness of man: The Lord being infinitely above, both obeying and suffering. Happy is the Man. Enosh, the Hebrew word for Man (of whom happiness under correction is predicated) is very suitable to this business of correction. Enosh signifies a sickly, weak, miserable man: We might render the full sense of the word thus, Happy is that miserable man, whom God corrects. That is look upon a man according to the ordinary account of the world, and calculation of reason he is a miserable man, a weak, sickly man; yet happy is this weak, sickly, miserable man in the account of God, and by the calculation of faith. Grace makes that good sense, which is a contradiction, both in nature and in reason, A miserable man, and a happy man, one and the same. In Psal. 1. the word Ish is used, Blessed is the man, that is, Blessed is that excellent man, that holy man, that strong man, walking and delighting in the Law of the Lord. Yea blessed with the same blessedness is that miserable man (smarting under the rod of the Lord) whom God correcteth. And yet blessedness is joined with all the words, by which man is expressed. It is joined with Adam, Psal 32. 1. Blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven. Adam is the general word for Man, and is therefore most fitly joined with blessedness in pardon of sin, because all men are sinners, and no man can be blessed, except he be pardoned. Blessedness is joined also with Geber, a strong, powerful and mighty man, Psal. 94. 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy Law; Blessed is (Geber) the great man, the honourable man, the highest by birth or place, whom thou chastnest. The Chaldee Paraphrase restrains the word [Man] to an individual, Beatus Abraham, virpius quem corripuit Deus. Chald. Pa●ap. to Abraham, as if Eliphaz had put the instance in Abraham, and said, Behold, happy was that holy man Abraham whom God corrected, therefore despise not thou the chastning of the Almighty; I can give thee a famous example of a godly man corrected, Abraham (thy Ancestor) met with afflictions as well as thou, and yet he was a most happy man: therefore despise not thou the chastning of the Lord. But the word is general, and so we are to understand it; though this be a truth in any or every instance among the servants of God I must yet put in a caution for the right understanding of this proposition, Blessed is the man, whom God corrects. The meaning is not, as if happiness were the portion of every miserable man, or of every man that is afflicted, do not think so; many are at once, corrected and cursed, troubled and miserable in trouble. To many, their present sorrows, are but the fore-tasts of eternal sorrows; As Christ spoke in a common case; These things are but the beginning of sorrows: So we may say to the particular cases of many groaning under sickness, poverty, disgrace, etc. Alas, poor souls, ye are so far from being happy in these, that these are but the beginnings of your unhappiness; God doth but begin to call for some arrears, due to his justice, which you must be a paying and satisfying to all eternity. There is no happiness in affliction naturally considered; it is accidental to afflictions, that happiness is associated with them. Affliction in itself is grievous and it would be only so to us, did not the overruling, admirable dispensations of God, temper, order, dispose, and work it to an end above its own nature; it is the art and wisdom of the Physician, which corrects poisonous simples and ingredients so, as to make them medicineable. And did not the wisdom and goodness of of God, correct our corrections, they would not be medicine to us, but poison. It is not correction, but the hand of God with it, and in it, which makes us happy. Happy is the man, whom God correcteth. The word, which we translate * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arguit, redarguit, corripuit, praeparavit verba contra aliquem, disputando & ostendendojus. Quod et si verbis plerumque fiat pertinet tamen ea vox ad sevirorem discip inam & verbera, quae cujuspiā peccati reprehensionem comitari solet. Pined. correct, signifies to reprove or to convince, by arguments or dispute; To argue a man down from his error, by the strength and clearness of reason or divine authority. So Levit. 19 19 Thou shalt not suffer sin upon thy brother; thou shalt surely rebuke him. Thou shalt rebuke him, it is the word here used, that is, thou shalt bring such arguments, as may convince him of his sin, and lay his wickedness open before him. This word is applied to corrections and afflictions in Scripture, because with convictions, we feel corrections frequently joined; The Lord argues the matter, and (as it were) disputes with some very long, who yet will not let in divine truth, nor be persuaded, though they are persuaded; What doth he then? Then he sends correction with his redargution, he cloaths his words with blows, disputes with a God in his hand, and brings an argument from feeling, when reasoning prevails not. In this book of Job, Elihu shows it, Chap. 33. 16, 19 Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, he is chastened also with pain upon his bed. Hence observe, First, That afflictions to the children of God at sorest, are but corrections. Blessed (or happy) is the man whom God corrects. You will say, but what is a correction? And how (in a strict sense) differenced from judgements and punishments, and wherein do they agree? They agree first in the efficient cause. God lays his hand on man in both. Secondly, They agree in the matter; the same evil, the same trouble to one man, is a correction, to another a judgement. Thirdly, they may agree also in the degree; A trouble or an affliction may fall and lie as heavy, and be as painful to sense upon a child of God, as upon the vilest wretch in the world; he may be as poor, as friendless, as sick, as sorrowful in his outward man, as any wicked man; he may lie in the same dungeon, and be bound with the same chain, he may be slain with the same sword, burnt at the same stake, eaten up with the same famine. So that both in the materiality, and likewise in the graduality of it, it may be the same on both, yet, upon one it is a correction, upon the other, a judgement. What then is this correction? And where will the correction and the judgement part? I conceive, that the infirmities of the Saints, and the sins of the wicked differ, as judgements and corrections differ. Now look upon those sins, which we call the infirmities of the Saints; they may be the same in the matter, the same in kind, yea (possibly) the same in the degree (I mean respecting the outward rule given by God, and the outward act committed by man) with the sins of those, who know not God, or who, in sinning, go against their knowledge. Then, where do they part? Surely, where corrections and judgements part. And where is that? Especially in two things. First, in the manner how. 2. In the end why, they are inflicted. First, the Lord never corrects his children with such a heart, as he carries in laying trouble upon the loins of wicked men. The heart of God is turned toward his children, when he corrects them, but his heart is turned from a wicked man; when he punishes him. The Lord is even pained (that I may speak as the Scripture often doth in this point, after the manner of men) I say the Lord expresses himself as pained, as grieved, as if every stroke went to his own heart, when he strikes his children. When he is about to strike, he is (as it were) unresolved whether he shall strike or no, and as soon as he hath stricken, he (as it were) reputes that he did strike them. All which motions of his heart the Lord shows us in the highest strains of passionate Rhetoric, Hos. 11. 8, 9 But when he takes the wicked in hand to punish them, we read of no passion ascribed to him, but these, delight or joy, and the effect of them, laughter: hatred or indignation, and the effect of these mocking at them, Pro. 1. 26. I will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh. And when he resolves upon the destruction of his enemies, he speaks as if then he had unburdened himself, and his heart were lighter than before, Isa. 1. 24. Ah I will ease me of my Adversaries, and avenge me of my enemies. Secondly, the difference is as broad about the end. When God lays the rod of correction upon his child, he aims at the purging out of his sin, at the preventing of his sin, at the revealing of a fatherly displeasure against him, for his sin; The Lord would only have him take notice, that he doth not approve of him in such courses. When these ends are proposed every affliction is a correction. But the afflictions of the ungodly are sent for other ends. First, to take vengeance on them. Secondly, to satisfy offended justice; justice cries aloud against them, and they have nothing to interpose, but their bare backs or naked souls. The Lord comes as a severe Creditor, and bids them pay that which they own, or suffer and to prison, because they cannot pay. Secondly, observe. A child of God is in a happy condition under all corrections. As man (in a natural or civil capacity) at his best estate is altogether vanity, Psal. 39 5. So in a spiritual capacity, he is altogether happiness, in his worst outward estate; Happy is the man whom God corrects, he is a gainer by correction: If he looseth any thing, it is but the dross of his corruptions, By this therefore Isa. 27. 9 shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his sin: Corrections are not sent to take away his comforts, but to take away his corruptions. That fire which God kindles upon his children, shall burn only (as it did the material bonds of the three children in Daniel) the spiritual bonds of their iniquity, that they may be more free to righteousness. Again, Crrections are not manifestations of wrath, but an evidence of his love, and of their sonship: Whom I love I chastise, Rev. 3. 21. And if ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons, Heb. 12. 7. The love of God is better than life, and to be a son of God is the highest privilege of his love. Where shall we be happy if not in that which assures us of such love, and of love in such a relation? Hence the Apostle concludes (2 Cor. 4. 12.) So then, death worketh in us; death, that is, our daily sufferings and endure. He speaks (indeed) especially of sufferings for the truth, from the cruel hand of man: but it is true likewise of all sufferings under the correcting hand of God: Those strokes which are deadly to our bodies, may yet work for us. And what work they? The seventeentth verse answers the question, Our light afflictions which are but for a moment, work for us a fare more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. The sufferings of the Saints are active, and their passions opperative: But how do they work? Not by way of merit or earning (Our blood cannot oblige God) but by way of preparation. The Lord sends afflictions, to fashion and cleanse our hearts, as fit vessels to hold an exceeding weight of glory: Our bearing the heaviest afflictions doth not weigh so much as the least grain of glory, yet they fit our hearts for an exceedingly excellent weight of glory. We cannot say properly, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. that they work any glory, but by an Hyperbole in speech, we say, they work towards an Hyperbole in glory. And if any doubt, can a man be happy when his outward comfort is gone? Doubtless he may: For a man is never unhappy, but when he hath lost that wherein happiness doth consist: The happiness of a godly man, doth not consist in his outward comforts, in riches, in health, in honour, in civil liberty, or humane relations; therefore in the loss of these he cannot be unhappy. His happiness consists in his relation to, and acceptance with God, in his title to, and union with Jesus Christ, While he keeps these privileges (and these he shall keep for ever) what hath he lost, if he lose all besides these? He hath not lost any thing discerneable, out of his estate. Suppose a man were worth a million of money, and he should lose a penny, would you think this man, an undone man? No: His estate feels not this loss, and therefore he hath not lost his estate. If a man should buy a thousand measures of corn or cloth, and should lose the given handfuls of the one, or inches of the other, would ye say, that this man had lost either his corn or his cloth. All the things of the world (and they only are looseable) which a godly man hath, are not so much to his estate as a penny to a million; They are indeed no proper part of his estate, they are but an additional overplus to his estate: As the handful of grain, or inch of cloth, are no part of the measure agreed or bargained for: Only so much that speech of Christ imports, Mat. 6. 33. Seek first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof, and all other things shall be added or ministered to you; your kingdom is whole & safe to you, though you have not these: These things are extrinsical and foreign to all that, which I reckon upon as your estate: God having given us Christ, casts us in the creatures, as not coming upon any account in that vast act of his free love and bounty: And shall we account him unhappy, who hath lost these things, which were never brought to account as any part of his happiness? Then happy still, though corrected. And which is yet more, correction takes nothing from the stock, but it addeth somewhat; correction brings in a revenue of profit with it: They (saith the Apostle, meaning our earthly parents) chastened us after their own pleasures, but he for our profit. What profit? do houses and lands: gold and silver, blossom from the correcting rod? Surely they may: But he means better profit than these, and a fare more noble merchandise: Gold and silver are poor and base, to the profit which comes in by chastenings; grace and holiness come in this way: He for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness, Heb 12, 10. We want nothing of the happiness in heaven, but so much holiness, as we shall have in Heaven. Surely then, whatsoever affliction takes away, it cannot take away our happiness, for as much as it makes us greater sharers in, and partakers of holiness. And the corrected children of God, are unhappy only in the opinion of other men, not in their own; When did you ever hear any Quamvis sancti videantur ignorantibus esse miseri, non possunt tamen esse aliud quam beati. Nemo aliorum sensu miser est sed suo Nulli enim beatiores sunt, quam qui ex sententia sua & voto agunt. Humiles sunt religiosi, hoc volunt: paupe res sunt, paupery delectantur: Lugent, lugere gestiunt, etc. Salu. de gub. Dei. l. 1. of them say, they were unhappy, because they were corrected. I do not remember that I ever read or heard any of them say, O unhappy we, who are thus afflicted! Salvian answered this objection well, when he saw many scandalised at the afflictions of the Godly, thinking theirs a very sad and pitiful condition: Do you hear them complaining (saith he) or did they ever complain to you? No man is to be aceounted miserable in another man's sense, but in his own: You make the complaint not they. The truth is, a holy heart can bear trouble with more ease, than a carnal heart can see it. Paul (whose whole life after conversion was but one continued affliction) was so fare from complaining and saying, O unhappy man that I am, that he rejoiced in tribulation, and was but as sorrowing, yet always rejoicing I confess, it becomes us to be more sensible of corrections, then of persecutions, the former being usually, sufferings upon our defects in grace, and the latter upon our highest actings and puttings forth of grace. It becomes the Saints to be humbled under corrections; but who hath heard them (when they were themselves) complaining of corrections? I have often heard them blessing God for corrections, I have often heard them say, it was, and it is good for us, that we have been corrected; And while the Saints writ their afflictions upon the I●vrntory of their goods; we have no reason to put them to account or cast them up among their evils. Lastly, A godly man cannot be unhappy while he enjoys God And he usually enjoys God most, when he is most afflicted. A wicked man is never unhappy in his own thoughts, till he hath lost his god, such a one as he is, his riches, his pleasure, his credit, these he makes his god, instead of a better, indeed, instead of Him, who is Best of all: These are looseable gods, and so his happiness may soon be lost; but he that once enjoys the true God, can never lose him and therefore can never lose his happiness. That of Saul, is one of the saddest speeches in all the book of God, 1 Sam. 28. 15. I am sore distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me. When trouble comes, and God departs, when sickness and poverty make war upon a man, and God be departed from him O how unhappy I what words can express the unhappiness of such a man? But they who can take liberty, and estate, and life from us, cannot take God from us; and if God should take all these from us; he will not, he cannot (because he hath promised he will not) take himself from us: L (saith the Lord) will never leave thee, nor forsake thee Heb. 13. 5. And if God forsake us not, happiness cannot, for he is our happiness. A Heathen could say, it was unbecoming a Roman spirit, to cry out (in his losses) I am undone, while Caesar was safe: It is infinitely below a Christian spirit, to say, I am undone, while Christ is safe; such language is grossest barbarism in all the Churches. They who cannot lose either their souls or their Saviour in the worst condition, cannot be unhappy in any condition, much less than under the fatherly correcting hand of God. Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects, is a truth which no storms of trouble shall ever shake or weaken. Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. That's the inference. The word which we translate [despise] hath various significations, and they will all be profitable for the clearing of this point: therefore I shall open them distinctly, and give some brief notes upon every one in order. First, It * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat, spernere, fastid●re, reprobare vel rejicere aliquid cum fastidio, tanquam vile & contemptum, Sept. Reddun● aliquando per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & hic per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ne renuas aut averseris. signifies to reject a thing, or cast it off with loathing; when a man's stomach turns against some meats, or they go against his stomach, loathing arises from it. So the word is used, Numb. 11. 20. when the people murmured because they wanted flesh, God threatneth them with satisfying their desires; Flesh would you have? You shall have flesh: it is a threat: But how shall they have it? You shall not have it one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; but you shall have flesh even a whole month, until it come out of your nostrils, and it be * sicut fastidio illu fuisset Deus op●●mus, ita etiam fostidio illis sint creaturae, & suae ipsorum voluptates. loathsome unto you, or till you yourselves despise it. It is most just with God, that they who loathe his will, should at last loathe their own desires. And that the creatures should not long please them, who take no heed to please the Creator. The least mixture of God's displeasure, sours our sweetest contents, and makes our very pleasures loathsome. Where also (by the way) we may observe the great difference between earthly, and spiritual things: The best of earthly things, used too much or too often, grow loathsome: Angels food (Manna or Quails) will not go down long with us. But Christ, the spiritual Manna, and all heavenly things, the more we have of them, and the longer we are dieted with them, the more we shall delight in them: These will not loathe us, after two, or five, or ten, or twenty days, or after a whole months feeding on them: No, we shall feed on them days without number, or the whole day of eternity, without any loathe; use and delight, shall never cease or abate; appetite shall renew every moment, though our enjoyment be but one and the same, Yea, the Saints shall be so far from loathing the pleasant cup of glory, that they ought not to loath, and (Christ strengthening them) they shall not loathe the bitter cup of sorrow: Their stomaches shall not turn, though dieted more than two, or five, or ten, or twenty days with the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction. That is the first sense of the word, in allusion to nauseating at the sight or long use of meat: Loath not the chastning of the Lord. Or the word may seem to carry a reference to physic▪ or medicines, as well as meat, which you know is many times given in a better pill, or in a distasteful potion; The sick man is apt to loathe the potion brought him, and turn his head away from it; what he take it? no not he. He had rather die then drink such a draught, he is ready to through it against the wall, and spill it one the ground rather than drink it: But then his friends or the Pbysitian persuade with him; Be not angry, though it ●e loathsome to your stomach, yet it is wholesome for your body: It is an enemy only to your disease therefore loath it not. So here, Eliphaz (as it were) brings in God, standing like a Physician, or a father, or a tender mother at the beds-side, where a sick child o● friend lies, using many entreaties and persuasive reasons to take a bitter potion; my child, or my friend, do not loath, do not despise, no, nor distaste this medicine, do not cast it away; though it ●e bitter in your mouth, yet take it down, and the effects of it will be sweet to your whole body. We find in Scripture, afflictions compared to a cup; Our Lord Jesus calls all his sufferings for our salvation, a cup, and it was a cup tempered with the venom and poison, with the gall and wormwood of all our sins; it was a loathsome potion indeed; and such as would have turned the stomaches of all men and Angels to have drunk it. So much of the first sense of the word, as it signifies loathing, whether in respect of meats or medicines. Now forasmuch as here is a charge given under this notion, not to loath chastenings. We may observe, There is, or possibly may be an averseness in the best of God's children for a time, from the due entertainment of chastenings. He speaks as if most were loath to take them down, and therefore he exhorts, not to loathe them: Even the Lord Jesus Christ (so fare as he was partaker of our nature) seemed to loathe the bitter cup of sufferings. Hence he prayed hard, once, and again, ye a third time, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, (Mat. 26. 39) Yet at another time, he speaks as if he had been a thirst for that cup, and angry with Peter who would have hindered his draught, The cup which my Father giveth me, shall I not drink it? Joh. 18. 11. and shortly after, he indeed drunk it up to the bottom. Affliction is also a bitter cup to the Saints, and they (as Christ) pray again and again, yea thrice against it, because to sense, no chastening seemeth joyous but grievous, Heb. 12. 11. through grace persuades them to drink it, and faith gives them a taste of much sweetness, when they have drunk it: As a sick man is backward to take a distasteful medicine, till his reason hath overcome his sense, so a godly man is unwilling to bear afflictions, till his faith hath overcome his reason; Nor can he quietly endure the troublesome smart of the rod, till he is assured of the peaceable fruits of righteousness which grow from it, to those who are exercised by it. When the Apostle is carried up on those eagle's wings of assurance, to see a house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens, than he groans earnestly under the burden of his earthly Tabernacle, and desires to die; yet looking upon death, he saw no form or comeliness in that, why he should desire it; and therefore he seems to correct himself, at least to draw his mind plainer with the next drop of his pen; Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality may be swallowed up of life. He speaks somewhat like a man, who in a time of heat, hastily strips himself to go into the water, but putting a foot in, and finding it cold, calls for his again. The Apostle in a true holy heat of spirit, had in his desires almost stripped himself of his body, but putting a foot into the grave, he found that so cold, that he had no great mind to it, and therefore had rather keep on the clothing of his body, and have a suit of glory over it, then lay it down. The Saints desire to live with Christ, but in itself, they desire not to die: They had rather their mortality should be swallowed up of eternal life, than their temporal life should be swallowed up of mortality. They that have grace, like not the disunions of nature. Now, as it is in the case of death (which i● to the Saints the last and greatest affliction) so likewise in the case of all afflictions, which are as renewed and lesser deaths, Though they embrace and kiss them (both in a holy submission to the will of God, and in an assured expectation of their own good) yet they have nothing pleasing in them; much, which creates so much loathing, that the best do but need counsel and encouragement to take and digest them. And then if there be some averseness even in the best from these potions of affliction, tempered with the mercy and goodness of God; no wonder if there be an abhorrence in wicked men, from those deadly potions, mixed only with his wrath and justice. The Psalmist presents the Lord to us, with a cup in his hand (Psal. 75. 8.) In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, the wine thereof is red (which notes fierce wrath) and it is full of mixture: (This mixture, is of judgements, plagues, and punishments, this is the portion of their cup, Psal. 11. ult.) But what will the Lord do with this mixed cup? who shall sip, at the top of the cup, he tells us not, but he is express, whose the bottom is, He poureth out of the same (some drops are spilt here and there) but the dregs thereof, all the ungodly of the earth shall wring them out and drink them; Alas they loathe it, their stomaches turn at it: They have not been brought up to drink dregs, they have had their wine well refined, and sparkling with spirits in Crystal glasses; and how can they get this down? They who have drunk so willingly and freely of the cup of sin, shall be forced whether they will or not to drink the cup of judgement. And it is not a sip or two shall serve their turns, they must drink all, dregs and all, they shall drink it to the bottom, and yet they shall never come to the bottom; they have loved long draughts, and now they shall have one long enough there is eternity to the bottom: If a cup of affliction, which (in the effect) is a cup of salvation, be sometime, or for a time, nauseous to the godly, how deadly sick will the ungodly be, who must for ever drink a cup of wrath and death? Secondly, The word which, we translate despise, notes the rejecting of a thing as unprfitable, or unuseful: That which a man despiseth, he thinks he shall have no good by it: Things which are unprofitable are despicable: So the word is used (Psal. 118. 22.) The stone which the bvilders refused or despised, is become the head stone of the corner. There were master bvilders in the Church, who (when they surveighed all sorts of materials or stones for their fabric of faith) looking upon the person of Christ, thought him fit only to cast out among the rubbish, as altogether unuseful; They laid him by, as a refuse-stone, who is the head cornerstone, both the strength and beauty of the whole building Thus the word is very appliable to the present Text, refuse not corrections, as unprofitable and useless: Say not (as the Jews of Christ, Can any good come out of Nazareth? so) can any good come out of chastenings? Despise not the chastning of the Almighty. And from this Notion of the word, we may observe a second prejudice against the rod: Even the Saints are ready to conceive afflictions to be unuseful, and that they could well enough spare, and be without their troubles. A natural eye never sees nor finds any thing but damage by affliction; and a spiritual eye doth not always see the advantage that comes by them Yea, he may sometime say of an affliction, it will be my undoing, and the ruin of my house, and yet, afterwards find it as a corner stone, the choicest outward means, which (through the blessing of God) hath united the walls both of his spiritual and civil building, the frame both of grace within, and comforts without. The Apostle Peter, hath a strange Parenthesis (1 Pet. 1. 6.) For having told them of their rejoicing in the safety of their spiritual estate, being kept (or secured as with a Garrison from Heaven) by the power of God, through faith unto salvation. Though now for a season (if need be) ye are in heaviness through manifold Temptations, or afflictions. Observe how he puts an If need be, or a supposition of necessity upon the afflictions of believers. As if he had said, ye who are the Candidates of eternity, and heirs of salvation, may judge yourselves past the rod or the ferula, and think, now ye have need of nothing but comfort or rejoicing in the hope of that salvation, ready to be revealed; but I tell you, you may have need of heaviness yet, before you come to Heaven: and of manifold temptations, for the removing or subduing the corruptions of your hearts, before you enter upon your incorruptible inheritance. We are apt to conceive chastenings to be of no use, when they are as necessary as our daily bread; Therefore despise not chastenings, as useless or unprofitable. Thirdly, the word is applied often to the rejecting of a thing or person, as low, dishonourable and disgraceful: In this sense also it is appliable here. Despise not chestning; That is, do not think thyself disgraced when thou art chastised: the heart of man is naturally full of pride, Man is a proud piece of flesh. Nor doth he resent any thing more than his own dishonour; many can bear the pain of the cross, better than the shame of the cross. It is very observable to this purpose, how the Apostle describes the Lord Christ in his sufferings, Heb. 12. 2. He endureth the cross, despising the shame: as noting, that his being above the shame of the cross, bore up his spirit under the cross. To despise shame, is to look upon that, which the world counts shameful, not only as despicable in itself, but as not hurtful to us: When a man despises an enemy, as Goliath disdained David (1 Sam 17. 42.) he presumes himself above his enemy's power to hurt him: So to despise shame is to make nothing of it, or to think ourselves no whit the worse for it; yea rather to think ourselves honoured by it, And until in this sense we can despise shame, we shall despise correction and the cross. Who is it almost, that finds not this the hardest text in all the chapter of afflictions? Zedekiah was more afraid to be mocked by the sugitive Jews, then to be a prisoner to the King of Babylon, Jer. 38. 19 If a man be poor, presently he thinks he is disgraced: If he be weak he doubts he shall be contemned: If he lose his estate, he fears he shall lose his credit in the world; he was a man of place, some body among his neighbours, but now he shall be slighted. Suffering for well doing is our crown, suffering for evil doing is our shame, but it is our shame to suffer. Fourthly, To despise a thing, notes the slighting of it, as if we did not think it worth while, to take any notice of it; and so this will be the sense, Despise not thou the chastenings of the Lord; that is, do not slight the chastenings, do not lightly pass them by, do not look upon them as inconsiderable, as not caring what God doth with thee or thine When God lays his hand upon us, he would have us lay it to our hearts. As it is our duty to be affected with mercies, so likewise with chastenings. If a malefactor should say to the Judge, do what you will with me, I care not; or a child to the parent, correct me as long as you will, I care not, how unnatural were this? This is properly to despise afflictions. Some are like Leviathan in this sense (Job 41. 27.) They esteem iron as straw, and brass, as rotten wood: They make nothing of the acts or instruments of God's displeasure. This is gross despising. But besides every undervaluing, or inadvertency of the correcting hand of God, hath a degree of this despising it. That exhortation ought never to be forgotten, which speaketh to us, as unto children, Hebr. 12. 5. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. The Greek word imports, the Litling; or thinking of them little. Do not think the chastenings of God little, do not little, or slight them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in thy thoughts. Neither faint when thou art rebuked, that is, do not think thy afflictions so great, that thou must needs sink and faint under them. These are the two extremes, into which our hearts usually run, when chastenings are upon us. Some err by neglecting the hand of God, as light; and others by fainting under it, as too heavy. As a good heart takes notice of, or will not despise a little, the least comfort; So it will take notice of, and not despise a little, the least cross. When a man hath a small loss in his estate, if he say, this will not undo me, I can bear this, I will far as well, and go as fine as ever for all this, such speeches or thoughts are a despising of the chastening of the Lord. We are to observe the hand of God taking away, as well as giving a penny. So when a man hath a little fit of sickness; If he say, I shall rub out this well enough, this is to despise the chastning of the Lord; We are to bless God for every hours health, and to be sensible of his hand in every hours sickness, or aching joint. Every affliction is a messenger from God, it hath somewhat to say to us from Heaven, and God will not bear it, if his messengers be despised, how mean so ever: If you send a child with a message to a friend, and he slight and despise him, you will take it ill. I remember what the story relates of Galienus the Emperor, who, when the report came to him, that Egypt was lost, what then (said he) cannot I live without the flax of Egypt? And when the report was brought that a great part of his dominions in Asia was wasted: Cannot I live (said he) without the delicacies of Asia? To speak thus from a principle of mortification toward the creature, is the character of an excellent spirit; but to speak thus from a contempt of the Providence of God, is the character of a proud, or of a stupid spirit. When we hear of the loss of a child, of a friend, or of a loss in our estate; To say, what then? I can bear that well enough, I have more children, other friends, estate enough besides that, This (I say) is a high despising of affliction. There is one thing further, in the fifth place, observable in this word, Despise not thou the chastenings of the Lord. The word is Extenuatio est, nam plus signficatur quam dicitur, sc. maximi facito disciplinam Domini, nihil tibi antiquius aut potius sit, quam ut illius correctionem aequo animo accipies. an extenuation or a lessening of the sense. The holy Ghost intends more than is expressed; for the truth is, when he saith, Despise not, etc. his meaning is this, show reverence, highly prize and esteem the chastning of the Lord. As (for instance) when the Apostle saith in 1 Thess. 5. 20. Despise not prophesying. Do you think, this is all that is due unto an Ordinance of God, that a man should not despise it? Surely no, he means then, prize prophesying highly, have it in great esteem: So in 1 Tim 4. 12. and Tit. 2. 15 when he saith, Let no man despise thy youth, is that all the holy Ghost means? That Timothy a godly Pastor should only not be despised by his people? No, his meaning is, that they should honour, respect and reverence him, as one that watched over them in the Lord. I might give you divers other Scriptures, where when the holy Ghost only forbiddeth the sin, he intendeth the duty or grace in strictest opposition to that sin. So here, Despise not thou the chastning of the Almighty; lays this charge and duty upon us, highly to esteem the chastning of the Lord, we must put afflictions amongst our comforts and rank them with our blessings. Not to despise, is but the first step beyond sin, but that includes the last and furthest step of duty, which becomes us under chastenings. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aradi●e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vincevit, ligavit, & per Metaphoram cast●gavit, erud●vit verbis aut verberibus, ad disciplinam vel poenam transfertu● Sicut vox Lamad, quae doctrinam significa● 〈◊〉 all 〈…〉. So much of the act forbidden, despising. Now, for the object, chastening. The original verb signifies to instruct, or to teach; so it is translated, Chap. 4. v. 3. Thou hast instructed many. Instruction is both by words and blows. The wisdom of God mixes a rod with his word, and chastening with teaching: Therefore it is promiscuously used in Scripture, sometime for teaching, and sometime for chastening. chastening belongs properly to children, who are wanton and ungoverned, who have a bundle of folly in their hearts, which the rod of correction driveth out. To be chastened hath a double aspect upon us, first upon our privilege. Secondly, upon our weakness. To be chastened notes our privilege and relation, as children, unto God our father. He hath revenges for his enemies, but chastenings are a part of his children's portion; yet in that we are chastened, it taxes us of weakness; we are but children, foolish, unruly, wanton, and therefore we go almost all our days, with a rod at our backs. Though the Saints on earth com●●●d among themselves, are some Children, and others men; yet 〈…〉 earth, compared with those in Heaven, or with what themselves shall be in Heaven, are children, and therefore they have what fits their state, chastening and correction. This chastening is sometime put for revenge, or the exactest and severest retribution of justice; Thus it is said, Prov. 7. 22. That the foolish young man caught by the subtle harlot, went after her as a fool to the correction of the stocks; That is, as a wicked man goes to punishment. And when the Prophet describes the sufferings of Christ which were vindictive in the highest degree; he expresses it in this word, The chastisement of our peace was upon him (Isa. 53. 5.) though Christ were the infinitely and most entirely beloved Son of his Father, yet he did not chastise him as a Son, but as an enemy or malefactor, for he chastened him in our stead, and under the same notion, that we must have been chastened, who were enemies and malefactors. So then, the word signifies sometime judiciary chastening, but here fatherly chastening, which will yet appear more clearly, in opening the last term of this verse, which shows us the efficient cause of this chastening. The Almighty. Despise not the chastning of the Almighty. The chastening rod is in the hand of Shaddai, the Almighty. This is one of the glorious names of God. And he is so called, first from his power, to go thorough with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Variè derivatur. Primò á radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Vastavit, spoliavit populatus est, perdidit, quasi vastatorem dicas, ie invictum & potentem cui nemo resistere possit. Et volunt non nulli Deum hoc nomen traxisse á vastatione mundi facta in d●luvio. Graeci reddunt▪ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉▪ & latini Omnipotens. what he takes in hand: His work never sticks in the mid way for want of strength to bring it to the end. Despise not the correction of an Almighty hand. Further, the word notes not only power enough to correct, but power to destroy, spoil and lay all waste before him. God hath gained this Title or Attribute, from destroying or wasting his enemies. Some of the Rabbins design the Original of it, to that special act of his destroying power: The drowning of the old world, he shows his Almighty power in destroying and pulling down, as well as in making and setting up this goodly frame. To this the holy Prophets are well conceived to allude, when they say that, Shod, scil. Destruction, cometh from Shaddai, The Almighty. We have it in two express Texts, Isa. 13. 6. Howle ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand, it shall come as a Destruction from the Almighty, It shall come as Shod from Shaddai. So (Joel 1. 15.) Alas for the day, for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. It will be profitable for us to consider, under what name God is expressed, when he is chastening his own children. Secondly, others derive this name from the conjunction of two Hebrew words, whereof the one (Dai) signifies it Sufficeth, or is sufficient: And the other, though it be but a letter (Shin) yet Nonnulli putát 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compositum esse ex verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sufficit & litera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, quae supplet locum & sensum relativi Ascher, & ita denotat Deum sibi sufficientem, & qui omnibus largitur sufficientiam respondens Graeco 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Drus. Alii dedurunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quod Mammam significat, quasi mammosum dicas quod omnia alet. Drus. it supplieth the part or place of the Relative (Ascher) which, and so the word put together sounds thus much, Who is sufficient, or who is All sufficient, Despise not the chastning of him that is All-sufficient. Thou art under his correction, (who doth not take from thee, because he wants himself; who doth not let thee want, because his own store is spent, out of which he used to supply thee. He alone hath sufficiency in himself, and he is at all times All-sufficient for all others, and giveth sufficiency to as many as he pleaseth. That of the Apostle fills this signification of the word, Act. 17. 25. Neither is he worshipped with men's hands, as if he needed any thing, for he giveth to all, life and breath, and all things. Thirdly, the word is conceived to come from Shad, which in the Hebrew signifies a breast, the mother's breast or pap, by which she suckles her child. And answerable to this notion, in most of those places, wherein God is expressed in that act of his providence, making fruitful and giving increase, he hath this name, Shaddai: as noting, that he hath the Great milky breast, which nourishes and suckles, which feeds and strengthens all creatures: that is the word of his blessing, not only makes fruitful & multiplies, but preserves and keeps alive, Thus Gen. 49. 25. The Patriarch, old dying Jacob, blesses his son Joseph in this form, And by the Almighty (Shaddai) who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. His Father Isaac had sent him to Padan▪ Aram under the influences of the same blessing, almost in the same words (Gen 28. 3.) God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful and multiply thee. And the Lord himself speaks thus to Jacob, when be appeared the second time to him, after his coming from Padan-Aram. I am (Elshaddai) God almighty, be thou fruitful and multiply, Gen. 35. 11. that is I can make thee fruitful and multiply thy posterity, and I can feed them, as fast as they multiply, and give thee fruit for thy family, as well as make thy family fruitful, Thou shalt not over-charge me with the greatness or numerousness of thy house. Trouble not thyself, let thy children be my care, at my finding, how many soever they are, let my purse pay for all: I am Elshaddai, God Almighty. ●o then as the justice and exact wisdom of God are set forth in the former branch under the title Elohim, Happy is the man whom God (Elohim) corrects; So (lest we should think of God under that notion only) his power and alsufficiency, his goodness and tenderness are set forth in the next branch, Despise not the chastening of the Almighty. You are under the rod of Shaddai, an All-powerfull, an All-sufficient, an All-nourishing God. The verse following seems to joint in with, and suit this fully, He makes sore and he bindeth up, he woundeth and he healeth; One part showing us God, as a Judge, wounding and making sore, the other as an All-sufficient Friend, and father or Physician healing and binding up. Take two or three Notes, from the consideration of the name, under which God is here expressed. First, The lightest chastenings come from a hand that is able to destroy. When the stroke is little, yet a great God strikes. Although God give thee but a touch, a strip, which scarce razes the skin: Yet he is able to wound thee to the heart. Know, it is not because he wants power to strike harder, but because he will not, because he is pleased to moderate his power; Thou hast but such a chastning, as a child of a year old may well bear; but at that time, know, thou art chastened with a hand able to pull down the Pondus est ●n voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noli ●spe●nere clementiam ejus in quo vivis, qui te uno momento potest comminuere. Coc. whole world; The hand of Shaddai, The Almighty gives that little blow. Men seldom strike their brethren, less than their power, they would often strike them more, their will is stronger than their Arme. But the Lord's arm is stronger (in this sense) than his will. He doth but chasten, who could destroy. And this carries a mighty persuasion with it, not to despise the chastning of the Lord, how little soever, for he can strike harder, if thou slightest this. He can break thy bones, who hath not yet broken thy flesh. Fear him (as our Lord Christ argues, who, though at present he hath made thy head only to ache a little, yet) can kill thy body, and after he hath killed, hath power to to cast into hell, Luke 12. 5. Secondly, In that afflictions come from Shaddai, a God all-sufficient, God would have us conceive in all our troubles; That When he takes away any or all created comforts from us, yet he is himself All-sufficient for us. When we are chastened by the loss of any good things, Shaddai doth it, who hath the power of all good things in his hand. When he takes away riches, or health, or relations, if he doth not take away himself from us, we cannot be comfortless, for Alsufficiency stands by us. Lastly, He dealeth with us, but as a tender nurse, or mother, in all his chastenings. The mother strikes the child a little blow with one hand, and gives it the breast with the other, she gives it a little tap with one hand, and a spoon with the other. Consider your chastenings, they are the chastenings of Shaddai, who, as a tender mother, hath a breast ready to nourish, and a spoon to feed, while he chides or chastens. And if by greater afflictions, he wounds or makes you very sore, you shall not want careful dressing and assured healing; Vers. 18. For he maketh sore, and he bindeth up; he woundeth, and his hands make whole. This verse contains an exemplification of the former ground, why we should not despise the chastning of the Almighty: For, if it should be objected against the former assertion (Happy is the man whom God correcteth) Where is this happiness? Is there happiness in sores and wounds, in sickness and weakness, in poverty and in wants? Who cannot easily want this happiness, and not complain? Eliphaz seems to answer for God in this text. If your faith cannot come up to believe this, stay but a while, and your sense shall teach it you. Who would not be glad of a wound, when he knows he shall have Shaddai for his Chirurgeon. If you will not allow a man is happy, when he is sore will you not allow him happy, when his sore is bound up by such a hand? If you will not grant a man is happy, when wounded, you cannot deny him happy, when he is thus healed. The Almighty will not leave them in their sores, in their wounds: As he hath a rod, so he hath a swath, as he hath a sword, so a salve. His plaster is ready for your wound, and his medicines for your diseases. It is true of God above all others, One and the same hand smites and cures. Thus of the general una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit. meaning and connexion of this verse. He maketh sore. The word is used in the second Chapter of this book, for 13. of Jobs friends, that they stood silent, for they saw his grief was great, or his soreness was very great. It notes the grief and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do●uit anima vel corpore. soreness, either of mind or body; Some translate, He woundeth: But the next clause bears that distinctly, or we may join both, the one as the cause, the other as the effect, He maketh sore by wounding. And bindeth up.] The word is appliable to any kind of binding. 1. To the binding of captives in prison with chains. 2. To 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ligavit, colligavit. the binding of ornaments upon the head, Ezek. 29. 9 3. It is used, metaphorically for binding to obedience or punishment, Job 34. 17. Shall even he that hateth right govern? The Hebrew is, shall he bind; because Governors bind their subjects or servants, either to do what they command, or to suffer what they inflict. 4. It is also applied by a metaphor to the binding up of those civil breaches or ruins, which are upon a people, Isa. 3. 6, 7. A man shall take hold of his brother, &c saying, be thou our Ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand In that day he shall swear, saying, I will not be a Healer, or a Hinder up. 5. It is used for the applying of ligatures, with which the medicine or plaster is bound upon the wound or sore; And this word doth therefore also signify the healing of a wound, because the due binding of the wound is one half of the patient's cure, and a very great part of a Partim quidem i●sa deligatio sanat, etc. Maxima deligationis vis est. Hip. in Offi●ina Chyrurg. Chirurgeons skill, as the learned Physicians observe in their Discourses about wounds and chirurgery; Ligature contributes so much to healing, that the same word serves, for both, or either. Now (Shaddai) the Almighty is admirable at this, when he hath made a sore, he can make an exact Ligature. We often find these two together, Psal. 147. 3. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. The Prophet Ezekiel (Chap. 34. 4.) complains of the false Prophets, Because they did not heal that which was sick, and bond not up that which was broken. They had neither skill nor conscience, either spiritually to break hearts, or when they found them broken to bind them up. They knew not how to fasten Gospel promises, and holy counsels upon the heart, that the wounds of it might be closed, and were therefore, Physicians of no value. There are two interpretations given of these words, He maketh sore, and he bindeth up. First, Some expound them by an Enallage of the Participle for the Verb, thus, He maketh sore, and he bindeth up, that is, He making sore, bindeth up; as if the very act, by which God smites, had an influence upon the healing, and a tendency to the restoring Vulnerat & medetur, i. e. vulnerans medetur, vulnerando sanat. of his afflicted ones, He making sore, bindeth up We find such constructions frequent in Scripture, Isa. 65. 22. They shall not build, and another inhabit; They shall not plant, and another eat: That is, They building, another shall not inhabit, and they planting, another shall not eat. The negative is not fixed upon their building, etc. but upon other inhabiting. And so, Deut. 22. 4. Thou shalt not see thy brother's Ass, or his Ox fall down by the way, and hid thyself from them; That is, Thou seeing thy brother's Ass or Ox fall down, shalt not hid thyself from them: A man sometimes could not but see his brother's Ass or Ox fall down, but he seeing must not at any time, hid himself from them, that is, not secure them, so (by the way) that phrase of hiding may be interpreted, by that of the Prophet (Isa. 58. 7.) Thou shalt not hid thyself from thy own flesh. But to the point here, we see, He maketh sore & bindeth up, may congruously to other Scripture speakings, be rendered, He making sore, doth bind up, as if the wound were a part of the cure, and the sore a plaster. We know that a wound in nature is sometime a part of the cure: It is a common and a necessary practice in Chirurgery (and to that the holy Ghost may allude in this place) When they perceive a wound or a sore, to which medicines Illa est vox Domini, percutiam & ego sanabo, hoc faciunt medici. Ferrum gestant & c●rare veniunt. Clamat secandus & seca●ur saevitur in vulnus ut homo sanetur. Aug in Ps 50. Chyrurgus' saepe vulnus infligit, & ferro sibi spatium ad commodam curationem aperit. cannot well be appied (and so unfit for healing) either to make a new wound in the whole flesh, or to make the first bigger. The murderer wounds to kill, and the Physician wounds to cure. He comes as it were, armed with instruments of cruelty. The patiented whose flesh is to be lanced, cries out, but yet he lances him. The patiented whose flesh is to be seared, cries out, but yet he sears him. He is cruel to the wound, while he is most kind to the wounded. An ignorant man would wonder to see a Chirurgeon, when he comes for healing, make the wound wider, yet so he must do, and he doth it upon urgent reasons. As when the orifice is not wide enough to let in the medicine, or to let out the corruption, or cannot admit his searching instruments to the bottom; In such cases, he saith, Unless I increase your wound, I cannot cure it. Thus often times the Lord is compelled to wound, that he may heal; or fit our wounds for healing. Our wound is not wide enough, to let out the sinful corruptions of our hearts, to let in the searching instruments and corrasives of the Law, or the blame and comfortable applications of the Gospel. We may observe from the sense of the words, That The wound and smitings of God, are preparatories for our cure and healing. It is said (Isa. 53. 5.) of Christ, that with his stripes we are healed: and it is in this sense a truth, that we are healed with our own stripes: We are healed with the stripes of Christ meritoriously, and we are healed by our own stripes preparatorily; the stripes of Christ heal us naturally, our own stripes heal us occasionally; or his in the act, ours in the event. (Prov. 27. 6.) Faithful are the wounds of a friend, his wounds are faithful, because he wounds in faithfulness: The healings of many are unfaithful, They heal the hurt of the daughter of my people deceitfully, is the Lords complaint by the Prophet; they skin over the wound, but they do not cure it. Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness, and let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil which shall not break my head, Psal. 141. 5. Much more may we say, Let the righteous Lord smite me, and it shall be a kindness to me; let the righteous Lord reprove and correct me, it shall be as an excellent oil, which shall not break mine head; it shall heal my heart: How healing then are his salves, whose very sores are a salve? Secondly, Take the words in the plain rendering of them, noting only thus much, that God makes sore, and bindeth up: So we have two distinct acts, often ascribed to God in a figure, to set forth judgement and mercy, the afflictions, and deliverances of his people, (Hos. 6. 2.) Let us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn, and he will heal us, he hath smitten, and he will bind us up, (1 Sam. 2. 6.) The Lord killeth and maketh alive, (Deut. 32. 39) See now, that I, even I am he, and there is no God with me, I kill, and I make alive, I wound and I heal. Hence observe, It is the property of God, to take care of all the sicknesses, sores or evils of his peopls. As God is the great correcter and instructor of his people, so he is the great Physician of his people; If he make a wound, he will take care for the healing of it; He doth not make sores, and leave others to bind up. Mighty men wound, but they take no care for healing; they can impoverish and spoil, but they care not to repair; they can pull down and root up; let who so will build and plant. Shaddai the Almighty God doth both: If he break thy head, come to him, humble thyself before him, and he will surely give thee a plaster, which shall cost thee nothing but the ask. And whereas he doth not willingly afflict or grieve, he doth most willingly comfort and heal the children of men, Lam. 3. 33. He speaks of it as a pain to himself to make us sore, but to make us sound is his delight and pleasure. Satan is the Abaddon, the destroyer, and he only destroys; he makes wounds, but he heals none, he kills, but he makes none alive. The second branch of the verse [He woundeth, and his hands make whole] is but a repetition of the same thing, yet with some addition to, or heightening of the sense. To make sore, and bind up, are not so deep either in judgement or in mercy, as to wound and make whole. The word used for wounding, imports a dangerous and a deadly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Transfodit, transfixit vel cruentavit. wound, or to make a man all gore blood. It signifies to strike quite through; and it is divers times applied, to note that stroke which God gives his worst enemies. Psal. 68 21. But God shall wound the head of his enemies, or he shall strike them quite through the head. Verse 23. He shall dip his foot, or make it red in the blood of the ungodly. And Psal. 110. 5. The Lord shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath. Hence observe, That God sometimes makes very deep and great wounds in his own servants. Such wounds, as by the sight of the eye, you cannot distinguish them from the wounds of his mortal enemies. He strikes through both heads and hearts of his own people: Or as Simeon said to the blessed Virgin Mary, Luke 2. 35. A sword pierceth through their soul also. But than lastly note, God never makes a wound too great for his own cure. The power of God to save, is as great as his power to destroy, his healing power and his wounding power, are of the same extent; His justice cannot outact his mercy, both are infinite. And not only doth he heal the wounds which himself makes, but he can heal the wounds which men make; even all the wounds which the utmost power and malice of man can make. He is able to do more good, to show more mercy than all creatures are able to do hurt or mischief. We find the state and condition of a people sometimes so wounded and sick, that men have despaired of recovery; Being consulted, they may answer, your sore cannot be bound up, and your wound cannot be healed, your estate is gangrened and passed cure: So he said as was touched before (Isa. 3 8.) In that day shall a man swear saying, I will not be an healer, for in my house is neither bread nor clothing; Alas, I heal you, I cannot heal you, your troubles are passed my skill to remedy or redress. Thus man is sometimes at a stand, he cannot heal what men have wounded; but God is never at a stand, your old festered sores, and wrankled wounds which have taken wind, discourage not his chirurgery. When a people are in such a pickle or pitiful plight, as the Prophet Isaiah describes the kingdom of Judah, in Chap. 1. 5 6. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint, from the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores; they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. When (I say) the case of a people is thus, and they can get no healer: Yea though a people (like the woman, Mark 5 25▪) have had an issue of blood (in bloody battles, which is now almost England's case) many years; and have suffered many things of many Physicians, and have spent all that they have, and are nothing bettered, but rather grow worse; yet if Christ do but touch such a sick, diseased bleeding people in mercy, and they touch him by faith, they shall be healed, and their fountain of blood will immediately dry up. Or if their condition requires some longer operation, he can effectually take such a course for their cure: He is abundantly furnished with all instruments and abilities for the making of a perfect cure. It is well observed, that three things are necessary for a Chirurgeon. First, He must have an eagle's eye, one that is good at healing, had need be good at seeing. Secondly, He must have a Lady's hand, soft and tender to handle the sore gently. Thirdly, A Lion's heart, a stout strong heart, for if he faint, how shall his patient keep up his courage? These three are exceeding necessary in Chirurgery about natural bodies, but much more in Chirurgery about Civil and Ecclesiastical bodies, the healing of Churches and Kingdoms. And where shall we find, whither shall we send for Physicians, qualified with this eagle's eye, to look into all our sores and sicknesses? with this Lady's hand, to deal gently and tenderly with our wounds? with this Lion's heart, stoutly and courageously without fears and faintings, to go thorough with the work? Well, if men should not be found thus furnished, the Lord is; He hath an eagle's eye, an Allseeing eye, seven eyes of providence and wisdom, to look through our sores, and into all our distempers: He hath (as in allusion we may speak) a Lady's hand, soft and tender, to deal gently and graciously with a people; He can dress our wounds, and pain us little, scarce be felt while he doth it. And he hath the Lion's heart, infinite courage and strength of spirit, to undertake the most ghastly wounds or swollen putrified sores. Let us therefore rest ourselves assured, that whatsoever our personal or our national sores, our personal or our national wounds be, be they what they will, or what we can call them, desperate, incurable, such as have discouraged many from meddling with their cure, or shamed those that have; yet our Shaddai the Almighty God, can bind them up and heal them, fetch the core from the bottom, and close the skin upon the top, so tenderly dress, and so perfectly cure them, that a scar shall not remain, unless it be to mind us of his infinite skill and goodness or of our own duty and thankfulness. JOB, Chap. 5. Vers. 19, 20, 21. He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee. In famine he shall redeem thee from death, and in war from the power of the the sword. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue, neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. ELiphaz still prosecuteth his former Argument, to take Job off from despising the chastenings of the Almighty spoken of at the 17th verse. And having showed, first in general, that they are happy whom the Lord corrects: and secondly, That the Lord heals as well as wounds, is as ready to bind up as to make the sore; he illustrates this by giving, First, An assurance of deliverance from evil, and that 1. In the general, at the 19th verse. 2. By an enumeration of particular cases of greatest dangers and outward evils. And secondly, to show the happiness of those whom God corrects, he gives an assurance of positive blessings, which shall in due time be heaped upon their heads, whom God had before wounded with sorrows, and loaded with afflictions. The nineteenth verse is a promise of deliverance from evil; He shall deliver thee from six troubles, yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee. To deliver, notes here, the snatching or pulling of a man out of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spoltavit, rapuit, eripuit tanquam ab hoste ●ut malo. Eripere praedam. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Augustia, interdum significat hostem, quasi angustiatorem dicas the hand of an enemy, out of the mouth of danger. The Hebrew word for [Trouble] comes from a root, which signifies to straiten or to narrow a thing up in a little compass; and so by a metaphor, to vex and trouble, because they who are straitened in any kind, are pained and troubled. And when we hear of any in trouble, we usually say, such are in straits. And this word is often translated, a straight, (2 Sam. 24. 14.) I am in a great strait, saith David, when he was put upon that hard election, between sword, pestilence and famine. So Judg. 11. 7. and 1 Sam. 13. 6. The holy language, expresses an enemy or adversary by this word, because an enemy puts us upon straits, and so, to much trouble. And to raise the force of this word to the highest, it is used to signify the pangs and throws of women in childbearing, in which the mother labours in grievous straits, while the infant labours for enlargement. Troubles ever meet us in, or bring us into straits, they may well change names, which are so near in nature; I find the word so translated here in some books, He shall deliver thee in six straits, and in seven, when thou art so encompassed about, shut in and encircled by evils on every side, that thou knowest not which way to move or turn, much less to get out, than the Lord will give enlargement, and either find a way out for thee, or make one, as he did for Israel at the red sea, through those mighty waters. In six, yea in seven.] This phrase of speech, is very considerable. Some numbers in Scripture, have a kind of eminency or excellency in them: I intent not any large discourse about numbers; only in brief. Those three numbers, Three, Six and Seven, are applied to a special signification by the Holy Ghost. A great number, a perfect number, is expressed by any one of these three numbers; A threefold cord, (that is, a cord of many or sufficient folds) is not easily broken, Eccles. 4. 12. Three times thou shalt keep a feast to me in the year, Exod. 23. 14. Three times in a year all thy males shall appear before the Lord, ver. 17. The candlestick had three branches, Exod. 25. 32. and three cubits was the height of the Altar, Exod. 27. 1. Three Cities of refuge were appontinted for the manslayer, Deut. 19 7. and the addition made, is of another three. ver. 9 Three witnesses gave the compleatest evidence requireable, as Two, the least admittable in the law, Deut. 17. 6. That (besides a rule) there was a mystery in most of these, I think no man doubts, though what the mystery was, may be presumption in any man to determine. Of this we are sure, that the highest mystery, and perfection of all numbers and things, is found in One Three. That Three in One, The sacred Trinity; And in the common speech of most, if not of all languages, Thrice happy, Thrice great, Thrice honourable, note a man advanced to the very pinnacle of Happiness, Greatness and Honour, The number Three, or the Numeral Thrice, imply a completeness in all numbers. That the number six notes perfection, may be seen in the work of Creation; The Lord could as easily have made the world in six or in one moment, as in six days: but the Lord saw it good, to take a complete number of days, for so complete a work. God threatens Gog, his perfect and complete enemy, with a complete punishment, or with judgement in perfection. (The justice of God can be as complete in punishing, as the malice of man can be in sinning.) Ezek. 39 2. I am against thee O God, the chief Prince of Meshech and Tubal, I will turn thee bacl, and leave but the sixth part of thee, so we translate; yet in the margin of our books, we find the Hebrew thus; I will strike thee with six plagues, or, I will draw thee back with a hook of six teeth. Seven is a famous number, implying, First multitude, Secondly perfection: The barren hath borne seven (saith Hannah in her song, 1 Sam. 2. 5.) that is, many she is a complete mother, she hath a flourishing family, many children. And in opposition to this (Jer. 15. 9) She that hath born seven languisheth, that is, she that had many children, now hath none. Seven devils were cast out of the woman (Luk. 8. 2.) that is, a multitude of devils: So the seven Spirits, the seven Churches, the seven Trumpets, the seven Seals, the seven Vials, etc. in the Revelation, speak the completeness and perfection of each in their kind; whether good or evil: and that is appliable to the particular sense of the text, (Prov. 24. 16.) The just falleth seven times a day; that is, he falleth often, almost continually into trouble, and yet he rises again, God delivers him. The Hebrew word Shebange, is near in sound to our English seven; and to note that seven is a complete full number, the same Hebrew word signifies seven, and full, seven and satisfied or complete. And the word to swear, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saturatus, impletus, abundavit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Juravit, inde juramentem, a Septenario numero ut quidam patant, quod juramenta fieri debeant multis adhibitis & idoneis multumque confirmatis testibus et causis. is of the same extraction in that language, with the word seven; the reason is added, because in or about an oath, many and important causes and grounds are required. But to pass from single numbers, I shall consider them in construction or conjunction, as here six and seven. He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee: Some understand this strictly and precisely of those two numbers six and seven; And expound the text by the enumeration of those six or seven particular evils made by Eliphaz in the following verses; For having said in general, that God will deliver his in six troubles and in seven, he reckoneth up several troubles, and gives us (as it were) a catalogue, or a particular of those evils by name, amounting to six or seven; As 1. Famine, 2. War, 3. Scourge of the tongue, 4. Destruction. 5. Evil beasts, 6. Hurtful stones; here are six, and if a seventh evil come upon thee, in seven no evil shall touch thee. But I rather take this expression, six, yea seven, to be a fixed number put for an unfixed, a certain number for an uncertain, and that uncertain number to be a great number, the greatest number, any number imaginable. We find this kind of speaking frequently in Scripture; In the thirty third of this book of Job, v. 29. Lo these things God works twice and thrice; which we translate, these things God works oftentimes, when numbers are doubled with an increase in the latter, it notes a mighty growth of the whole number. Twice and twice (we know) is but four times; but, twice and thrice, may be more than five times, twice and thrice, is oftentimes, no man knows how often. We find the number next above this in the same signification; Three, and four, are put for many, very many; (Amos 1. 3.) For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four: Some understand it of three or four special sins, of which Damascus was chiefly guilty: namely, 1. Idolatry, 2. Incest, 3. Luxury, 4. Oppression: Or, Three may be taken for a Cardinal number, and Four for an Ordinal; for the Fourth, as if some fourth sin were so sinful, and had such a malignity in it as the Lord would not pardon. Thus Four is put for the fourth, Prov. 30. 15, 18, 21, 29. Three things are never satisfied, yea four things say not it is enough. That is, a fourth thing (sc. fire being the most insatiable of all the rest) saith not it is enough The copulative particle (and) is often in Scripture taken comparatively; for much more. Psal. 125. The mountains are round about Jerusalem, and the Lord is about his people: So the Hebrew; we translate by a comparative of similitude. As, So. But more emphatically to the scope of the place by a comparative of excess. Thus, As the mountains are about Jerusalem, sc, to fortify and defend it; so much more is the Lord about his people fortify and defend them. In this sense we may take the copulative And in Amos. For three transgressions, the Lord would not turn, etc. but much more for a fourth, would he not turn away the punishment thereof. The former, three were enough to provoke the Lord to destroy you; but for this fourth, he is resolved to be irreconcilable, and will destroy you. Others add Three to Four, which make seven, as if the Holy Ghost had said, for seven (that is manifold) transgressions of Damascus, I will not turn away, etc. But rather take the numbers distinct for Three and Four. that is, for the many, for the multitude of transgressions committed in Damascus, I will not turn away the punishment thereof. Not that the mercies of God are exceeded by any number, or that because they had gone on to sin three and four times, that is, very often times, therefore the mercy of God was at a stand, and could go on no further; but these numbers three and four, note the boundless impenitency of those Syrians, or their malicious persecutions of the people of God, days and times without number. They turn not from their transgressions, theirs are three and four, they will never have done; therefore I will begin to punish. or I will never have done punishing, I will not turn away the punishment thereof. Such forms of speech are frequent in Heathen a O terque quaterque beati. Virg. lib. 1. Aenead Terque quaterque manu pectus percussa Deo rum. Id. l 4. Authors, when they would enlarge, or multiply the sense. Again, b Vbiseptenario numero ●ctonarius adai ur ingentem exprimit & pro pè infinitam multitudinem. The numbers seven and eight, have a greater emphasis in Scripture (Eccles. 11. 8.) Give a portion to seven, and also unto eight. That is, give much, and give to many, give (yet discreetly) to all comers: We must not stint nor bond our charity; Give a portion to seven, give to many; and if there come more, give to more, give also unto eight; Charity prefers some, but she refuses none, who are meet objects of charity. And when the Lord would show what choice and store of able men, both for counsel and action, his people should have in times of dangers and invasions, He prophecies by Micah, that the people shall speak thus (Chap. 5. 5.) When he, (sc. the Assyrian) shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven Shepherds, and eight principal men, that is, we shall muster multitudes of wise, valiant, faithful men, every one of which may be fit to command or direct in chief; Seven Shepherds and eight principal men. So then, He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea in seven, etc. is as if the Holy Ghost had said by Eliphaz, O Job, The Almighty Shaddai, of whom I have spoken to thee, is of such power and hath such an unwearied arm, that he is able to deliver thee, not only in one, or two, or three, or many troubles, but he can deliver thee in six, yea in seven, in all thy troubles, let the number of thy afflictions be as great as thou canst imagine. The power and malice of men cannot multiply thy troubles faster, than the power and goodness of God can multiply thy deliverances, yea, if he pleases, he could perfect seven deliverances for thee, before they can lay the plot of one trouble against thee. Observe hence in brief, first, Deliverance it is of the Lord. He shall deliver thee.] Whatsoever the instruments are, by which deliverance is brought to you, or in whose hand soever deliverance is put: Know, that the work and procurement of it, is from above: It is the privilege of God, and of God alone to be a Deliverer. And he hath deliverance at his command, Psal. 44. 4. Command deliverances for Jacob. Man must humbly petition for, and beg deliverance. But God stands not entreating the creature, or debating the matter with Kings and Princes, with the strongest and most hardhearted Pharoahs' to deliver his people, but he sends forth a writ of deliverance, and Authoritatively commands deliverance, when it is his pleasure a person or a people shall be delivered. Secondly, obseve; The Lord can deliver as often as we need deliverance. In six troubles, yea in seven. This should bear up our hearts in the returns, the multiplied returns of troubles Though (as Rheumatic old age is described, Eccles. 12. 2.) The clouds return after rain: That is, though one evil follows upon or treads on the heel, of another: though, as soon as one black cloud is dissolved, and we begin to say (as in nature) this was a rainy day, but sure the next will be fair, yet the next proves more overcast and lowering then that; even in such a case, know, God hath a wind in his first, which he can let out to scatter those clouds, before they dissolve; or if they dissolve, he hath a Sun, at command, to dry up the fallen rain. The Lord hath a succession of mercies for our succession of sorrows. Say not then, we have got off this trouble, but what if another come? If another come, you have the same God, and he can give you another deliverance. Have not our later experiences taught us this truth? Have we not been delivered in six troubles, yea in seven: Our straits have not been single; we may say (as she in Genesis at the birth of her son) Behold a Troop. Enemies have not given over conspiring, and acting against us, and (we ought to speak it to his glory) our God hath not given our delivering and doing for us, Not once only, but many a time, may our Israel now say, If it had not been the Lord, who was on our side, when men risen up against us, they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us. The waves and bilowes of our Seas; The rocks and cliffs of our Shores; the foundations and the pinnacles of our Parliament houses; the walls and gates of our Fenced Cities; the swords and bucklers of our Mighty men in the high-places of the Field, may all bear this inscription, Shaddai delivers in six troubles, yea in seven. The Lord spoke once to his people, as if he were weary of delivering, or would not deliver (Judg. 10. 10.) There we read the people of Israel in a great strait, crying to the Lord for deliverance, but he answers, ver. 11. Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, and from the children of Ammon; and from the Philistines. The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Moabites did oppress you, and ye cried unto me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Here are seven troubles in which they found deliverance. But, as if six or seven deliverances (which we have expounded for boundless deliverances) were now the utmost bound of deliverance, he resolves, v. 13. I will deliver you no more, And at the 14. he turns them off to their Idols for help; Go (saith he) and cry unto the gods, which you have chosen, and let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation; But what was the reason of this refusal? The reason was this, not because God was weary of delivering that people, but because that people were weary of their God. Ye have forsaken me and chosen other gods, ver. 13. If we choose ourselves another god; then we choose ourselves another deliverer; so long as we look upon God, as our God, so long we may look upon God, as our deliverer; God would never have turned them off for deliverance to any thing below (what was in their conceit) a God. How sad will it be, now that we are in great troubles, and crying daily, Lord deliver us out of these straits, for thou art he, whose name is, The Deliverer in six troubles, yea in seven; How sad (I say) will it be, if we have put God to read the Chronicle, and repeat the history of his deliverances given us, as he did to Israel, and say, I delivered you in 88 from the Spaniard; I delivered you in 1605. from the Gun-powder-Treason; I delivered your Parliament, I delivered your City, I have often delivered your Armies; and sometimes crown them with glorious victories, now I will deliver you no more; Will not such speakings from providence, be a plain conviction, that we have forsaken the Lord, and chosen other gods? God hath sometime (what a miracle of mercy!) chosen those, who forsook him, but he never (so steadfast is he in faithfulness) forsook any, who chose him to be their God. If he keep not such, from, yet he will certainly preserve all such in trouble, as it follows. Yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee. He saith not, He shall deliver thee from six troubles, and from Non dicit â sexsed in sex; non quod ab illis non possit, sed quod cum acciderint ab illis liberet, ut in illis non succumbat. seven: As if troubles should only threaten, but never come upon us; or as if all our deliverances should be preventions, but he shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea in seven, there shall no evil touch thee [Evil] signifies sometimes the evil of sin, and sometimes the evil of punishment. We may here take it either way. The Lord will so keep up thy spirit, and direct thy way in trouble, that thou shalt not defile thyself with the evil of sin; thy troubles shall purge, not pollute thee. And he will so keep thee, that thou shalt not be annoyed by any evil of punishment; If fatherly displeasure should appear against thee, wrath shall not. Love shall be mixed with thy correction; with thy wormwood and gall (as the Church speaks in the Lamentations) thou shalt have a temperament of honey, and of sweetness Ita eripiet, ut nullum malum attingat, e●tiāsi tentari & conflictari s●na● ad tempus, nocumentum tamen non capies. Coc. in loc. though troubles press thee, yet evil shall not Touch thee. Not touch thee.] This notes exact deliverance; we think ourselves well many times, if we can come off from dangers with a scratch face, with a wound, or with the loss of a limb: but to come off without the loss of a hair, or which is less, without a touch, speaks a complete deliverance. It astonished Nabuchadnezzar, Dan. 3. 27. to see the three children come out of the fiery furnace, without a hair of their heads singed, without any change of their coats, or the smell of fire. So much this imports, thou shalt pass the pikes, through six, yea seven, a whole army of troubles, and no evil shall touch thee; When the woman told the tempting Serpent, God hath said, ye shall not eat of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, nor touch it, Gen. 3. 3. She employed a charge of total abstinence. And when the Lord salth, No evil shall touch thee, it implies a promise of total deliverance. In the first and second chapters of this book (and it is the same original word) Satan begs leave of God, that he might touch Job, and touch all that he had. Now here Eliphaz seems to touch that string, No evil shall touch thee; as if he had said God will not let his servants be overwhelmed (as thou art) with evils, no evil shall so much as touch them. And the truth is though Satan obtained leave of God, to afflict the body of Job with pains, and he made it all over as one wound, yet no evil touched him, in the sense here intended: Though Job was all over evil sores, yet there was not so much as the least scar of an evil upon him; Troubles touched him, but evils did not, And troubles may touch the servants of God but evil shall not. Hence observe, God saves and delivers his people from all evil, even while they are in the midst of trouble. He delivers as well in trouble, as from trouble, while trouble is continued, good may be enjoyed. While his are in the water and in the fire, God is with them, and his presence is more than deliverance (Isa. 43. 2.) If God be with us, though all evils are upon us, yet no evil touches us. The presence of the chief good, is banishment to every evil. As a wicked man may be loaded with good things, and yet none of them touch him; that is, do him any good. So a godly man may be loaded with evils, and yet none of them touch him, that is, do him any hurt. And thus, we may understand that of the Apostle (1 Cor. 10. 14.) God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make away to escape; that ye may be able to bear it. Temptation you shall have; but with temptation, even while temptation is upon you, or while you are in temptation, The Lord will make a way for you to escape the evil of that temptation. Thus with or in trouble, we have deliverance. To be kept from the evil of trouble is a deliverance from trouble, while we are in trouble. Thus far of the general promise. Now Eliphaz goes on to particulars in the 20 verse, etc. As if he had said, Lest thou shouldst think, I deal only in general notions, that I may more easily elude and deceive thee. Therefore Dolosus versatur in universalibus. I will now give instance in the point, and name what troubles I mean: I will ascend with thee to particulars, and reckon up the greatest outward evils, the most pinching straits that befall the sons of men, or the children of God, and out of all these, I affirm The Lord will deliver thee. Vers. 20. In famine he shall redeem thee from death, and in war from the power of the sword. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue, etc. Famine Redimere est lucrari ex alterus potestate interposito precio velpotentia, con●ravim detinen●ium, ad faciendum liberum aut suum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Redemit, liberavit ex augustia, servitute, etc. leads the Van of this great Army of Evils, here mustered up. He shall redeem.] But what is it to redeem from Famine? To redeem properly is, to take a man out of the power of another, by price or by greater power; Redemption is an act of special favour, and it notes a special distinction by favour. When God threatened Pharaoh and his people with swarms of flies and promised that his own people should be free, I will sever in that day, the Land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of Flies shall be there, vers. 22. This act of divine discrimination, is called Redemption in the next verse. And I will put a division (Heb. a Redemption) between my people and thy people; That is, those Armies of flies, which invade thy people, shall not meddle with my people. To see one perish with, and ourselves saved from the sword, is redemption in war. To see others hunger-starved and ourselves still fed, is redemption from famine, though ourselves were never in the hands, or between the teeth of famine. A people divided from the troubles of others, are redeemed from those troubles. Such redemption our Saviour speaks of, Mat. 24. 40, 41. Two shall be in the field, the one shall be taken, the other left; two women shall be grinding in the Mill, the one taken, the other left. In Famine.] Famine is the want of bread, and bread is the stay and staff of life (Leu. 26. 26. Isa. 3. 1. Psal. 105. 16.) when this stay is gone, our lives fall quickly or slip away. When this staff is broken, the thread of life breaks too. Man goes by the bread in his belly, more than by the staff in his hand; Except bread hold us by the arm, and stay us up, down we fall. Famine is so like, or so near, or so certain a harbinger of death, that the text puts them together. In famine he shall redeem thee from death. Famine is numbered among the sore judgements of God, if it be not the sorest judgement, Ezek. 6. 11. Jer. 24. 10. And therefore redemption from it, is one of his choicest outward mercies. We may collect how sore a judgement famine is by the effects of it. First, It causeth faintness and madness, Gen. 47. 13. Secondly, Hunger burneth, Deut. 32. 24. That word is not used in the Hebrew, except here. Famine kindles a fire in the bowels; When the natural heat hath no fuel put to it to feed upon, it feeds upon nature. Suitable to this, is the description of lamenting Jeremiah in the famine of Jerusalem, Their faces are blacker than a coal, Lam. 4. 8. and Chap. 5. 10. Our skin was black like an Oven, because of the terrible famine. Both the coal and the oven contract their blackness from burning heat. Thirdly, It causeth pining and languishment, Lam. 4. 9 Fourthly, Shame and howling, Joel 1. 11. Fifthly, Rage and cursing, Isa. 8. 21. Lastly, It breaks all the bonds of nature, and eats up all relations: Read that dreadful threatening, Deut. 25. 53, 54. and that dreadful example, Lam. 4. 10. Tender mothers eating their children. Famine eats up our bowels of compassion, and then it eats our bowels by relation: And which comes yet nearer, Famine is such a devourer, that it causeth man to devour himself. The Prophet describes a man in a fit of Famine, snatching on the right hand, and yet hungry, eating on the left, and yet unsatisfied; when he cannot fill his belly abroad, he comes home to himself, and makes bold with his own flesh for food, Every man eating the flesh of his own arm, Isa. 9 20. We read of many great Famines in Scripture, and withal of God's care to redeem his people from them. Abraham, Gen. 12. who (at the call of God) denied himself, and came out of his own, into a strange Land, was presently entertained with Famine. One would have thought, God should have made him good cheer, and have spread a plentiful table for him, causing his cup to overflow, while he was in a strange Land, and a mere stranger there; yet he met with a famine, but the Lord redeemed him from that famine, by directing him to Egypt, that famous store house for his people▪ Jacob and his sons were redeemed from famine, in the same Egypt, afterward their house of Bondage. It is a precious comfort to have bread in such a promise as this, when there is none upon the Board. God takes care for the bodies of his people as well as for their souls, he is the father of both, and the provider for both. And while we remember what sore afflictions have been upon many Nations and people by famine; While we remember Samaria's Famine, 2 Kings 6. Jerusalem's Famine, Lam. 4. and that storied by Josephus in the Roman siege of that City; While we remember the late famines in Germany, and the present one in many parts of Ireland; While we consider, that the Sword threatens this Nation with famine: Surely we should labour to get under such a promise as this is, that we may plead with God in the midst of all scarcity and wants; Lord thou hast promised to redeem Thine in famine from death: There is no dearth in Heaven: And whatsoever dearth is on Earth, the plenty that is in Heaven can supply it. How sad would it be, if your poor children should come about you, crying for bread, and you have none to give them; How much sadder would it be, if your poor children should be made your bread, and ground to pieces between your teeth, as in the famine of Jerusalem: In such a time, to look up to God in the strength of this promise, will be a feast to us, though we should perish in the famine. But how doth God redeem from famine? First, The Lord can make the barrel of meal, and the oil that is in the cruse, though but little yet to hold out and last, while the time of famine lasts; Such a miracle redeemed the poor widow from death, in that great famine, 1 Kings 17. Secondly, He can redeem by lengthening one meal, to many days. Elijah went forty days in the strength of one dinner. Man liveth not by bread without God, but man may live by God without bread. Thirdly, Not only are the stores of the creatures his, and the fruitfulness of the earth at his command, but if he please he can open the windows of Heaven; he can bring bread out of the clouds; he can make the winds his Caterers to bring in Quails and abundance of provision for his people. Thus also he can redeem his from death, in the time of famine. Or fourthly, He can do it in a way of ordinary providence, by making the land yield its natural increase, and by giving strength to the Earth, to bring forth plentifully, for the use of man. Fifthly, While the common judgement lasts, he can make some special provision for his; And make a redemption of division, as he did in another case for his people, Exod. 8. 22. And lastly, We may improve this promise, not only for redemption from death in famine, but for plenty of consolation, though we should die in famine. When the bread is quite taken away from your Table; your hearts may feed upon such a word as this, as upon marrow and fatness. Christ can feast your souls, when your bodies are ready to starve, he can fill your spirits with joy and sweetness, when there is nothing but leanness in your cheeks; Thus the Prophet Habakkuk triumphs in God (Habak. 3. 17.) Though the Figtree shall not blessom, neither shall fruit be in the Vines, the labour of the Olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. He was feasting upon God, while he imagines the world starving; he sees all things in God, though the world should afford him nothing. That soul is well fed and taught, which can be rejoicing, while it's own body is starving. And in war from the power of the Sword. War is the second evil. Famine and war go often together, yea they two seldom go without a third, the Pestilence, 2 Sam. 24. Jer. 18. 22. And though in the order of the words, famine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bellum à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vesci, edere, per Metaphorà pugnare, quia g●adius in bello devora● hominum corpora. In bello se mutuò homines devorant & obsumunt. be set before war, yet usually war is the forerunner of famine. The sword cuts off provision, and when itself hath devoured much flesh, it leaves no bread for those who survive. It is observable that the original word for war here used, comes from a root signifying to eat or to devour, and so by a Metaphor it signifies to fight, or strike with the sword. And the reason, why the same word, which signifies war, signifies to eat, is because the Sword is such an Eater or rather a Devourer, and it eats two ways. First, the Sword eats up the bodies of men, drinks up their blood, dispeoples a Land; And then Secondly, It eats up and consumes the fruits of the earth, and hence War is the mother of Famine. Therefore we find, that when the great peace and so the plenty of the Church of Christ is prophesied of, and described, Isa. 2. 4. and in Micah, it is thus expressed, They shall beat their swords into plough shares, and their spears into pruning-hookes. As if he should say, while the sword is abroad in the field, the plough shares will do little there; For the most part Justice is silent in time of war (the sound of the trumpet Inter arma silent leges. and drum, is too loud for the Law) and when the Law stands still, the plongh stands still; Therefore when the sword is in motion, both are at a stand. Hence the promise, that Swords shall be beaten into ploughshares, and spears into pruning-hookes, that is, with peace, you shall have bread and wine, which note the abundance of all other things. The ancients embleamed peace by Ears of corn, and Concord by (a Cornucopia) a horn of plenty; riches are the fruit of peace: And safety is the privilege of the Saints in time of war, In war they shall be delivered from the power of the sword. The Hebrew is, They shall be deliured from, or out, of the hand of the sword: Sometime in Scripture we read of the face of the sword, which notes the sword coming and approaching to a people; And sometimes we read of the mouth of the sword, which notes the sword come, devouring and eating up a people; And here we have the hand of the sword, they shall be delivered out of the Gladius manu apprehensus & elevatus, symbolum est extremi discriminis & praesentis hostis: Quasi diceret etiam in ipsa pugna vel inter tot manus gladios agitantes & contra te vibantes salvaberis. hand of the sword, which notes (as we translate) the power of the sword: Or, that form of speaking may be understood by an Hypallage, From the hand of the sword, that is, from the sword in the hand, which phrase imports present danger; when the sword is unsheathed and drawn out, when it is in the hand ready to strike, than the enemy is ready to charge, and then the Lord delivers; He shall deliver from the sword in the hand, or out of the hand of the sword. So Psal. 127. 4. Children of the youth, are as arrows in the hand of the mighty, that is, as arrows ready to be shot. And Psal. 149. 6. Let the high praises of God be in their mouths, and a two edged sword in their hands; noting actual revenges taken on the enemies of God, and actual praises given to the name of God, at the same time. So then, the meaning of these words, He shall deliver thee from the power of the sword, or out of the hand of the sword, is this, suppose thou art in such a condition that the swords are drawn about thy ears, and thou art in the midst of a thousand deaths and dangers, in the very heat of a battle, yet then the Lord God can and will deliver thee. And this likewise is a comfortable promise, for us to lay hold on, in these times. It is a time of war to us all, and there are many of our friends and brethren (as it were) in the very hand of the sword; Desires are often sent to the Congregation, by one for a husband, by another for a brother, by a third for a servant, by many for their friends, gone forth to meet a sword in the hand of an enemy skilful to destroy: Here is a promise, to comfort and support such; The Lord in time of war, can deliver out of the very hand of the sword, or, when swords are in hand; when thousands of swords are drawn together, preparing for, or smiting in the day of battle; know, than God is a deliverer. In the most present dangers, God shows the most present help. (Psal. 23. 5.) Thou shalt spread my table and cause my cup to overflow, before the face of my enemy, even then, when my enemy is nearest and looketh on. As when the sword is in the hand of the Angel, so when it is in the hand of man, A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee, (Psal. 91. 7.) Not nigh thee? what? when they die on this side and one that side, on every hand of a man, doth it it not come nigh him? Yes, nigh him, but not so nigh, as to hurt him; The power of God can bring us nigh to danger, and yet keep us far from harm: As good may be locally near us, and yet virtually far from us, so may evil; The multitude thronged Christ in the Gospel, and yet but one touched him, so as to receive good; so Christ can keep us in a throng of dangers, that not one shall touch us, to our hurt. Yet we are not to take this or the like holy writs of protection, as if God would deliver all his people, from famine and from the sword; we know many precious servants of his have fallen by these common calamities; The Lord knows how to distinguish his, when sword and famine do not. Neither doth this word fall, though they do: If the servants of Christ are not delivered from these troubles, they are delivered by them, and while they are overcome by one trouble, they conquer all. Vers. 21. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue, neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh▪ This verse contains a second pair of evils: First, The scourge of the tongue. Secondly, Destruction. Two things are here to be enquired into, about the former. 1. What is meant by the scourge of the tongue? 2. What it is to be hid from it. The scourge of the tongue.] Mr Broughton reads it thus, Quo tempore lingua fl●gallabit homines. Drus. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In piel est detrahare vel nocere lingua. Thou shalt be delivered (or thou shalt be hid) when the tongue whippeth. And another to the same serce; At what time the tongue shall be scourging of men, thou shalt be secured from it. And that word (Leshon) the tongue, in Piel, signifies to detract, to traduce or slander; the same word is used both for the instrument of the tongue, and one of the worst acts of the tongue, calumination; or we may render it according to the exact letter of the Hebrew elegancy, to Betongue a man: We use such a kind of speaking in our language, as to strike a man with a cudgel or a Cane-staffe, is to cudgel or cane a man; and if a man be shot with a pistol, we say he was pistoled; so a man smitten with another's tongue, is said in the Hebrew, to be Betongued, or such an one hath betongued him. We leave the Verb, and translate by the Noun; From the scourge of the tongue. In construction (Beth) In, is often rendered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saepe redditur per Min 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. by (Min) From, as Grammarians know. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God in all thy heart, or from thy whole heart, or from the heart-root: So here, Thou shalt be hid in the scourge; that is, thou shalt be hid from the scourge, when the tongue is lashing and whipping, thou shalt be hid from the lash and scourge of tongues. But what may we understand by this scourge of the tongue? First, Some take it for public accusations before a Judge or Magistrate. Many scourge their brethren at the Tribunal of Princes, Rev. 12. That accuser of the brethren, that traducer, the Devil, is conceived to make those accusations by his agents, in those times, before the heathen Emperors, against the Christians; The Christians in that age, were extremely scourged by malignant and malevolent tongues, tongues set on fire of hell, as the Apostle James speaks, Chap. 3. 6. And so the scourge of the tongue, may be that punishment, which they by false accusations obtained against the innocent; their tongues got judgement against them sometimes to be scourged or whipped; therefore also, that very work of the tongue is well called scourging. Our Lord Jesus was crucified upon the tongues of the Jews, before he was crucified upon the cross by the Romans. The Jews cried out first, crucify him, crucify him, here was the cross of the tongue; The conspirators against Jeremiah, advise thus (Chap. 18. 18.) Let us smite him with the tongue; that is, let us accuse him to the King, that he may Accusemus eum apud regem & omni industria & ratione efficiamus, ut publica sententia vapule●. Flagellum linguae est poena in judcio constitu●a, & postulata fieri à calumniatoribus. be smitten by a public sentence. In this sense a man is imprisoned by the tongue, banished by the tongue, hanged and burned by the tongue, that is, the tongue doth all these virtually (or viciously rather) by false accusations, causing these things to be done actually and formally. Secondly, Others interpret the scourge of the tongue, to be those terrible and dreadful reports which amaze, lash and afflict the spirit about the approach of dangers. As, when a report is rung in the ear, that an invading enemy, spoilers and plunderers, armed with power and malice are at hand to take away estates, liberties and lives. How many have been beaten about the ears, and scourged with such Alarms? (Jer. 50. 43.) it is said, The King of Babylon hath heard the report of them: what report was it? and of whom? A spy rides in, and kills the King with his tongue, strikes him thorough with his tongue, before he was touched with the sword of the Medes and Persians: How? He brought him a sad report, that the enemy was upon his march, than it follows, The King of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble, anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travel. We find the like expression, Isa. 28. 18, 19 They who had slighted the judgements of God, and said, when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it should not come near them, even these (saith God) shall be vexed, when they do but hear of a scourge coming near: I will send a report, and it shall pass over morning by morning, and it shall travel by day and by night; and what shall be the effect of it? It shall be a vexation (saith the Lord) only to understand the report. You shall not only be vexed when the enemy is come, and thrusts a sword into your bowels, and fire into your houses, but you shall be vexed at the noise of his coming, it shall be a vexation to you to hear the report. It is a great mercy to be delivered and hid from this scourge of the tongue, and this is promised him who fears God, (Psal. 112. 7.) No evil tidings shall make him afraid. A heart which hath trembled at the voice of God instructing him, shall not tremble at the voice of men reporting evil to him. Many a man is more afraid than hurt, and more perplexed with the hearing of evil tidings, than others are with seeing or feeling the evil. The Lord threatens Ely, to do such a thing in Israel, and against his house, that both the ears of him that hears shall tingle, 1 Sam. 3. 11. But Thirdly, Some translate thus. He shall be hid when the Quidam, cum v●g●bitur Imguae ut sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Drus. Merc. tongue wandreth or walketh about; for the same word which signifies a scourge, by the alteration of a point in the Hebrew, signifies to run to and fro. It is the word used in the first Chapter, where Satan reports himself, A Goer to and fro about the earth; There is an expression (Psalm. 73. 9) suitable to this sense, though the Original word be not the same; They set their mouth against the Heavens, and their tongue walketh thorough the earth. The tongues of many take long journeys, while themselves sit still: Kings are said to have long hands, but many of their subjects have long tongues, and strike their brethren with them many hundreds of miles off; the tongue travels from town to town, from City to City, and scourgeth one here, and there another. And, while these men send their tongues about a wand'ring, to wound here and there, this and that man's credit, He is a happy man that can be hid from them. Fourthly, Some of the Hebrew Doctors, retaining the foregoing sense of the Verb, say, that by tongue, is meant Nations and people: Sunt qui per linguam hic intelligunt nationes q d. quum grassabuntur longè lateque gentes & populi omniaque depopulabuntur, etc. Drus. When the tongue, that is, when a Nation shall go about, or march from place to place to destroy and over-runne a Land, then, at such a time, thou shalt be hid: It is frequent in Scripture to put tongues for Nations, or tongues and nations for the same, Rev. 7. 9 Chap. 17. 15. And there is a comfortable truth in the matter of this interpretation; That when all tongues or nations shall be gathered to destroy us, yet we shall be hid: As if it should be said (like that, Psal. 83. 6.) Though the Tabernacle of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagarens, Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre, be confederate against thee: or, to take modern names and Nations, though Irish and Spanish, French and Danes, etc. should at any time, wander from their own lands to invade thee; yet thou shall be hid when these tongues rove and wander, spoil and pillage. The matter, I say, of this interpretation is a truth, and a very comfortable one, but I would not charge it upon this Text. Fiftly, and most generally, and I conceive most truly, by the scourge of the tongue, is meant all, and all manner of calumnies and slanders, curse or evil speakings, false witnesses and accusations; and from these (the promise is) thou shalt be hid. It is said, Prov. 14. 3 That, In the mouth of the foolish is the rod of pride; not, that a foolish man will scourge pride, he loves it too well; but, because the pride of a fool, sets his tongue a scourging the wisest and the best: a Maledicentia est famae hominis, quod flagellum corpori, nam laedit eam & interdam accid●t, hinc Grae●è 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dius. Evil words are the same to the credit of a man, that a scourge is to his back; when slanderers speak openly, than their tongue is compared to a sword, or an arrow by day; when secretly, then to a trap, or an arrow by night, to a serpent which comes behind; Gen. 49. and, as here, to b Flagellum dicitur quod in scapulas impingitur, & à tergo laedit, ut non videas,— Metuentes patruae verbera linguae, Hor. 3. Cor. Odd 11. Nam Patrui multo quam patres inco●rup●iores esse so lent in judicandis & objurgandis fratris fili●●ū peccatis; a scourge which is prepared for the back, and is called in our language backbiting: or we may call it back-beating. The scourge of the tongue, is all that ill, which the tongue can speak: And the c Verbera à verbis, aut verba á verberibus dicta sun●: quod au●es vox verbe●●t. Nonius. Latin word for a word, agrees well to this sense; being derived (as Critics observe) from a word which signifies a stripe; or the word which signifies a stripe, from that which signifies a word: And we find; that they who defame or over-severely reprove others, are called (barely) d Qui dè●●actoriis verbis, famam alterius verberant. percussore▪ appellantur, etiam suppresso nomine linguae, Pined. Nec sermone inutili conscientiam pe●●utit, infi●morum, nec centumelio suo & garrulus, perdat eum, quem potuit medestia, & lenitate corrigere, Hier. in Titus 1. 7. strikers. And this (as some of the ancients note) according to Scripture language, in those two Apostolical directions (1 Tim. 3. 3. and Tit. 1. 7.) where the Apostle gives the rule concerning a Bishop, that he must be no striker; This may be understood of striking, not with the hand, (the Apostle could hardly think that quarrelsome spirits and sons of violence should be so much as admitted to a probation about that office) but striking with the tongue, by an undue, an overhasty, or an angry reproof and censure. The great instrument of a Bishop or a Minister, is his tongue: but he must use his tongue, rather to heal than to wound; or if at any time, he useth it to wound, it should be in tendency unto, or in preparation for healing: Therefore, Let not a Bishop be a striker, a striker with his tongue in passion, much less in spleen or for self ends. Thus we see what we are to understand by the stroke or scourge of the tongue. But what is it, to be hid from that scourge? A word of that. Thou shalt be hid- Not, as a La●ebunt detractorem tua facta, de quibus possi●, detrahendi materiam sumere, Aquin. One, Thy actions shall be hid, which might be as matter for slander to work upon; nor, as b Deficient detractorem▪ firmae Another, though such actions appear, yet slanderers shall want proof, or sufficient witness shall not appear against thee. But▪ First, We may take it thus; Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue, that is, the tenor of thy actions shall be so fair, and probationes & sufficientia indicia, Cajet. thy life so blameless, that malice itself shall not find, where to fasten an accusation. Or secondly, When other men are slandered and reproached, thou shalt be free. Or thirdly, Thou shalt be hid, that is, though occasion should be given to malice (and that our noblest and holiest actions use most to give) yet malicious men, shall not be able to come at thee, thy person shall be secured in a chamber of secrecy, and covered with a mantle of providential darkness, while the light of thy good works dazzles and troubles the eye of the world. But rather fourthly, Thou shalt be hid, that is, Thou shalt be patronised and defended, thou shalt be set right, and vindicated from all calumnies and false aspersions, The Lord will so take care of thy credit and reputation, that though many go about to blemish it with lies and slanders, yet thy honour shall be saved, or the wounds of it healed, by causing thy righteousness to break forth as the light, and thy just dealing as the noon day. Some charitable medicinable tongue shall lick thee whole, after all the stripes of those scourges or envenomed scorpion-tongues: Thus, thou shalt be healed if smitten, or else thou shalt not be smitten, (Psal. 31. 20.) Thou shalt keep them secretly in thy pavilion, from the strife of tongues. The words of the Psalmist, are an allusion to Kings, who being resolved to protect their Favourites, against all the clamours and accusations of men; take them, as it were, into their own Pavilion, into their Bedchamber and bosom, where none may touch Ad similitudinem regiae defensionis loquitur, qua s●. illi qui regibus chari sunt coram, in ipsis aulae penetralibus & in ipso regum conspectu versantes defenduntur & securi vivunt, Muscul. in Psal. them. God also hath a pavilion, a secret hiding place for his Favourites, where he preserves their credit and reputation untouched, against all the blots and causeless blemishes of malignant spirits, Thus they are hid from the strife of tongues. Hence his Saints and people are called, His stored, or his hidden ones, Psal. 83. 3. Observe; first. The tongue is a scourge. The tongue is a terrible engine: The Scripture gives us variety of comparisons to set forth the evil, of an ill tongue. It is here called a scourge, and it is a scourge of many lashes or knotted cords, or rather stinging scorpions; scoffing is one, slander a second, false accusations a third. The former strictly taken, is a lie told any neighbour, and the latter is a lie told the Magistrate. The tongue (Psal. 52 2.) is called a sharp razor; Psal. 57 4. it is compared to spears, and arrows, and a sharp Sword; and if at any time with much using, this Sword be blunted in the edge or point, the Scripture speaks of whetting the tongue, Psal. 64. 3. It is as the sharp arrows of the mighty man, and coals of juniper, Psal. 120. 4. They bend their tongues like a bow, Jer. 9 3. Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; ver. 8. In a word, It is a fire and a world of mischief, Jam. 3. 6. (Jer. 18. 18.) we read of smiting with the tongue, and of devouring words, Psal. 52. 4. As there are devouring opinions, opinions, which not only hurt the judgements of men, but devour their consciences, and eat up truth (as it were) at a bit, so there are devouring words, words that eat up a man's reputation, and devour his good name as bread. Slanderous mouths l●ve the whitest bread, the finest of the wheat; A man's credit which hath not a bran in it, how sweet a morsel is it to such mouths? Though, the truth is, every name, by how much the more pure and spotless it is, by so much the more deadly will it be in the stomaches of these devourers. A good name swallowed by an ill man, will (as Ionas did the Whale) make him (one time or other) Stomach-sick, if not conscience-sick, and he shall be forced to vomit it out safe again. It is a sad thing when (thus) the people of God are wounded and scourged by the tongues of wicked men; but I will tell you of a sadder scourging, that is, when the people and servants of God scourge one another with their tongues: I beseech you leave this work to wicked men, take not the scourge of the tongue out of their hands, let us, not only not slander, but, not speak hardly one of another. The ancient Christians in the Primitive times, were deeply wounded by the scourge of the tongue, what strange things did ungodly men feign and then fasten on them? They reported them as black as hell, as if their holy meetings were not to worship God, but to defile themselves with incest and uncleanness; but among Christians themselves, we read not of this scourge, at that time. No; Christians loved one another to the amazement of Heathens: They were so fare from this scourging or wounding of one another, that they were ready to be scourged, to be wounded, to be burned, to die one for another. This caused their Pagan persecuters to cry out, Behold how the Christians love one another? We are scourged by wicked ones, as They, O that we could love one another, as They. Sons of Belial have revived the ancient reproaches and accusations against the brethren, O, that we could revive the ancient embraces and most endeared affections of the Brethren Observe, secondly, It is a great mercy to be delivered from the Scourge of the tongue. The Apostle speaks of it, as a wonderful mercy, that he was delivered out of the Mouth of the Lion (2 Tim. 4. 17.) Surely it is no ordinary mercy (though lying be very ordinary) to be delivered out of the Mouth of a liar. This is joined in one promise, with deliverance from the most deadly instrumenrs of war, Isa 54. 17. No weapon form against thee shall prosper, that is no weapon of war, neither Sword nor Spear shall hurt thee. Then follows, And every tongue that shall rise up against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. The tongue of a Ziba or of a Tertullus will devour and destroy, as bad as the Sword of a Caesar or a Pompey. The holy story tells us, what woeful work the tongue had made upon Joseph and Mephibosheth, if the good providenee of God had not spoken a good word for them. Lastly, Let me add one seasonable word of admonition, to these tongue scourgers; As the word is, They that smite with the sword, shall perish with the sword; so, they that smite with the tongue, shall perish with the tongue. The tongues of the Saints are in some sense, sharper and sorer scourges, than the tongues of wicked men. The word of God in their mouths, is a Two-edged Sword, yea sharper than any Two-edged Sword. A Prophet or a Minister of Christ, can strike as hard with his tongue, as (and infinitely harder, then) any Profane wretch, or railing Rabshakeb in the world. Truth well set home, will wound deeper, than slander can. I (saith the Lord, Hos. 6. 5.) have hewed them by my Prophets, and slain them by the words of my mouth. In the 11th of the Revelation, it is prophesied, That fire shall go out of the mouths of the two Witnesses, and devour their enemies, vers. 5. That is, the word of their mouths, shall be as a fire to scorch and consume the gain saying world; and with this instrument their tongue (for that only is suitable for the work of Witnesses) they are said to have tormented those that dwell upon the earth, ver. 10. Some indeed are Sermon-proofe, and Word-proofe; They at present do even laugh at all our spiritual Artillery, Let whole volleys of threats be discharged upon them, let them be hacked and hewed all day long with the Sword of the Word, they feel it not, it may be they jeer at it, at least they regard it not. As they, Jer. 18. 18. conspiring against the Prophet, Come let us devise devices, etc. let us smite him with the tongue. And lest any should say, if we smite him with the tongue, he will smite us again; For these Prophets are notable at that weapon. To secure themselves, they resolve thus; Let us not give heed to any of his words. As if they had said, we know he will speak big words, and threaten us terribly, with Sword, and pestilence, and famine, and hell, etc. But let's arm ourselves against him, and make no more of all, then of a Squibb or a potgun, then of a stab with a wooden dagger, or a charge with a Bull rush. Let us not give heed to any of his words. But let these know, though now they are hardened against the spiritual scourge and sword, in the mouth of Christ's Ministers, yet at the last Christ himself will smite them with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. Isa. 11. 4. He once made a Scourge of cords, and whipped the buyers and sellers out of the Temple, he will at last make a Scourge of words, which shall whip all impenitents and unbelievers out of his presence into hell, where they shall gnash their teeth, and gnaw Those tongues, which have scourged his faithful servants, with many stripes, only for doing or speaking his, their Masters, will. Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction, when it cometh. The word Destruction signifies a confluence or meeting together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more praedonum & impetu Hostili vastari & de populari. of all kinds of evil; when evils break in together, as thiefs and robbers into a house to spoil and take away all, Isa. 60. 18. Jer. 48. 3. When such destruction comes, thou shalt have this privilege, Not to be afraid of it. Not afraid, the word signifies any kind of fear, holy fearing as well as natural; here it is used for excessive, distracting fear. It is not meant, that a man shall be secure or senseless, when destruction cometh, So to be fearless, is worse than to be reasonless. But this is the meaning, Thou shalt not be afraid; That is, thou shalt not be dismayed with fear, thou shalt not be amazed or astonished with fear, thou shalt not be at thy wit's end, much less at thy Faith's end, when destruction cometh. Fear is good in its kind, yea it is an excellent grace; Some fear in time of destruction is the daughter of faith (Heb. 11. 7.) By Faith, Noah, being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an Ark to the saving of his house; He fears destruction savingly, whose fear moves him to prepare due means of safety. Such preparatory fears are holy fears, and well become the Saints, when destruction cometh. (Exod. 9 20.) He that heard of the destruction coming, and feared the word of the Lord, made his servants and cattle flee into the houses; God would not have his people, when they hear destruction is coming, stand at the door in a daring manner to meet it, and lay themselves open to it, no he would have them flee into the house, and enter into the chamber, and shut the doors about them, hiding themselves, as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast, Isa. 26. 20. The fear which God promiseth his people protection from, is unbelieving frare, or fear which is the daughter of despair: Such as that, Isa. 7. 2. where, when a report came of destruction coming, it is said; That the heart of the King, and the heart of his people was moved as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. They were so afraid, so unsettled and disordered within, that they knew not how to settle and order their affairs without. Such a fear the Prophet Jeremy threatens upon Pashur, Jer. 20. 3. The Lord hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magor-missabib; For thus saith the Lord, behold I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends; Fear round about, and fear within, this fear God promiseth to deliver his people from, in times of danger. Observe hence. The power and presence of God is able to uphold his people in the face of dangers, and in the presence of destruction. They shall not be afraid of destruction, when it cometh: Suppose God doth not keep the destruction off from them, yet he will keep sinking fears off from them. How terribly soever men look upon them, they shall not be a terror to themselves, neither will God be a terror to them. Many a man is his own Bugg-bear. And there is nothing can be so terrible to us, (except an angry God) as we may be to ourselves. But he, to whom God is not a terror, and to whom himself is not a terror, will not be afraid of the King of Terrors. So long as we are at peace with God and ourselves, destruction cannot come so fast, as consolation will. And destruction cannot carry that away, wherein consolation lies. The best part of the Saints estate, is out of the reach of destroyers. They can destroy houses and goods: They can carry away gold and silver, but they cannot destroy faith and hope; shey cannot carry away, grace or holiness; They may burn your writings, and the evidences of your Lands and Tenements, but they cannot burn your evidences for Heaven, or weaken your tenure and interests in Jesus Christ. Upon the wings of this assurance the Saints are carried beyond the borders of fear when destruction comes into their borders, or death is breaking open their doors, and climbing up unto their windows. Yea this assurance, (which carries them beyond the confines of fear) sets them down in a very comfortable place, in the Land of joy, or upon the mountains of delight. It is too little to say, They shall not be afraid, when destruction comes, for at destruction they shall laugh: As Eliphaz undertakes with his next breath. Vers. 22. At destruction and famine, thou shalt laugh; neither shalt thou be afraid of the Beasts of the Earth. 23. For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field; and the Beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. In the former words, we had a promise of redemption from famine and from fear at the coming of destruction. Here both the mercy and the promise are heightened, or the promise is made yet more merciful; At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh. It is a high privilege to be redeemed from famine, and not to be afraid of destruction; but to laugh at these is the highest privilege. But is it not a sin to laugh at these? And if so, how will it be any privilege at all? I (saith the wise man, Eccl. 2. 2.) said of laughter it is mad, and of mirth, what doth it? And is not this mad laughter, to laugh at destruction, and to be merry in famine? The Prophet vehemently reproves joy in sad times, (Isa. 22. 12, 13.) and brands it for an iniquity, that shall not be purged from them, till they die; And can it then be commendable to rejoice in famine, etc. It is comely for man to be merry, when God is angry? And to be rejoicing, when the Lord is destroying? To clear this I shall open the sense of the Text, and show, that this Laughter is neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●aē quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sumitur in bonam vel in malam partem, pro loci ratione: risus gaudij, risus contemptus. sin nor madness, but the holiness and sobriety of the Saints. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh. The word is ordinarily used for laughing; whence Isaac hath his name, The son of the promise was called Isaac, because Abraham laughed, or because he rejoiced at the promise or birth of his son, especially at the promise of His birth, who was to be the joy and desire of Nations, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, referring to this act of Abraham, tells the Jews, Joh. 8. 56. Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, he saw it and was glad. To laugh in Scripture is taken two ways. Sometimes in a good sense; and Sometimes in an ill sense, In a good sense, and so, To laugh is an outward expression of sound inward joy and true comfort; To laugh is an act proper to man. There cannot be true and solid joy (and so, not this effect of it, laughing) where there is not true solid reason. Even passion (strictly taken) is founded in reason. In the 29. of this book ver. 24. Job describing the great prosperity of his former days, saith, If I laughed on them, they believed it not. Job was a man of that esteem and veneration, that though he expressed in his gesture or countenance, a kind of familiarity, and how well he was pleased, yet the people did so much reverence him, and his piety and unspotted justice did so over-awe them, that they suspected still he might observe somewhat amiss in them. Secondly, to laugh, is used for scorning and deriding. In the 39 of this book v 7. Laughter is ascribed unto the wild Ass, improperly; He (sc. the wild. Ass) scorns (or laughs at) the multitude of the City. And (Psal. 2. 4.) when the Princes and the people gather themselves together, to take counsel against the Lord and against his Christ; He that sitteth in heaven shall laugh, and the Lord shall have them in derision. That is, the Lord (in a most holy manner) scorns or derides the counsels and practices of wicked men, Man is never in so sad a condition, as when God laughs at him. Again, Laughter proper to man, is either sinful and reprooveable, or holy and commendable. Sinful laughter is that which arises. First, from unbelief or weakness of faith: Such was the laughter of Sarah (Gen. 18. 12.) when the Angel brought his message that Sarah should have a son, Sarah, heard it, as she was in the Tent▪ door, and the Text saith, Sarah laughed: The ground of her laughter was unbelief, she thought it an impossible thing, for her to have a son (as a man will laugh at a thing you tell him. when he thinks it impossible to be done. That her laughter was from unbelief, is plain, from the Angels reproving question in the next words; Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, shall I of a Jurety bear a child, which am old? Is any thing too hard for the Lord? As if he had said, surely Sarah thinks the Lord hath out promised his own power to perform. Secondly, Sinful laughter ariseth from contempt, or slighting of counsel, and carnal security in times of danger (2 Chron. 30. 10.) when Hezekiah sent messengers to Ephraim and Manasseh to warn them to come up to the house of the Lord, to keep the Passeover, it is said, That they laughed the messengers to scorn and mocked them; they laughed, slighting and contemning this admonition, thinking themselves safe and well enough, though they came not up to that solemn Passeover. Thirdly, Sinful laughter arises from pride and selfe-confidence, (Hab. 1. 10.) The Prophet describes the proud Chaldeans, invading Judah; thus, They shall sc●ffe at the Kings, and Princes shall be a scorn unto them, and they shall deride every strong-hold. They shall come up with such an army, with such an arm of flesh, as all flesh must fall down and yield unto. Lastly, There is a sinful laughter, springing from sensuality, and excess of creature contentments. Such laughter Christ threatens, Luk. 6. 25. Woe to you that are full, woe to you that laugh now: That is, woe to you that laugh, because of your creature-fulnesse. Laughter, which is good and commendable, hath such roots, as these. First, it springs up from faith, such was the laughter of Abraham (Gen. 17. 17.) when he heard the promise, that he should have a son, the text saith, Abraham fell upon his face and laughed: That the laughter of Abraham was from faith, is clear from the Apostle, Rom. 4. 19 affirming, that, He not being weak in faith, considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarahs' womb, he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, etc. Abraham laughed out his faith, not (as Sarah) his unbelief. Therefore also Christ saith (as was touched before) Abraham rejoiced to see my day, he saw it, and was glad: In the promise of his son, he saw the Promised se●d, in whom all the Nations of the earth should be blessed. This sight of the day of Christ, in that prospective of the promise, drew it ●eare to the old-man's heart (though it were fare off) and made him glad. Secondly, Commendable laughter comes from holy courage, and well grounded confidence; well tempered magnanimity, and Christian heroicalnesse of spirit, lifts us so fare above dangers and fears, that we laugh at them. And then, there is a laughter in dangers grounded upon assurance of deliverance from, or support in dangers. A man that sees a great Ridehis ventos hoc munere tectus. & imbres. Mart. storm coming, laughs at it, knowing where to go to shelter presently, where to get a warm house over his head, The Pilot knowing he hath a strong Ship, and good Tackling, laughs at the winds. In that sense [not to fear] is used (Prov. 31. 21.) where it is said of the wise woman. She is not afraid of the snow for her household; If the snow and cold weather come, she doth not fear it, she can laugh at the snow; Why? For all her household are clothed with scarlet, or double cloth, she hath made such provision against cold weather, that she fears neither frost nor snow. Now, the text, (when it is said, At famine thou shalt laugh,) is not meant of laughter, springing either from unbelief, or pride or self-confidence, or sensuality or senselessness; as if he should not care what God did in the world, let God do what he would, he would laugh. As that proud Emperor said (not only as one before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him, when I am dead, but) while I live, let heaven and earth be mingled together, I care not, scorning and contemning what could come. But this laughter comes from strength of faith, from holy courage, and well grounded confidence; from an assurance of shelter, safeguard and protection from, or support in, the greatest dangers, even in famine and destruction: He fixes on such a promise In vastitate ita eris munitus, ac de tua salute securus, ut ridere possis, etiam s● famescas, non te enecabit fames, verum Deus sue te consolationi● papulo ita reficiet, ut ridere possis. Ipsa te fames red●et saturum; & cā●abis, non secus ac si tibi plenus esset venture. Pined. as this, Psal. 37. 19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine, they shall be satisfied. The soul of a believer sees salvation in destruction, food in famine, he hath wine well refined to drink, marrow and fatness to feed upon, when the world knows not how to give him (or will not give him) a dry crust, or a cup of cold water. He sees a hiding place, when all others lie open to the danger, he sees a place of refuge, a covert from the rain and from the storm, when others stand naked under them. The sum of all is; A godly man sees himself so protected in dangers, so provided for against all wants, he sees in the promises such a Magazine of arms, such stores of bread, that he fears no weapon formed against him, and feeds, when no table is spread for him; Danger secures, destruction saves, and famine fattens him, that is, in danger, destruction and famine, he knows whither to go for food, salvation and safety, even unto God, who is all this to him, and will be more, if he need it Upon these grounds it is, that the text saith, At famine and destruction he shall laugh. Observe hence, A godly man, a true believer, is not only not afraid of outward evils when they come, but through faith he is above and triumphs over them. Not to be afraid of faime and destruction when they come, is too low for his spirit, He shall laugh when they come. Hence the Apostles exulting language, We glory in tribulation, we are exceeding joyous in all our tribulations. And to this sense we may interpret that of Peter speaking of the sufferings of the Saints, 1 Epi. 4. 14. The Spirit of glory resteth upon them; that is, a spirit of glorying and holy rejoicing, whereby the soul is carried up (as it were) upon Eagles-wings, above and beyond reproaches. All evils lie below a believer, when he is lifted up with this spirit of glory. This spirit of glory resting upon us through him that loved us, makes us more than conquerors over tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword, Rom. 8. 35. More than conquerors? Who can express, how much that is? No tongue can tell what it is to be more than a conqueror; when Christ would advance the exceeding greatness of that reward, which Givers shall receive, Luke 6. 38. He saith not barely, Give, and it shall be given you good measure; but you shall have it pressed down, and yet more, shaken together; that is not all neither, but you shall have it running over. Now a measure will run over, as long as you will pour, there is no stint, no bounds to that gift, which shall be given running over; A vessel will run over continually, pour as long as you will: So here, you shall not only have a conquest, but more than a conquest, and what that is, is as much and more than all our thoughts are able to comprehend. Hence also the Apostle speaking of that great enemy, the last enemy Death (1 Corinth. 15. 55.) brings in the believing soul in a kind of holy triumph, laughing at, and even jeering death, in the sense of the Text, O death where is thy sting? As if a man having disarmed his enemy, should say, now Sir, where's your sword? where's your pistol? Christ hath disarmed death, taken away its sting; now the believer may laugh in the face of death, Oh death, thou thoughtest to make us all smart, where is thy sting? thou thoughtest thyself a conqueror, able to devour and subdue us all, but where is thy victory? Such is the laughter here meant. And in the same sense, Leviathan the mightiest of living creatures, that sea monster (to whom upon the earth there is not the like, he is made without fear, Chap. 41. 33.) is said to laugh at the shaking of the spear (Job 41. 29.) He is so armed with impenetrable scales, that, shake a spear at him, he laughs at you; it is an allusion to those, that are armed with proof, they fear neither sword nor shot: The truth is, a believer is shot-free, shake the spear at him, shake famine, shake destruction at him, threaten him with this or with that, he laughs at all, because he hath armour of proof, wherein he may safely trust; He hath a shield, a shield of faith, which will quench even the fiery darts of Satan, much more than the fiery dangers of the world. The Histories of the Primitive Church, are full of this holy laughter, and heroical magnanimity of the Saints, grappling with the greatest evils. How did those renowned Martyrs, even baffle death, and deride their torments (from this principle of faith in Christ) conquering them, not slighting them (from a principle of selfe-neglect) When Polycarpe was threatened to be torn in pieces with the teeth of wild beasts, let them come, saith he, and grind me, I shall make very good bread, so that the very tormentors were more tormented with the holy scorn and laughter of suffering Christians, than the Christians were with the torments which they suffered. In 2 Sam. 2. 14. When Abner and Joab, the two great Generals met, Abner saith unto Joab, Let the young men arise and play before us; the sport was to fight, and fight unto death, and yet these stout Soldiers being above fear, call it playing one with another; It is the word here in the text (let them come and laugh together before us) As if these young men were of such courage, that they could laugh at death, and go to killing one another as if they were to go to play with one another. Surely there is little reason for such courage; killing of men is no laughing matter, no matter of sport; for, as Abner said unto Joab, not long after (vers. 26.) shall the sword devour for ever, knowest thou not, that it will be bitternsse in the end? There is little cause to account the beginning of that a sport, which will be bitterness in the end: But when the Saints are to join in the deadliest battle, or to meet with the deadliest death for Christ, or from the chastning hand of Christ, they have reason enough to account it a sport, and to laugh at destruction (in this sense cleared) because they know it will be sweetness and comfort in the end: Valour sometimes laughs at danger, much more may faith, (Psal. 68 12, 13.) Though ye have lain among the pots, yet shall we be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold: This is the confidence of the Saints, when they lie among the pots, or among the pot-ranges (as some interpret it) where the scullion's lie, and are besooted and blacked over, at the fire of afflictions till they look like very scullions, that yet, they shall be gilded over soon after. Or it may be understood of the bounds and limits of the enemy's Country: and so it is a description of great danger, for they who lie upon the borders of an enemy's Country, are in continual fear of an assault; This the Greek seems to favour, rendering it thus; Though we have lain between the inheritances, or the lots, sc. our own and the enemies; either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Sept. Ainsworth. way the sense reaches this point fully; Though Believers lie among the pots, or ncarest dangers, yet they are assured that they shall have wings, as the wings of a Dove, which are covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. There is gold and silver in the eye of faith, while there is nothing but blackness and death in the eye of sense; yea, faith assures them, that, they shall be white as snow in Salmon (as it follows in that Psalm) that is, they shall have whiteness after blackness, or light in the midst of darkness; Salmon signifies dark, duskish or obscure: for, it was a hill full of pits, holes, and glins, very dark and dangerous for passengers; but when the snow was upon it, it was white and glistering; now saith he, they shall be like Salmon in the snow, though black in themselves, yet white, lightsome and glorions, either through pardon of sin, or victory over their enemies, to both which, whiteness hath reference in Scripture. Again, In that it is said, At destruction and famine thou shalt Non solum singulas arumnas superabit, sed omnium illarum in unum coeuntiam agmen. Integrum ex omnibus ex●rcitum f●gabi●. laugh; as from that word, laughing, we see what spirits the Saints have in troublesome times, So, inasmuch as he gathers together and rally's all the scattered troops of afflictions, to charge at once upon a believer; and yet concludes, At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh; Observe, That A godly man laughs at, or is above all evils, though brought against him at once. It hath been said, That Hercules could not match two: here are two, Destruction and famine, overmatcht by one; bring whole legions and armies of troubles to encounter a Saint, he overcomes them all: He famishes famine, and destroys destruction itself. The Apostle, Rom. 8. 35. musters up (as it were) all evils together into a body, and dares any or all to battle, with a believer, Who shall separate us from the love of God? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? which of these shall undertake the challenge, or will you bring any more? then, come life, or death, Angels, or principalities, or powers, things present, or things to come, height, or depth, or any other creature: none of these single, nor all of these joined, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Every heightened Saint is a spiritual Goliath, who in the name of the living God, bids defiance to this huge host, and they all run and tremble before him. Rejoice (saith the Apostle, James 1. 2.) when you fall into divers tempatations; A believer hath joy, not only when he grapleth with a single temptation, but let there come many, divers temptations, variety of temptations, variety for kind, and multitude for number, yet he rejoiceth in the midst of all. Neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. Having thus lifted a godly man above the afflicting reach of those two great evils, famine and destruction, want of good things, and spoiling of their goods; he proceeds to instance another great evil, wherein a godly man is exempt from, and set above fear; Neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. Beasts of the earoh.] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vita, vivents, bestia fera. The root of that word signifies life, and so any living creature, especially a wild beast; because they are so active and full of life, therefore they are named from life. And these are called, the beasts of the earth. First, Because beasts are produced from the earth, and the earth received a charge to produce them, Gen. 1. 24, 25. And God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature, after his kind, and God made the Beast of the earth after his kind. Or secondly, Because Beasts have nothing but earth to live upon; as men whose portion is only in creatures, are called men of the world, or men of the earth. The word for ( * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Complectitur totum terrarum orbē tum habitabilem, tum qui non est habitabliis, deductum volunt a verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 currage, vel quia coelum perpetuo rotatu circa terram currit, vel qu●d omnia animalia currant super faciem terrae. earth) signifies the whole earth, habitable or inhabitable; And though the earth stand still, yet this word is derived (say some) from running: either, because the heavens run round abovi the earth, with a continual rotation or motion; or because all creatures, men and beasts, move or run upon the face of the earth. Though others deduce it from a word which signifies to desire, Alii à verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. volui●, con●upivi● deductum voluat eo quod terra jugiter appetat afferre wish, or will a thing, because the earth is perpetually desirous of bringing forth fruit, for the use and help of man. But it is not agreed on, what we are to understand, by the beasts of the earth. First, Some take the words improperly, and so the beasts of the earth, are interpreted men; A company or society of men, and these in a double sense. For the word notes sometimes a company of men in a good sense, and sometimes a company of men in an ill sense. I shall give you an instance of both, for the clearing of this text- It signifies men, or a company of men in a good sense, Psal. 68 10. where speaking of that rain of liberalities, (that is, blessings of all sorts) which God sent upon his inheritance, to confirm and refresh it, he saith, Thy Congregation hath dwelled therein, Thy camp or leaguer, thy host or troop dwelled there; (so 2 Sam. 23. 13.) which the vulgar translates, Thy beasts, and the Greek, Thy living Animalia tua habitabunt in ijs, Vulg. Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. creatures dwelled therein: The same word is used (and some apprehend in allusion to this Psalm) Rev. 4. 6. Chap. 5. 8, 9 in those mystical descriptions of Christ and his Church: In this sense it suits not at all with the promise of the text, These beasts are not to be feared, but honoured and loved; man's greatest spiritual comforts on earth, are found in the society of these beasts. But commonly this word, referred unto men, signifies an association of wicked men; men of the earth, worse (many of them) than the beasts of the earth: These are spoken of in the same Psalm, ver. 30. Rebuke the company of spear men, (or Archers) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The rout or crew of the Cane, that is, men that bear reeds, or canes, whereof spears and arrows were wont to be made; therefore the company of speare-men or archers, are called a company with reeds: The word by us rendered company, is, the beasts of the reeds, those men that are like beasts, savage, cruel and bloody, these are as bruits and beasts of the earth; so they are deciphered in the next verse, The multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people. And we find the word signifying, a company of wicked ones, and a company of Saints in the same verse Ps. 74. 19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove unto the multitude of the wicked; The Hebrew is unto the company of the beasts; Forget not the Congregation (or the beasts) of thy poor for ever; there the same word is taken (as in Psal. 68 10) for a company of Saints, or the poor people of God. In the Scripture of the new Testament, it is frequent to shadow wicked men under the names of beasts, beasts of the earth: so that of Paul hath been taken (1 Cor. 15. 32.) If I have fought with beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men, with beastly men, cruel men, men like unto beasts in their qualities and dispositions: though others understand it of his being cast unto the beasts, to fight with them, which was a cruelty those persecuting times exercised against the Christians. So (1 Tim. 4. 16.) Paul saith, he was delivered out of the mouth of the Lion: Nero that cruel tyrant, is supposed to be the Lion, the beast of the earth he aimeth at. And the Apostle, Tit. 1. 1. gives this character of the Cretians, they are evil beasts. If we take it here in this sense, it is a truth, and a very comfortable truth, that godly men shall be delivered from the fear of beastly and cruel men, or as the Apostle calls them, unreasonable or absurd men; who have not faith. But rather understand here beasts of the earth properly, for those fierce and cruel creatures hurtful to man. Once man had power and dominion over all the creatures; the wildest beasts were tame to him in his state of innocency; till he risen up and rebelled against God, the creatures were subject unto him; but man rebelling against God, the creatures rebelled against man: hence it is, that man naturally is surprised with fear at the approach and sight of strong and cruel beasts; and therefore it is here spoken as a special mercy and privilege of the godly, that they shall not be afraid of the beasts of the earth. The beast of the earth are hurtful to us three ways; First naturally, many beasts by nature are very dreadful to man, as the Lion, the Bear, the Wolf, and such other fierce, strong and bloody beasts. Scondly, Tame beasts, such as we daily use and subdue to our service, are often by accident hurtful to us; The Horse and the Ox, have many times been destructive to their owners. Thirdly, (which I conceive is the thing chief aimed at here) beasts hurt judicially, in a way of wrath from God; There are divers places in the book of God, wherein God threatens to arm the creatures, against those who sin against him, and that when his people should forget their duties, the beasts should forget their subjection. Deut. 32. 24. I will send the teeth of beasts upon them. And Jer. 15. 3. I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the Lord, the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy. You see God can have an army any where if he pleaseth, an army of dogs to destroy, an army of fowls of the air, an army of the beasts of the earth, to subdue a rebellious people. And Ezek. 14. 21. This is one of the four sore judgements that God denounceth against Jerusalem, The sword, and the famine, and noisome beasts, and the pestilence. Thus in a judicial manner they were very terrible and dreadful, and so were numbered among the sorest evils or judgements which God sent upon a Nation, for their wickedness. To all or any of these ways, this promise may be enlarged. Thou shalt not be afraid of the natural cruelty, the casual hurtfulness, or the judiciary rage of beasts, when sent by God with commission to punish the beastliness of men. How this cometh to pass, that beasts of the earth hurt not godly men, is said down in the next verse, which I shall a while open, and then give you some Notes and Observations from both together. Verse 23. For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. This verse contains the reason, why he should not be afraid of the beasts of the field; and here is somewhat more got into the reason, than was before in the promise; the ground of the promise is higher, and carried farther than the promise itself. The promise was, to be delivered from the fear of beasts; and that thou mayest be certain of it, know God will not suffer so much as a stone to do thee hurt; thou shalt be at league not only with the beasts of the earth, but with the stones of the field. Thou shalt be in league] The word is frequently used in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●●legii quia elegamur personae inter quas & res & conditio●es propter q●as foed●s initur. Buxt. old Testament, to signify, that solemn gracious covenant of reconciliation between God and man, established in the blood of Christ. A league or covenant is a very solemn act, an act of reason and of the highest reason, an act of judgement and deepest deliberation: therefore it may be doubted how a league can be entered with stones, which have no life, or with beasts which have no reason. We read (Gen. 31. 41.) of a league or covenant made at or upon an heap of stones, between Jacob and Laban; but this is very strange and unheard of, to make a league with a heap of stones. For the claring of this, we must inquire into two things; 1. What these stones are. 2. What this league with stones doth import. First, For the Stones: There are divers opinions about them, and many Interpreters have exceedingly stumbled at these stones: Some change these stones into men, strong men, or the strongest of men. That of Job in the next Chapter, hath some allusion to it, ver. 12. Is my strength the strength of stones? A strong man is strong, as a stone. The Chaldee Paraphrast, understands by stones, the Law, which was written in stones. Thou shalt be in league with the stones, that is, the Law written in tables of stone shall never hurt thee. But that (as to this text) is a mere conceit, though (in itself) a great truth, and our greatest comfort, that believers are at league with those Law-stones, which left in power and hostility, would have broken all mankind to pieces, and ground them to power. Christ hath made peace for us with the Law; The Law had a quartel at us, and the Law would have been upon us with an everlasting war, if Christ had not settled our peace by satisfying the Law; Stoning to death, had been the death of us all, if Christ had not made a league for us with these stones. Thirdly, Others interpret these stones by a Metanomy of the continent for the thing contained, Thou shalt be at league with the stones of the field, with the rocks or rocky places, that is, thou shalt be at league with those creatures, or with those beasts, which lie among the stones, and have their dens about hollow rocks: and so they make the latter branch [and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee] to be exegetical, giving us the exposition of the former, or showing what is meant by being at league with the stones of the field; Thou shalt be at league with the stones of the field, that is, with the beasts who make their dens, and their holes, and their hiding places anomg the stones of the field. This is a good sense of the words. But leaving the former, with some other apprehensions about these stones, I shall take these stones properly, and so they will fall under four considerations, all which give light to the clearing of this text, and the manner of our league with stones. First, As naturally scattered upon the face of the earth, so hindering travellers, or endangering a man in haste upon his way. One part of Arabia, was called Arabia Petraea, or the stony, because it was full of stones, and so uneasy either for tillage or travel. Stones are so dangerous to the foot, that the Latin word is derived from hurting the foot; Hence those Scripture-expressions, Lapis à laedendo pede nomen habet. A stumbling stone, and a rock of offence, because men are so apt to stumble at stones. And both these are applied to Christ in a figure, he is called A stumbling stone, and a rock of offence. Christ in himself is the most precious and elect foundation-stone to build on, but he is the most sore and dangerous stone to stumble on: To be in league and covenant with that living stone, is the highest mercy. Secondly, These stones as they lie naturally hidden in the bowels of the earth, or under the earth, are a trouble to the Husbandman in tilling the ground, in ploughing and sowing, and they often endanger the breaking of his plough, and hinder the rooting and growth of the seed sown. Thirdly, consider these stones as artificially laid together for the making of a wall or mound to fence and part field from field, or both from the common fields and highways. Fourthly, Consider these stones as artificially and industriously placed for marks and boundaries, to distinguish private men's lands, or the precincts of such and such countries, which are commonly called a Lapides terminales. Mark stones, or Boundary-stones; as also stones set in roads or highways, for the direction of Travellers, pointing which way to go to eminent Towns or Cities. Of such a stone we read (1 Sam. 20. 19) when Jonathan bade David stay at the stone Eziel, that is, as we put in the Margin of our Bibles, the stone that showeth the way, or the b Lapides viatorii. way-stone. These boundary-stones, or way-stones to direct travellers, were famous in antiquity; Insomuch that among the c Romoni Deum habeban● quem Terminu●n vocabant. Is Deus finum erat, Pig. l. 1 de Civ. Dei cap. 23. Lact. l. 1. c. 20. Heathen, They were worshipped as a God, or Numen, as divers of the Christian Fathers have observed in their learned reports of Heathenish idolatry. Which also their own d Termini, sive lapis sive es defossus in agro, Stipes, ab antiquis, ●u quoque numen habes. Ou. primo Fast. — Omnis erit sine ●eli●igiosus ager— Poets have elegantly described, both in their constitution and uses; giving those stones a charge faithfully to testify, e Et seuve meribus, seu te pul sabere rastris, Clamato tuus est hic ager, ille tu us. This is your land, and this is yours. And they break out into the commendation of the integrity of these witnesses, whom no threats could terrify, or bribes corrupt to speak a lie, or conceal the truth. Now consider the other term, what it is to be in league with stones, in any of, or in all these acceptations. In general we know, that to be in league with stones, is an improper or allusive speech: Stones are not capable of the formalities of a league, when we are in league or covenant with God or man, so with stones; these two things are made out to us. 1. That God or man will do us no hurt; A covenant or league takes off the actings of hostility. Whatsoever a man is in covenant with, he fears no damage from. Presumptuous sinners having made a covenant with hell, and an agreement with death, build their confidence of indemnity upon the strength of it. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come near us, Isa. 28. 15. A man that is in league with the devil, believes the devil will do him no wrong. 2. A league imports, that we may expect to receive good, protection, benefits and blessings either from God or man, according to the Articles of covenant agreed to, and sealed respectively. These two assurances we have by a league. And when it is said here, that a godly man is in league with the stones of the field, both these are to be understood. It is as much as to say, The stones of the field shall not annoy him; yea, the stones of the field shall be a benefit or a friend to him. Man is said to be in league with stones, when he receives the effect of a league from stones. Taking it in this general sense, we may apply it unto those four particular senses of senseless stones before mentioned. First, As stones are naturally scattered upon the face of the earth, the promise imports thus much; that such stones shall not hurt or annoy him in his walks or travels. This promise we have expressly (Psal. 91. 11.) He shall give his Angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways, they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. This is the league with stones, Stones shall not annoy thee in thy way, thou shalt not stumble or fall to break thy bones, or bruise thy body upon these stones. The devil in his combat with Christ, misapplyeth this promise of a league with the stones (Mat. 4. 6.) Tempting him to cast himself down from a pinnacle of the Temple, for it is written, He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, least at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone; As if he had said, a godly man hath this assurance from his league with the stones, that he shall receive no harm from them, therefore trust God, and in confidence of this promise, Cast thyself down. So here is the first sense, Thou shalt be at league with the stones of the field; that is, thou shalt not be hurt by those stones, as thou travelest or walkest. Secondly, Take the stones as they lie hidden in the earth, then to be at league with them, hath this sense. First, that in tilling the earth, stones should not trouble or hinder that work. God shall so order it, that though thou plowest among stones, yet thou shalt till thy ground successfully. The stony ground shall be fruitful ground. In that Parable of a vineyard (Isa. 5. 1) God is pleased to manifest his care of making it fruitful, by this act among others, I gathered out the stones thereof, ver. 2, noting that stones are naturally great impediments to fruitfulness. We rea● (Mat. 13. 5.) how the seed, which fell upon the stony ground, sprung up quickly and withered as quickly; Stony ground naturally cannot feed or bring forth fruit to maturity. It is then a great privilege, thus to be in league with the stones of the field, that though we sow among stones, yet we shall have a plentiful Harvest. When Job described the days of his prosperity (Chap. 29. 6) he saith, The Rock poured him out rivers of oil: To have oil out of rocks, is like having corn out of the stones, both noting things succeeding Justo mollescunt saxa, im●iis vero te●rae pulvis mollissimus lapidescet. beyond their natural principles, and our common expectation. When the Baptist would show how God can work beyond all the possibilities of nature or reason, he saith to the Jews, Even of these stones God can raise up children unto Abraham, (Mat. 3.) There is somewhat of a miracle in it, to raise up bread to a man out of stones; that is, to make rocky land, a fertile soil. God threatened his people, that he would make the earth to be iron under them; that is, the earth which was ordinarily fruitful, shall yield you no more fruit, than iron; And on the other side he promises, That they shall suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock, Deut. 32. 13. Honey out of the rock; That is, honey of Bees, hiving themselves in rocks; or (as others) honey fruits, as Dates, etc. which grow on Palm trees (as oil on Olive-trees) in rocky places. Hereby, the Lord assured his people of abundant Aisnw. on Deu. plenty; For whereas rocks and stones are usually barren, he would make those places fruitful to Israel. They should have oil out of the rock in Canaan, as well as water out of a rock in the wilderness. We are surely in league with those rocks and stones of the fields, which send us such Presents as these, bread and water, honey and oil. Thirdly, Take these Stones, as artificially laid together, and so, Nunquam dissolvetur macria, non dissiliet lapis ex sepe, nemo furabitur, ne no Insiliet in agros tuos. Thou shalt be in league with them, is thus to be understood, Those walls and mounds of stone, shall be as the keepers and watchmen of the field; they shall preserve thy corn and thy cattles from annoyance. To this sense some join the former words with these, Thou shalt not be afraid of the beasts of the earth, for the stones of the field, which lie in the walls and fences, shall befriend thee, and keep them out. When God would show his intendment to destroy and lay waste his vineyard; he expresses it by pulling down the wall, as before he had expressed his care to protect it, by building of a wall, Isa. 5. 2. I fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof; which we may understand thus, I gathered out the stones (and as it is usual) made a fence of them; and had the vineyard brought forth fruit, it had also been in league with these stones, that is, the stones of the wall had kept out the wild-beasts, or any annoyance from them; but being fruitless, the league with those stones was broken: I (saith the Lord, ver. 5.) will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. So that, in this sense, to be at league with the stones of the field, is as much as to say, the stone-wall or the stone-fence which is made about thy field, shall stand to protect and maintain thy land, thy fruits and cattles, from the incursions of wild beasts, from spoiling and treading down Facere pactum cum lapidibus agri, est pacificè vivere cum proximo, item securus esse, quod nullos terminos agri sui transiliturus sit, ac si cum lapidibus Terminalibus pepigisset: ipsique lopides pactum ini●um servarent, nec aliter ac si ratione valentes incursores, aut transgressores etiam verbo fugarent, Pined. Termini ag●orū tuo●um à nemine violentur, nemo transgredietur. by any. Fourthly, take these Stones for landmarks or for way-marks, for boundary-stones, or for directory-stones; and then the sense may be thus conceived, Thou shalt be at league with the stones of the field; that is, no man shall come within thy bounds, none shall remove thy landmarks, or invade thy estate, those Stones shall firmly distinguish thine inheritance, thou shalt have no controversy arising, which is thine, or what is thy possession. As if an agreement had formally been made with these stones, to keep off all intruders upon their Master's inheritance, and accordingly the stones in pursuance of that agreement (like so many hired servants) should faithfully witness for their Master, and chide away all who would do him wrong. (1 Sam. 7. 12.) Samuel set up a stone as a boundary of the conquest and victories, which the Lord had given the children of Israel against the Philistines, He set up a stone, and called it Eben-Ezer, or the stone of help. Adding the reason, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us; As if he had said, here is a Stone of remembrance, how God hath helped us, and that stone seemed to speak thus much to Israel, Keep and hold what ye have gotten, let not the Philistines set a foot (unrevengd) over or beyond this stone. So then, in this sense, to be in league with the stones of the field, is a promise of keeping our inheritances free from invasion and confusion, that we shall know what is ours, and that no enemy shall take it from us. It was a great sin to remove the landmarks and boundaries, and a great punishment was threatened against any, who should alter or remove them, Prov. 23. 11. Deut. 19 14. Deut. 27. 17. And when the Prophet Hosea would show, how extremely wicked the Princes of Judah were, he saith (Chap. 5. 10.) The Princes of Judah were like them that remove the bounds; as if he had said, we account those the worst of men, who remove landmarks; how vile then are these Princes, who are as bad as they. Just as the wickedness of the people is aggravated, Chap. 4. 4. This people are as they that strive with the Priefl. To strive with the Priest, is to strive with God, that's a sad strife. Strivers with the Priest are the worst of people, how vile then are this people, who are as bad as they. But to the present point, if it be so great a sin to remove the land-stones, it must needs be a great mercy to have those stones preserved. So then, to be in league with the stones of the field, may have this good sense also, the boundary-stones shall be preserved, none shall remove them, and they shall preserve thy estate, that none shall invade or waste it. Hence Observe, God can do us good by any thing, if he pleaseth, and nothing can do us good without God. Though we have carefully set up bounds, though we have made strong fences, yet these will not keep out evil or annoyance, unless there be a league, a league of Gods making for us; And God can produce our comforts out of improbables, yea impossibles to nature: He can fetch us bread and a blessing from stones. It was a temptation upon Christ, when he was hungry to make bread of stones. If thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Mat. 4. 2. But it is our comfort, that God can turn stones into bread, that he can make those things which are most improbable to do us good, very good unto us. It is a sin for us to turn stones into bread, or to expect stones to be turned into bread, that is, to put God upon miracles from us, when means or endeavours may help us; but God out of the superaboundance of his power and goodness, always can, and sometimes will work miracles, turning stones into bread for us. Then, we turn stones into bread, when we live upon sin, whosoever eateth a bit of bread, out of bread out of the hand of sin, turneth stones into bread. Then, God turns stones into bread for us, when out of his infinite power and goodness, he gives us supplies by unusall means, and comforts us by that, from which, we can expect no more comfort, than we do bread and water out of stones. Further, when stones seem to be most angry with a godly man, than he is in league with them. Stones (in a proper sense) flew about the ears of Steven, and killed him, yet Steven was in league with the stones, even while they took away his life: God turned these stones into bread for him: and every stone, was as a glorious Diamond in his Crown of Martyrdom. There are two Interpretations of this league with stones (which some make great store and treasure of) different from all these; Pineda. Crimen hoc appellabant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cujus rei admissum, tale est: plerique inimi●orum so●ent praedium inimici 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, id est lapides ponere indicio futuros, quoth si quis eum agrum coluisset, malo letho periturus esset insidiis eorum, qui scopulos posuissent. Quoe res tantum timorem habet, ut nemo agrum accedere audeat crudelitatem timens eorum qui scopelismon fecerunt. Idem ex Vlpiano. The former is grounded upon a custom in Arabia, where, or near which it is supposed Jobs friends dwelled It was (saith the learned Author) a very capital offence in that country, if any man did cast or carry heaps of stones into his neighbour's ground; For that action had this signification or meaning in it, The man, who afterwards ventured to blow or till that ground, should surely die by the hands of those, who cast in those stones. So that, the sight of such stones was terrible and ominous to the owner of the Land, as speaking death and ruin to him, if he meddled with it. Hence 'twas often left unused and untilled. Against this barbarous custom (it being an occasion of murders and blood shed) a very severe Law was made; That whosoever should be discovered to have cast such Stones into his neighbour's ground, should have judgement of death by the Magistrate. In allusion to this Law or custom, the interpretation of this promise (Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field) is made out thus. The ordinary Stones of the field shall be so fare from hurting, that, even those Stones, which speak anger and malice shall not hurt thee. God will reconcile or subdue the rage of thine enemies, and though they have cast these Stones of defiance into thy Land, yet they shall desire a league of peace with thee, or fall before thee. The second is grounded upon a custom, in war; of which we read (2 Kin. 3. 25.) that, when the Moabites fled before Israel, The pursuing Israelites beat down their Cities, and on every good piece of Land, cast every man his Stone, and filled it. etc. Eliphaz might have an eye to this, as if he had said, Thy land shall not be buried under the heaps of stones, thrown there by a conquering hand; that is, thou shalt have a league of amity with, or victory over all that are round about thee. And the Beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. That is, they shall (through the power of God) be made peaceable to thee. To be at peace with the Beasts, is the same in proportion, with being in league with Stones. It was man's privilege by creation to have power over the Beasts of the field, and it is the privilege of Redemption, To be at peace with them. This is the ordinary privilege of every Believer. But there is a more transcendent privilege of the Church, in the most flourishing estate of it here on the earth, represented under this notion, Isa. 11. 6, 7, 8, 9 The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb, and the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid, and the Calf, and the young Lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them, etc. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the Asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the Cockatrice den; They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain. This Peace with Beasts, is within a degree of glory with God, whether we understand it in the letter, of beasts in kind, or in the Allegory, of men symbolising in rage and fierceness, in power and poisons, in stings and teeth with beasts and Serpents. The Text before us, goes lower than this promise; And to be at peace with the Beasts of the field, is, only a gracious assurance that they shall not hurt us, or that they shall be useful to us. In the firmness of this promise of peace with the Beasts, the fearlessness of a godly man is founded, He shall not be afraid of the Beasts of the earth, for the Beasts of the earth shall be at peace with him. Hence observe, The courage and fearlessness of a godly man, is grounded in divine reason, not on humane presumption. When we see a man stout in the midst of danger, fearless amongst wild beasts, we may wonder where the spring of this courage lies: This promise showeth you the springhead, He is at peace with them; It is not conceit and fancy, or desperateness of spirit, that causeth him to deride and slight danger; but he hath a solid ground there is a peace and league ratified in heaven, for him even with the Stones and Beasts of the earth. As a godly man can give a reason of the hope that is in him; so he can give a reason of the courage that is in him; he knows why he is so stout and venturous. Secondly, Observe from both, in that man is here said to be in league with the stones, and at peace with the Beasts; That Every creature by sin is made dangerous and hurtful unto man. For, in that there is a league and peace made with these, it notes, that they were in a state of hostility, ready to rise up against us and annoy us. As the creature by reason of man's sin is subject unto vanity; so man is subject unto fear, by reason of the creature. Sin hath made the creature vanity in itself, and sin hath made the creature vexation unto us. When the Beasts rebel against us, we should remember how we have rebelled against God, And, that until God renews a league, and makes peace for us with the creatures, there is not a creature upon the earth, but may quickly be destructive to us. If God speaks the word, and gives a call or a commission to a fly, against the strongest, the swiftest man; flight shall perish from the swift, and power from the strong, neither of them shall escape. Thirdly, Thou shalt be in league with the Stones, and with the Beasts; he reckons up all those ways, by which evils may come in upon us. And assures a man, to whom God is reconciled, that these evils shall not come. Hence observe; That When God is once a friend to us, he can quickly make all other things friendly to us also. Every godly man (of such Eliphaz here speaks) is at peace and Qui Dominum habet adjutorem, habebit & omnes creaturas adjutrices, ille si favet, favent omnes: ait, aiunt: negat, negant: Qui Dominum babet custodē habebit & lapides campi custodes. Brent. in loc. Tranquillus Deus, Tranquillat omnia. in league with God, therefore God makes all creatures at peace and league with him. Though usually, they who are in nearest league and covenant with God, are most warred with, and opposed by the world, yet this stands sure, that when God is our friend, he can make our enemies our friends, or their enmity shall befriend us; Stones and savage beasts shall be helpful to us. When God is at peace with us, he makes all things at peace with us. Daniel was at peace with God, and he was at peace among the Lions. The Apostle (Rom. 8.) gives it in general, If God be with us, who can be against us? No creature hath power in itself to maintain war and enmity against those, on whose side God appears. If God loves us, All things work together for good to us. He that hath help from God, shall not want help from any creature; for all creatures are at the call and command of God; If he saith, go, they must go; if he saith, come, they must come; if he saith to a stone do such a man good, the Stone must do it; if he saith to a Raven, go carry Elijah his dinner, the Raven will hasten; if he saith to a wild Beast, save such a man, deliver such a man, spare such a man, he must go of God's errand. In our friendship and league with God, we have a virtual league of friendship with the most unfriendly creatures. And if God please, he can make men, who have as little sense as Stones, and less reason than Beasts; to be helpful and useful, and peaceable to his people. There is a generation amongst us, a stony generation, a hardhearted generation of men, you may as well move a stone, as move them with what you say; a beastly generation of men, when you deal with them, you deal with Beasts; yet the great God, (if he please) can make a league for us with these stones, he can make these Beasts of the earth, brutish and unreasonable men, To be at peace with us, Further observe, It is from special providence, that the Stones, and the Beasts of the earth do not hurt nor destroy us, but specially that they help and do us good. There is providence towards all, but a special providence to the people of God, that the creatures hurt them not. If God did not bridle the rage and restrain the power of Beasts, man could not comfortably subsist with them. The reason is given (Deut. 7. 22.) why God destroyed the Canaanites by little and little, before his people, namely, Lest the Beasts of the earth should increase upon them. Here was a special providence, as all leagues, and peacemaking are. All the leagues and peace which believers have, are branches of that great league, of that grand Covenant, which God hath made with Christ on our behalf. And therefore (Hos. 2. 18.) this promise is made in special to the Church. And in that day I will make a Covenant for them, with the Beasts of the field. Fifthly, note, A godly man enjoys common comforts from special favour. Wicked men are seldom hurt by the beasts of the field but they are never at peace with them. Lastly, observe, Peace is a great mercy. By how much God makes more peace upon earth, by so much, man hath more of Heaven upon Earth. Man should desire peace with Beasts, much more with men, most of all with God▪ JOB Chap. 5. Vers. 24, 25, 26, 27. And thou shalt know that thy Tabernacle shall be in peace, and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin. Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine off spring as the grass of the earth. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in, in his season. Lo this, we have searched it, so it is, hear it, and know thou it for thy good. AT the 19th verse of this Chapter, we had a promise of deliverance from evil, in six troubles, and in seven, In the verses following, we had a specification of six or seven troubles, from which deliverance is promised. In these words, we have the result of all, A well grounded security, in assurance of a fourfold blessing. First, of a quiet and happy life. Secondly, of many prosperous children, v. 25. Thirdly, of a long life. Fourthly of a sweet and comfortable death, v. 26. every one confirmed and ratified as a truth in itself; a●● by way of application brought home to Job, in the 27th or last verse of the Chapter. Vers. 24. And thou shalt know that thy Tabernacle shall be in peace. Thou shalt know it.] Knowledge is sometime put for present sense; He that keeps the commandment, shall feel (Heb. shall know) no evil: and so, Job is promised to know, his Tabernacle shall be in peace, that is, he shall see and feel it to be in peace. And Secondly, Knowledge is put for experience; As we say of a rich man, he never knew poverty; And in that sense, Christ is said not to have known sin, 2 Cor. 5. 21. Thus, also, the godly man knows his Tabernacle shall have peace, even by the peace which he hath had; From the former deal of God, he gathers conclusions, what God will do with him, for the time to come; Thou shalt not find me a false Prophet, or that I have fed thee with wind: Thou shalt know from experience, that thy Tabernacle shall be in peace. And there is a third way by which this might be known, sc. by debate and reasoning: Thou shalt know it; If thou dost but consider, what the estate of a godly man is, and what God hath spoken about that estate, thou mayest make out such a conclusion, that certainly thy Tabernacle shall be in peace. There is a fourth way of knowing, and that is, upon the testimony or word of another, this is properly called Faith: Thou shalt know it, that is, by looking into the word of God, or considering the promises made to godly men, thou shalt assent to and believe this thing, that thy Tabernacle shall be in peace. Fiftly, To know, is as much as to be assured, or certain of a thing; And to know so, is opposed not only to ignorance and opinion, but it is opposed to the lower degrees of faith; I know that my Redeemer lives, &c, (saith Job Chap. 19 25.) that is, I am sure he lives. And the Apostle 2 Cor. 4. 14. Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise us up also by Jesus. Knowledge is often put for assurance, and it may rise to that pitch here, Thou shalt be assured that thy Tabernacle shall be in peace. Thy Tabernacle.] Tabernacles were of two sorts. There were Tabernacles for civil uses, and the Tabernacle for church uses. They dwelled in Tabernacles, and God was worshipped in a Tabernacle, And therefore (Ezek. 23. 4.) Israel and Judah, are called Aholah and Aholibah. Israel, the ten Tribes, is called Aholah, that is, a Tent, or a Tabernacle, noting, that they had been the Tent and the Tabernacle of God, wherein he was worshipped; But Judah is called Aholibah, that is, my Tent is in the midst of her, because God at that time continued the outward Ordinances of his worship to Judah, though the ten Tribes had been long in captivity. That only by the way. Here by Tabernacles we are to understand civil Tabernacles, for in those Eastern Countries their ordinary habitations and dwellings were in movable Tents or Tabernacles, because of their frequent removes. And hence afterward amongst the Latins, the word for a Tent or Tabernacle, signified a house, or any place wherein men dwell and frequent. Further, by a Trope, a Tabernacle signifies all a man's estate, or all his goods; so that, when it is said, thy Tabernacle shall be in peace, the meaning is, thy whole estate and family, what ever thou hast, shall be in peace. Shall be in peace.] That is, it shall be peaceable or in safety; Solent frequentissimè abstracta ob Emphasin pro concretis praedicari. Peace may be considered two ways; either strictly or largely: Strictly, and so peace is opposed to war; either first, foreign, or secondly, civil, or thirdly, domestical war (as we may call it) namely strife and contention in families. Thus, Thy Tabernacle shall be in peace, may take in all these; thou shalt neither be invaded by foreigners, neither shalt thou have any insurrection and sedition in thy own borders; neither shalt thou have unkind contentions, in thy particular family, or within thy private walls. Secondly, Take the word more largely (as it is very frequently in Scripture) and then peace signifies all manner of blessings and good things, the confluence and gathering together as it were, of all comforts: And peace in this large sense, is opposed to any kind of trouble or adversity; and to say such an one hath peace, is as much as to say, he prospers. Peace and prosperity are terms of the same signification: And then the meaning is this, Thou shalt know that thy Tabernacle shall be in Peace, that is, that thy whole estate shall prosper, and that thou shalt have good success. Note hence First, Peace is a choice and a special blessing. Outward peace is the choicest of outward blessings, and inward peace is the choicest of spiritual blessings. Peace gives sweetness and beauty to all our blessings: without peace, riches are but guilded thorns; honour is but higher misery; health but stronger affliction. So without inward peace, grace gives no present comfort; And therefore in the wishes of perfect spiritual mercy, to the Saints, we find these two in conjunction, Grace and Peace. The highest promises made to the church, are promises of settled peace in the Church, Isa. 32. 18. My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places: There's the top of their outward felicity. Again, in the the thirty third of that prophecy, ver. 20. Look upon Zion the City of our solemnities (that is, where the worship of God was solemnised) thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation; a Tabernacle that shall not be taken down, not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken; Pure Ordinances, and a peaceable habitation, are Jerusalem's perfection on earth; yea some look upon it as a perfection too perfect for earth, and therefore interpret the prophecy of the heavenly Jerusalem, Secondly, He saith not only, thou shalt have peace in thy Tabernacle, but thou shalt know it. Hence observe, To be assured of a mercy, is better than the enjoyment of a mercy. Doubts of losing a mercy, eat out the heart of a mercy; and a man in that case, is as much troubled with the fear of wanting, as he can be comforted with the sense of enjoying. There are three steps of blessedness. To be delivered from evil, is but a part of blessedness, negative blessedness: To receive good, is the better part of blessedness, positive blessedness. But to be assured that we shall hold and retain all this, is the perfection of blessedness. The first part of that great blessing we receive by Christ, consists in our deliverance from evil, or in a freedom from perishing. The second consists in the conveyance of good to us, as pardon of sin, grace and glory. But the third (which is the height of all) consists in our everlasting assurance to enjoy all this: Adam had a good estate, but he was not assured of it: The blessings we have by Christ, are built upon a foundation, which can never be shaken. In this method, temporal mercies are promised in this Scripture: First, deliverance from sword and famine. Secondly, peace with the creatures. Thirdly, an assurance that this peace shall be continued. Lastly observe, All outward blessings are in themselves fading and perishing. Though a man be assured that he shall enjoy outward blessings, yet he can enjoy them but in the nature and condition of outward blessings. Though he be sure to use and enjoy them, yet he looks upon them as perishing in the using. All outward things are here (as frequently in other Scriptures) implied under the notion of a Tabernacle; a Tabernacle is a movable habitation. It is a piece of a miracle if a Tabernacle stand long; that promise (Isa. 33. 20.) imports somewhat extraordinary: A Tabernacle that should not be taken down, not one of the stakes thereof removed, nor any of the cords thereof be broken; It is as if the holy Ghost should say; Thou shalt be a Tabernacle privileged above all Tabernacles: They are movable, unfixed, easy to be taken down; but it shall not be so with thee. The Apostles conclusion takes in all creature comforts, The fashion of this world passeth away, 1 Cor. 7 31. The scheme, the beauty of the best earthly things pass, while we enjoy them, and moulder away between our hands while we are using them. And thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin. This clause of the verse completes mercy yet higher; It is better not to sin in our habitation, then to be assured of a habitation. To have quietness in our habitation is very good, but to have holiness in it, is best of all. Thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin. The word which we translate habitation, signifies not only a house, but a wife, or a housewife; Hence some render, Thou shalt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Habitatio & in soeminino genere significat▪ Habi●atricem mulierem, sc. habitantem in domo, & exornantem eam Moller. in Psal. 68 13. visit thy beauty, or thy fair and beautiful wife, and shalt not sin; The reason is, either because a good wife is the beauty and ornament of the house: or because the knowledge, wisdom and diligence of the wife, is a means to furnish and adorn the house; or lastly, the business of a wife is so much in the house, that she shares names with the house: she is, or aught to be like a shaile, living with her house upon her back. The Apostles rule also being, I will that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, 1 Tim. 5, 14. And exhort them to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, Tit. 2. 5. Hence also probably, the same word in Hebrew, signifies a beautiful wife, and a beautiful house. We read it in that sense (Psal. 68 12.) Kings of armies did fly apace, and she that tarried at home divided the spoil. She that tarried at home, or the beauty of the house (sc. the wife) divided the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spoil. The meaning is, such victory shall be obtained over the enemies of the Church, that the wives and weak women, shall be filled with those spoils, which their triumphant husbands shall bring home to them. But here, we may rather take the word in the ordinary sense, only with this emphasis, signifying (not bare walls, or a numerous family) but a beautiful, a well furnished, a well ordered house. And so we have the word, at the third verse of this Chapter, where Eliphaz saith, I saw the wicked taking root, and presently I cursed his habitation, or his goodly, beautiful, flourishing house: So here, thou shalt visit thy habitation, that is, thy house in all the beauty, order, riches and furniture of it. Thou shalt visit. The word signifies more, then to see and look upon buildings and furniture: To visit, notes in Scripture these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Visitavit three or four things. 1. To overlook or take care of the house; To visit the house, is to provide for the house. Psal. 8. 4. Lord what is man that thou visitest him! that is, that thou takest so much ear of him, and hast such waking thoughts about him. 2. To visit the house, notes an enquiry of what is done in the house, how things go in the family. 3. It imports a calling of all to an account and reckoning, about what is done in their discharge of family duties. 4. To visit, is to order and direct, to command and give precepts for what shall be done. Hence frequently in the old Testament, the Commandments of God are expressed by this word, his precepts. So then, thou shalt visit thy house, or thy habitation, may take in all these; thou shalt as a Master, view, and oversee, direct and call to account thy house and family. In this sense, the word is commonly used amongst us; That act of the Bishops calling their Dioceses to an account, and overlooking them, was called their Visitation. And over Colleges, Hospitals and such public foundations, Visitors are appointed, to see and take an account, how the rules and statutes of those places are observed. Thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin. But how is it said he shall do this, and not sin? Doth not sin mingle with all we do? The word here used, signifies, 1. Tropically, to err, fail or miscarry in the general. 2. Properly, to miss a special mark or way, to shoot awry, or wander instead of walking; as (Judg. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 20. 16.) it is said of those seven thousand Benjamites, that they Erravit ā via, vel scopo. could shoot at an hair's breadth, and not sin, so the word is, or not miscarry, not miss the mark. And because every transgression, is a wand'ring out of the way of God's commandments, or a shooting beside the mark of his word; therefore that word in Non afficieris poena pro peccato● P●gn. Non laede●is, non accpies damnum aut detrimentum, Targ. Curabis res tuas & domum tuam, at eas procurans, non f●ustrabe●is spetua, cedentibus tibi rebus omnibus pro voto & ex animi sententia, Mer. Non aberrabis sc. ā scopo & fine desiderij ●ui. Coc Scripture, is commonly used for sinning. Here the word admits of a twofold interpretation. First, For the fruit or effect of sin, thus, thou shalt order and over look thy family, with such wisdom and discretion, that thou shalt not err or do things beside the rule of prudence, and so bring miscarriages and troubles upon thy affairs by sin. Mr Broughton translates to this sense, Thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not misprosper. And so Eliphaz may hint at Jobs former losses, at the overthrow of his estate and family; as if he had said, heretofore thou didst visit thy habitation, and didst not prosper, but if thou shalt now humble thyself, thou shalt visit thy habitation, and all shall prosper, things shall go well with thee, thou shalt not labour in vain, or lose thy end in the care thou takest about thy family. Secondly, the sense may be this, thou shalt order and visit thy family, with so much justice, equity & holiness, that thou shalt not sin. Not that Eliphaz undertakes his absolute freedom from sin, but he should not sin as (he supposed he had) before, thou shalt not run into such errors, or split thyself upon such rocks as have wracked thy former greatness And thus he secretly reproves Jobs former carriage in his family, as irregular and sinful. There is a further exposition joining both these together, Thou shalt visit thy house, and shalt not sin, namely, by conniving or winking at the sins and disorders of thy family, and yet thou shalt have peace: thy strict and faithful carriage in over-seeing thy family, shall not provoke either servants, or children to contention and complain, to anger and passion; Thy holy severity shall not fill thy house with quarrels and troubles; but God shall so Domestici correpti non succensebunt● V●tabl. over awe the spirits of those under thee, that they shall willingly and cheerfully submit to thy purer discipline. Observe hence, First, It is a great and a special point of godly wisdom, well to order and visit a family. Families are the principles or seeds of a Commonwealth. As every man is a little world, so every house is a little Kingdom. A family is a Commonwealth in a little volume. And the rules of it, are an epitome of all Laws, by which whole Nations are governed. The Apostle makes it a special character of his Bishop, That he must be one who rules his own house well; and subjoins the reason, For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God? 1 Tim. 3. 4, 5. And therein wraps up this truth, that he who knows how to rule his own house well, is in a good posture of spirit for public rule. The same wisdom, and justice, and holiness for kind, only more enlarged and extensive, acts in either sphere, and will regularly move both. Secondly, A family well visited and ordered, is usually a prosperous family. Sin spoils the comforts and cankers the blessings of a family. Sin brought into a house, rots the timber, and pulls down the house; or it undermines the foundation, and blows up the house. The sin of families, is the ruin and consumption of families. Hence thirdly observe, To be kept from sin, is a better and a greater blessing, than all outward blessings. When Eliphaz had reckoned up all the comforts, which repenting Job is promised; Thou shalt be delivered in six troubles and in seven: Sword and famine shall not hurt thee, peace and plenty shall dwell within thy walls, and lodge in every chamber: Yet (saith he) I will tell thee of a blessing, beyond all these, thou shalt not sin: It is more mercy to be delivered from one sin, then from sword and famine; grace is better than peace, and holiness than abundance; riches, and honour, and health, are all obscured in this one blessing, A holy, a gracious, an humble heart. There is more evil in one sin, than in any or all troubles; therefore, there must needs be a greater blessing in being kept from sin, than in protection from any or all troubles. Sin is the greatest evil, therefore to be kept from sin, is one of the greatest goods. Christ took upon him all sorts of outward evils, he became poor for our sakes, he had not so much as an house to lie in: he came in the form of a servant for our sakes, and he was a man of sorrows, He was acquainted with grief all his life, at last with death and a grave; Yet, he would not admit of the least sin: he was content to bears all our sins, but he abhorred the thought of acting one. Not to sin, is the next privilege to God, and the utmost privilege of man. When in a full sense, man shall not sin, man will be arrived at fullness of joy; and as we daily empty of sin, so we proportionably, fill with joy. Vers. 25. Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thy off spring as the grass of the earth. From the present bessings upon the family, he descends to those which concern posterity; as if he had said, thy comforts shall not be confined to thyself, neither shall they be shut up within the limits of one generation; Mercies shall be transmitted to thy children, thy heirs shall inherit blessings. Thy seed shall be great. The word Great, signifies both multitude and magnitude: Thou shalt have a great seed, that is, a numerous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seed a multitude of children; and thou shalt have a great seed, that is, honourable and wealthy children; Job himself was called, Chap. 1. 3. (though by another word, yet in the same sense) the greatest man in the East; This greatness is promised his children, and thy shall receive additional further blessings: For the word [Rab] signifies greatness, in a continual motion to more eminent greatness: And therefore it is sometime translated by increasing; So (Isa. 9 6.) where the Prophet sets out the flourishing glory of the kingdom of Christ; Of the increase of his Kingdom and peace, there shall be no end; or, of the greatness and greatning of his kingdom, there shall be no end. So that, to say thy seed shall be great, notes, not only some standing greatness, but growing greatness: they shall ever be upon an increase, till they come to their full in glory. And thy offspring as the grass of the earth. Both clauses of the verse mean the same thing. The word which we translate offspring, signifies properly that which goeth forth or issues, because children spring or go forth from their parents, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Germina sicut ex vite palmites. and are therefore called their issue. And the word is used for the bud of the Olive or of the Vine; hence the Psalmist puts them both into a similitude. Thy children shall be like olive plants round about thy table, They are as the olive bud in their birth, and as the olive branch in their growth. Thy offspring shall be as the grass of the earth. To be as the grass of the earth, is a proverbial speech; and it Proverbiale multitudinis, talia sunt sicut arena maris, ut stellae coeli, Drus. arises to the sense of those proverbials spoken to Abraham concerning his seed, thy seed shall be as the Stars of Heaven: And thy seed shall be as the sand upon the seashore. The grass of the field is as innumerable, as the Stars, or the sands; Thy off spring shall be as the grass of the seld. Thou shalt not only have a numerous, but thou shalt have (as it were) an innumerable off spring. Man kind in general is compared unto grass, Isa. 40. 6. All flesh is grass; Grass in regard of its sudden withering, he is suddenly cut down, the goodliness of man is as the flower of the field. Wicked men are compared to grass, not only because they whither, but because they whither suddenly, or are cut down by some hand of justice. The offspring of a godly man, are compared to grass, but in another reference. To grass, first, because of their multitude, and secondly, because of their beauty, they shall flourish and be green as the grass, which is very pleasant to the beholder's eye. And in this also Eliphaz aims at the death of Job's children; Thou hast lost thy children, they perished miserably, but if thou Hoc dicit quia. job filios amiserat. Merc. return, that blessing shall return, thy seed shall be great, and thy off spring shall be as the grass of the earth. The blessing of children hath been showed in the first Chapter, therefore I shall but name a point or two now. First, That The posterity of godly parents. stand nearer than others, under the influence of heavenly blessings. As grace doth not run in a blood, so neither do blessings infallibly run in a blood, yet the children of those who are blessed, are nearest a blessing: And their possibilities for mercy are fairest. Many promises are made to them, they are heirs apparent of the promises in their parents right; others to appearance, are strangers from the promises. Though, we know free grace chooseth often out of the natural line; The mercies of God are his own, and it is his prerogative, to have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Secondly, When he sums up the blessings of a godly man, the blessings of his children are cast into the account. Whence note, That the blessings of the children, are the blessings of the parent. As the parent is afflicted in the afflictions of his children, so he is blessed in their blessings. Relations share mutually both in comforts and crosses. Children are their parents multiplied, and every good of the child, is an addition to the parents good. A flourishing and a numerous posterity is a great outward blessing. Some have the choicest of spiritual blessings, who want this (Isa. 56. 3.) God comforts those that have no children, Do not say that thou art made a dry tree; for I will give thee in mine house, a place and a name better than of sons and daughters; As if he had said, the name of sons and of daughters, is a very great comfort, but it is not the greatest comfort, the best biessing: thou shalt have a name and a place, better than of sons and daughters. Vers. 26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh, in his season. From personal present blessings of this life, and the blessings of posterity, Eliphaz descends to show the blessing of a godly man in death. A happy death is the close of temporal happiness, and the beginning of eternal. A happy death stands between grace and glory, like the Baptist between the law and the Gospel, and is the connexion or knitting of both. And as it was said of John, That among them who are borne of women, there arose not a greater than he, nevertheless, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than John: So we may say, that among all the blessings of this life, there is none greater than a blessed death, nevertheless that which is least in eternal life, is a greater blessing, than a blessed death. It was an observation among the Heathen, That no man is to be accounted blessed, until he die. But when life is shut up with a blessing, than man is fully blessed; As in reasoning, so in living, the conclusion lies in the premises. A happy death is the result of a holy life. Thou shalt come to thy grave.] That phrase notes two things. First, A willingness and a cheerfulness to die. Thou shelt come, thou shalt not be dragged or hurried to thy grave, as it is said of the foolish rich man, Luk. 12. This night shall thy soul be taken from thee. But thou shalt come to thy grave, thou shalt die quietly and smilingly, as it were, thou shalt go to thy grave, as it were upon thine own feet, and rather walk, then be carried to thy Sepulchre. Secondly, it notes the honour and solemnity of burying. Thou shalt come to thy grave with honour; as it is said of Ahijah the son of Jeroboam, 1 King. 14. 12, 13. When Messengers were sent to the Prophet to inquire whether he should recover, the Prophet tells them, The child shall die, and all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: For, he only of Jeroboam shall Come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. He only shall come to thy grave, the rest shall be thrust into the grave, or lie unburied, but he shall come, that is, he shall be buried with honour; others shall have reproach cast upon them, when the earth is cast upon them. Thou shalt come to thy grave. In a full age] So we translate. The word is expounded two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senium senectutis tempus. ways. In a full age, that is, in an age, when thou shalt be full: full of estate, full of wealth and honour, thou shalt have abundance when thou diest. And so it points at Jobs present poverty: though thou hast nothing now, scarce a rag to thy back, or a sheet to wind thee in, if thou shouldst die, yet seek unto God, and thou shalt die in a full age, in a golden Age, thy wants shall be supplied, and thy losses repaired to the full. But rather a full Age, notes here a fullness of days, though the other (fullness of estate) be not excluded. The Prophet puts the same difference, between aged men, and men full of days, as is between children, and young men (Jer. 6. 11.) I am full of the fury of the Lord, I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together, The aged, with him that is full of days. That is, all ages shall feel the fury of the Lord. A full age, is an age full of days or complete to the utmost time of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 life. Some of the Jewish Writers observe that the numeral letters of this word (Chelad) make up threescore, which they conceive is In numeris notat 60 ea prima senectus est, non matura. Quidam Hebrae orum vi●idem senectam nomine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 putant significari, ut Caph sit similitudinis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●u●è virtutem & humidum sonat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Senctutem itaque pollecetur-non quidem m●lestam & morbosam sed vegetan & paelicem. the age here meant; but threescore is not a full old-oge, it is rather the beginning of old-age. Therefore fullness of age, is by others interpreted, to be strength of age; thou shalt die in an old age, yet thou shalt have strength and comfort in thy old-age; thine old-age shall not be a troublesome age, thou shalt not be weak and crazy, distempered and sick, a burden to thyself, or friends; thou shalt die (as some translate) in a good old-age, or as Mr. Broughton, thou shalt die in lusty old-age; Time shall not whither thee, nor drink up thy blood and spirits, Thou shalt have a spring in the Autumn, and a Summer in the winter of thy life. As it was with Moses, Deut. 34. 7. who died, when he was an hundred and twenty years old, yet saith the text, His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated; This is to die in a full old-age, full of days, yet full of strength and health. It is a great blessing, when a man is (in this sense) youthful in old-age: when others see with four eyes, and go with three legs, he uses neither staff nor spectacles, but renews his strength like the Eagle. Or, we may take the sense more generally, for any one that liveth long, and liveth comfortably; as it was said of Abraham, Gen. 25. 8. That he died in a good old-age, an old man, and full of years. He died in a good old-age; The youngman is counselled, To remember his Creator in the days of his youth; before the evil days come, Eccles. 12. 1. What are those? Those evil days are the days of old-age: The words following being an Allegorical, elegant description of old age. Old-age in itself is the evil day: The lives of many old-men are a continual death. They live as it were upon the rack of extreme pains or strong infirmities; therefore it is a special blessing for man to be old, and yet to have a good old-age, that is, a florid comfortable old-age; To have many years and few infirmities is a rare thing. In some old-age flourishes, and in others old-age perishes, Job gives us this difference in the use of this word, Chap. 30. 2. Yea whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom (Chelad) old-age was perished, As if he had said, some old-men are active and strong, but these, who were faded and flatted in all their abilities, in what stead could they stand me? They were a trouble to themselves, and therefore could be no comfort unto others. This full old-age is explained further, by way of similitude, He shall die in a full age, lie as a shock of corn cometh in, in his season. When a young man die, he is as green corn. The Psalmist imprecates that some may be like the grass or corn on the housetop, that withereth before it is cut down, whereof the mower Psal. 129. 6, 7. filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth up the sheaves, his bosom. The life of a man sometimes is like corn growing upon the house top, that withereth: Or (as it is in the parable of the sour, Mat. 13.) like the corn that fell on the highway side, or among stones and thorns, which came not in, in its season, it never stayed the ripening or reaping, but was eaten up or dried or choked before the harvest. Now here, man is compared unto corn, sowed in good ground, well rooted and continuing out its season, and is brought in ripe at harvest. Old-age is the harvest of nature. Some divide man's life into seven parts, comparing it to the seven planets; Some into five, comparing it to the five acts of an interlude; but commonly the life of man is divided into four parts, and so it is compared to the four seasons of the year. And in that division, old-age is the winter-quarter, cold and cloudy, full of rheums and catarrhs of diseases and distellations. But here, old-age is the harvest; though, thou art a very old-man, thou shalt not die as in winter, but thou shalt die, as it were in harvest, when thou art full ripe and ready, as a shock of corn that is laid up in the barn; The general judgement of the world is compared to a harvest, and death (which is a particular day of judgement) is a harvest too. Those words, He shall come to his grave as a shock of corn, are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ascendere significat ●vanescere, velut in auras tolli velè medio tolli. further considerable, the Hebrew is, He shall ascend as a shock of corre; and that referring to death, is sometimes translated by cutting off, or taking away, Psal. 102. 25. Cut me not off in the midst of my days; The letter is, Let me not ascend in the midst of my days: Whether it have any allusion to that hope or faith of the Saints in their death, that, they do but ascend, when they die; or to their disappearing to the eye of sense, when they die, because things which ascend, vanish out of sight, and are not seen; In either sense, when the Saints are cut down by death, they ascend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propriè significat acervum frugum, qui in And they are elegantly said, To ascend as a shock of corn, because that is taken from the earth, and reored or stackt up; and so by a Metaphor it signisies a Tomb or a monument errected or high-built over a dead corpse, much after the manner of a shock of corn; area erigitur. Metaphoricè tumultum ceu currulum te●rae vel monumentum sepulcro imposi●um. So the word is used, He shall remain in the tomb or Heap. Job 22. 32. So then, the sum of this verse, is a promise of comfort and honour in death: He shall die in a full age, when he is ready and ripe for death. Yet this is not to be taken strictly, that, every godly man dies in such a full old age, in an age full of days or full of comforts. Many of God's best servants have had evil days in their old age; their old age hath had many days of trouble and sickness, of pain and perplexity. But thus it is with many in old age, and this is especially to be looked upon as an Old Testament promise, when the Lord dealt more with his people, invisible external mercies. Yet, in one sense it is an universal truth, and ever fulfilled to his people, for whensoever they die, they die in a good age, yea though they die in the spring and flower of youth, they die in a good old age; that is, they are ripe for death, when ever they die; when ever a godly man dies, it is harvest time with him; though in a natural capacity he be cut down, while he is green, and cropped in the bud or blossom, yet in his spiritual capacity, he never dies before he is ripe. God ripens his speedily, when he intends to take them out of the world speedily. He can let out such warm rays and beams of his Spirit upon them; as shall soon maturate the seeds of grace, into a preparedness for glory: whereas a wicked man living an hundred yeaers, hath no full old-age, much less a good old-age, he is ripe indeed for destruction, but he is never ripe for death; he is as unready and unripe for death, when he is an hundred years old, as when he was but a day old. He hath not begun to live, when he dies; or he is at the end of his natural race, before he hath set one step in his spiritual. Grey hairs are the shame, and should be the sorrow of old-age, when they are not found in the way of righteousness. From the former branch of this verse, observe; First, To have a comely burial, to come to the grave with honour, is a great blessing. It was threatened upon Jehojakim, the son of Josiah, as a curse, That he should have the burial of an Ass, and be dragged and cast out beyond the gates of the City, Jer. 22. 19 That man surely had lived like a beast, whom God threatened by name, that when he died, he should be used as a beast: though we know the bodies of many of the servants of God, have been scattered, and may be scattered upon the face of the earth, like dung; The dead bodies (as the complaint is, Psal. 79. 2.) of thy servants have they given to be meat to the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy Saints to the beasts of the earth. Yet to them (even then) there is this blessing reserved, beyond the blessing of a burial, they are ever laid up in the heart of God, he takes care of them, he embalmes them for immortality, when the remains of their mortality, are trodden under foot, or rot upon a dunghill. Secondly, observe, A godly man, is a volunteer in his death; He cometh to the grave: A wicked man, never dies willingly, Though he sometime die by his own hand, yet he never dies with his own will. Miserable man is sometimes so overpress with terrors, and horrors of conscience, so worn out with the trouble of living, that he hastens his own death. Yet he, Comes not to his grave willingly, but is dragged by necessity. He thrusts his life out of doors with a violent hand, but it never goes out with a cheerful mind. He is often unwilling to live, but he is never willing to die. Death is welcome to him, because life is a burden to him. Only they come to the grave, who, by faith have seen Christ lying in the grave, and perfuming that house of corruption, with his own most precious body, which saw no corruption. Observe thirdly. To live long and to die in a full age is a great blessing. Old Eli had this curse pronounced upon his family, 1 Sam. 2. 31. There shall not be an old man in thy house. Grey hairs are a crown of honour, when they are found in the way of righteousness. It is indeed infinitely better, to be full of grace, than to be full of days; but to be full of days, and full of grace too, what a venerable spectacle is that? To be full of years, and full of faith, full of good works, full of the fruits of righteousness, which are by Christ, How comely and beautiful beyond all the beauty and comeliness of youth, is that? Such are truly said to have filled their days. Those days are filled indeed, which are full of goodness. When a wicked man dies, he ever dies empty and hungry; he dies empty of goodness, and he dies hungry after days. That place before mentioned of Abraham (Gen. 25. 8.) is most worthy our second thoughts, He dies in a good old-age, an old man, and full, so the Hebrew, we read, full of years; As a man, that hath eaten and drunk plentifully, is full; and desires no more. So, he died an old-man and full, that is, he had lived as much as he desired to live, he had his fill of living, when he died. And therefore also, it may be called a full age, because a godly man hath his fill of living, but a wicked man (let him live never so long) is never full of days, never full of living; he is as hungry and as thirsty (as a man may speak) after more time and days, when he is old, as he was when he was a child, feign he would live hill; He must needs think it is good being here, who knows of no better being, or hath Impij quamvis diu vivant. tamen non implent dies suos, quia spem in rehus temporarijs collocantes perpetua vita in hoc mundo pe●frui vellent. no hopes of a better, It is a certain truth, He that hath not a taste of eternity, can never be satisfied with time. He that hath not some hold of everlasting life, is never pleased to let go this life; therefore he is never full of this life. It is a most sad thing, to see an old man, who hath no strength of body to live, yet have a strong mind to live. Abraham was old and full, he desired not a day, or an hour longer His soul had never an empty corner for time, when he died. He had enough of all, but (of which he could never have enough and yet had enough, and all, as soon as he had any of it) eternity. In that great restitution promised, Isa. 65. 20. this is one privilege, There shall be no more there, an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days. There is much controversy about the meaning of those words; The digression would be too long to insist upon them. Only to the present point thus much, that there is such a thing, as an Infant of days, and an old man that hath not filled his days. An infant of days, may be taken for an old child, that is, an old man childish, or a man of many years, but few abilities. A man whose hoary head ann wrinkled face speak fourscoure, yet his foolish actions and simple carriage speak under fourteen. An old man that hath not filled his days, is conceived to be the same man, in a different character. An old man fills not his days. First When he fulfils not the duty, nor reaches the end for which he lived to old-age; That man who hath lived long, and done little, hath left empty days, upon the record of his life. And when you have writ down the days, the months, and years of his life, his story's done, the rest of the book is but a continued Blank, nothing to be remembered that he hath done, or nothing worth the remembrance. Now as an old man fills not his days, when he satisfies not the expectation of others: so in the second place his days are not filled, when his own expectations are not satisfied, that is, when he having lived to be old, hath yet young fresh desires to live, when he finds his mind empty, though his body be so full of days, that it can hold no longer, nor no more. He that is in this sense, an infant of days, and an old man not having filled his days, though he be an hundred years old when he dies, yet he dies (as the Prophet concludes in that place) accursed; he comes not to his grave under the blessing of this promise in the text, in a full age. Lastly observe. Every thing is beautiful in its season. He shall come to his grave like a shock of corn that is brought in in his season. Even pale death hath beauty in it, when it comes in season. Eccles. 7. 17. Be not wicked over much, why shouldst thou die before thy time? No man can die before God's time, but a man may die before his time, that is, before he is prepared by grace, and before he is ripened in the course of nature. Those two ways a man dies before his time; First, when he dies without any strength of grace; Secondly, when he dies in the strength of nature. In this sense the Prophet describes the hand of God upon him, Psal. 102. 23. He weakened my strength in the way; ●● shortened my days: and therefore prays in the 24th verse, I said, O my God take me not away in the midst of my days: That is, in the strength or best of my times according to the line and measure of nature A godly man prays that he may not die out of season; but a wicked man never dies in season: That threatening is ever fulfilled upon him, in one sense, if not in both (Psal. 55. 23) The bloodthirsty and deceitful man shall not live out half his days. A wicked man never lives out half his days; for, either he is cut off before he hath lived half the course of nature, or he is cut off before he hath lived a quarter of the course of his desires; either he lives not half so long as he might, or not a tenth, not a hundreth part so long as he would; and therefore let him die when he will, his death is full of terror, trouble and confusion, because he dies out of season. He never kept time or season with God, and surely God will not keep or regard his time or season. Vers. 27. Lo this, we have searched it; so it is, hear it, and know thou it for thy good. As Eliphaz began his dispute with an elegant preface, so he ends it with a rhetorical conclusion; as if he had said▪ Job, I have spoken many things unto thee, hear now the sum and upshot of all; Lo this, we have searched it, so it is, hear it, and know it for thy good. Two things he concludes with, First with an assertion of the truth of what he had spoken, So it is. Secondly, with a motion for his assent to what was spoken, Hear it. Or the words may fall under a threefold consideration. As the 1. Conclusion of his speech. 2. Confirmation 3. Application And this application is strengthened by a threefold Motive. By a motive, first from experience, Lo this, we have searched it, we have found the thing to be true. Secondly, By a motive from the truth of the thing in itself, so it is: we have searched it, we have experience of it, so it is, the thing is certain. And then Thirdly, From the fruit and benefit of it, if he submit unto and obey the truth delivered, know it for thy good, thou shalt reap the profit of it. These are three motives, by which he strengthens his exhortation, in applying the truth he had beaten out, in his former discourse. We have searched it.] As if Eliphaz had said, we have not taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scrutatus, perscrutatus est, remota aut abstrusa. these things upon trust, or by an implicit faith; we have not received them by tradition from our fathers, but we have searched, and tried, and found out, that thus the matter stands in God's dispensations, both to a wicked man, and to a godly man, in all the particulars run thorough in this Chapter. Or we have searched, that is, we have learned these truths by experience; That, God punisheth not the innocent, that, man cannot compare in justice with God, that, hypocrites shall not prosper long, and that, man's afflictions are the fruit of his transgressions. The word signifies a very diligent and exact scrutiny, (Deut. 13. 14.) Thou shalt inquire and make search, and ask diligently; it is to search as Judges Diligenti inquisitione & verita is scrutatiene nec non reconditorum divinae providentiae judiciorum consideratione rem ita se habere compe●im●●. search and inquire about any crime, or question in Law determinable by their sentence; and as we search to find the meaning of a riddle. (Judg. 14. 14.) The word is also applied to the search and inquiries of a Spy (Judg. 18. 2.) sent to bring intelligence; A spy is an exact inquisitor, into all affairs, given him in charge for discovery. So here, we have searched out, we have spied out and tried this thing to the utmost, we have as it were, read over all the records of divine Truths, we have examined all experiences and examples, and this is the result, the sum of all, Lo thus it is. A question arises here, how Eliphaz can say, we have searched it, when as Chap. 4. he saith, A thing was secretly brought to me? It seems these were matters attained and beaten out by study, not sent in by divine revelation; and so are rather the opinions of men, than the oracles of God. Men inspired by the Holy Ghost, speak another language; As, Thus saith the Lord, or this we have received, not this we have searched. Scripture is given by inspiration from God. not by the disquisitions of men Some have hence concluded this speech of Eliphaz Apocryphal, Ex quo intelligimus hanc Eliphae dissertionem non or aculi fuisse, sed studij, nec ad Dei revelantis responsa, sed ad humani ingenij inventa pertinere. Janson. in loc. as being rather matter of humane invention, then divine inspiration: Or the work of man's wit, rather than of God's Spirit. But I answer. First, The Apostle Paul hath sufficiently attested the Divine Authority of this discoruse, by alleging a proof out of it, 1 Cor. 3. 19 Secondly, That which was secretly brought to Eliphaz, was that one special Oracle, Chap. 4. 17. Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? The other part of his discourse, to which these words (Lo this we have searched) refer, were grounded upon the experiences which himself and his friends had observed in, and about the providence of God in all his deal both with the godly and the wicked, all agreeable to that grand principle received by immediate revelation. And therefore as he told Job before, that the general position was brought him in a vision, so all ages and the records kept of them (in all which he had made a diligent enquiry) came up fully to the proof of it; As if he had said, The Lord told me so, and all he hath done in the word proclaims that it is so. His word is enough to assert his own justice, but his works witness with it. Lo, this, we have searched, so it is. We have searched. He speaks in the plural number; he begun his speech in the fourth Chapter, and he concludes it here in the plural number. Yet we are not to think, that, this was a discourse penned by them all together; or debated first in private conference, and agreed on, that thus Eliphaz should speak, because he saith, we have searched it. But the meaning is only this, I suppose I have spoken the sense of my two friends, who stand by, and I believe they are ready to subscribe to, or vote every word I have now uttered, therefore behold we have searched and thus it is. Hear thou it. To advise thee, was our part; to hear and hearken is thy part; therefore hear it. But had he not heard them all this while, why doth Eliphaz now bid him hear it? It is true, he had heard; but there is more required, than the hearing of the ear, when such a Sermon as this is preached. To hear, is more than the work of the ear. It is First, To believe and give credit to what was heard. (Joh. 9 27.) I told you before, and you would not hear (saith the blind man) wherefore would you hear it again? that is, I have told you already, but you would not believe, nor give credit to what I spoke. Secondly, To hear is to hearken, that is, to yield and consent to what is spoken. (Gen. 3. 17.) Forasmuch, as thou hast harkened to the counsel of thy wife: Barely to hear a temptation to sin, is no act of sin; as barely to hear an exhortation to good, is no act of grace. Therefore because thou hast harkened, is, because thou hast yielded and consented to, that which she hath spoken. Thirdly, To hear, is to obey. Isa. 55. 3. Hear and your soul shall live. It is not every hearing of the ear, that bringeth life to the soul, obedient hearing is enlivening hearing. So here, we have searched it, so it is, hear it, that is, believe what we have spoken, submit unto, and consent to what we have spoken, obey and practise what we havespoken. To hear, is both an act of sense, and an act of reason, an act of nature, and an act of grace. To hear one requesting and praying is to grant: and to hear one counselling and commanding, is to obey. When God hears man, he grants; and when man hears God, or hears men speaking in the name of God, he yields and obeys. It follows, And know thou it for thy good. The Hebrew is, know it for thyself. Now, because that which a man knows for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 himself, is for his profit, therefore we translate, know it for thy good; that is, know it as that, whereby thyself mayest receive good. The meaning of, know it for thyself, is not this, know and keep it to thyself, let none partake with thee of it; It is against the use of knowledge, that a man should so know for himself, though a man's self hath or may have good by all he knows. So we must understand that of Solomon, Prov. 9 12. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; that is, thou shalt be advantaged by thy wisdom; Wisdom brings in a fair revenue; though many know much and seem very wise, who know nothing for themselves, and are not wise at all, for their own good. There are three sorts of knowing men. First, Some know only to know. They know, but the propose no end to themselves, beyond knowledge: They know not for the good of others, no nor for their own good. As it is with riches and honour, so with knowledge: covetous men gather riches that they may be rich, they propose not any other end of having riches, but only to be rich. An ambitious man, desires honour, that he may be honourable, he proposeth to himself no other end of his desiring honour, but to be honourable. So many are covetous and ambitious of knowledge, they read from book to book, and from point to point, from science to science, and what do they with all this knowledge? only this, that they may know; to know thus, is not to know for good, To know only to know, is no better than not to know. Secondly, Others know, that they may be known, to know this is their end, that other men may know that they are knowing men, that they are great Scholars, great read-men, men of great abilities and boundless studies. Even as some desire riches, that they may be accounted rich, and honour, that they may be famed for honourable. To know only that we may be known, is worse than not to know. But thirdly. That which is the right way of knowing, is to know that others may know, or, to know that ourselves may practise. These are the true ends of knowing, to communicate knowledge and to obey knowledge. The great end of knowing should be our own profiting in holiness and obedience. And so here, Know it for thy good, is, to know it so, as to make an advantage of thy knowledge. To know for our good, is the only good knowledge. Hence observe, first, Truth deserves our most diligent search. We have searched it (saith Eliphaz) The promise of finding truth, is only to such as search for truth (Prov. 2. 4.) Thou shalt find wisdom, etc. If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures. There are two places, two veins especially, where truth is to be found; There is the book of God's word, and the book of God's works: The book of Scripture, and the book of providence; In these two books, we are to search, in them to study out truth, for our own practice, and for advise to others. Secondly Observe, That which we offer to others for truth, we ought diligently to make trial of ourselves; or we should make truth our own, before we distribute it to others We have searched the thing out (saith Eliphaz) we know the truth to be thus, we are masters of what we teach. They who hear aright, search (as the Bereans) those things, which are taught them; and they who instruct aright, aught to search the things which they teach; If there must be after-searching of those things we hear, certainly there must be fore-searching of the things we teach. Truth (ordinarily) is not worth the having unless it be come in by our own searching. They who receive that for truth which they never searched, will not hold any truth when themselves are searched. Truths merely borrowed and taken upon trust, are no stock, no abiding treasure of knowledge; And yet most can only say of all the truth they have, as he of his axe head, (2 Kings 6. 5.) Alas master, for it was borrowed; they snatch up one truth from this hand, and another from that, they take it upon the credit of this and that learned man; very few are able to say (as Eliphaz here) Lo this, we have searched it: The more pains we take to find truth, the more pleasure we take in it; That is sweetest to us, which we sweat most for, in praying and studying: Morsels of Truth dipped in that sauce, fatten and strengthen the soul most. Observe thirdly, What a man knoweth by search and disquisition, he is confident of. We have searched it; and what follows? so it is; He speaks with authority, not timerously, as if he doubted whether it were so or no; but, so it is, we will bide by it, we have it upon enquiry and diligent search. Observe fourthly, The truths we know ourselves, we should communicate unto others. Here it is, we have searched it, but we will not put the light we have found, under a bushel; we will not hid the talon we have in a napkin: Here it is, make what use of it thou canst, know it for thy good. Observe fifthly, Truth may challenge credit, and command the ear. Hear thou it▪ Truth needs not stand begging audience, or creep upon the ground with flattering insinuations, or humble submissions to gain acceptance. Truth is a great Prince, and may speak in the language of Princes; We will, We require; It commands rather than entreats, or all its entreaties commands, every word a law or a charge: Hear thou it. Observe in the sixth place, That It is needful to make special application of general doctrinal truths. Eliphaz had delivered a doctrinal truth, and here he makes application; And though he failed much, in the application of it to Job, yet there were general truths very appliable, in the things he delivered. Therefore he stays not in generals, nor leaves his doctrine hover in the air, but brings it home to the heart, and lays it close to the conscience; Hear thou it, and know it thou, for thy good. And not only are national and speculative truths to be brought home and applied, but even common experimental truths, such were these discussed, and handled by Eliphaz. Observe seventhly, A man may know much, and yet get no good by it. Know this for thy good. The Devil is a great Scholar, he knows much, but he knows nothing for his benefit, but all for his hurt. Many a man knows almost all that is knowable; but he knows nothing which is (to him) profitable: Nothing gains by his knowledge but only his pride, he is puffed up with knowledge, not built up, and that knowledge which puffes up, will at last puff down, or cast us down. Eightly Observe, A godly man, may make a profitable use of any Truth. You see what truths Eliphaz spoke; many of them ordinary, common Doctrines, and many of them sore threaten and judgements upon wicked men, yet know thou this for thy good. There is no vein of Doctrine in the book of God, but a man may make use, yea treasure of it. All truth is so symbolical to the regenerate part, that it cannot but more sublimate and spiritualise a spiritual heart, though itself be a truth about things earthly and temporal. Observe lastly, All truths, especially truths contained in the promises, are the portion of a godly man. Know thou it for thy good, saith he; As if he should say, if thou art a godly man, than all the good things I have here spoken of, belonging to godly men, belong to thee, they are thy portion also. While a believer reads the book of God, he sees great riches, many precious things in the promises, and whatsoever good he finds there, there is nothing of it too good for him; he may know it all for his own good; those sweet delicious promises of the pardon of sin, of the love of God▪ of the freeness of grace, of the glory to come, the promises of Christ, and of all that is Christ's, all these things are his, when he reads them, he may set his mark upon them, and know them for his goods, know them as his own proper goods. Unbelievers are strangers to the promises, and the promises are as strange to them, they know not the promises, and the promises will not know them: They know not a letter of Scripture for their good. The very promises are threaten to them, and the very blessings of the book of God, are their curse. As the clouds pass over this and that piece of ground, and then dissolve upon a third, by the directing and all disposing providence of God: So the promises (which are full of blessings, full of comforts, as the clouds are of showers) pass over a wicked man's head, and let not down one drop of mercy or comfort upon him, but leave him like the dry hearth, or barren wilderness, which seethe not when good cometh, Jer. 17. 6. But when the cloud moves a little farther, and meets with the family or person of a godly man, there it dissolves and poureth out a plentiful rain (both of temporal and spiritual blessings) to refresh and confirm that inheritance of the Lord, Psal. 68 9 And so much for this fifth Chapter, wherein, with the fourth, we have handled the first part of the dispute undertaken against Job, by Eliphaz, the first of his three friends. The whole discourse consisting of divers arguments, to convince and humble him under the hand of God: of divers counsels and motives to persuade and direct him to seek unto God, and submit to his correcting hand: All he was to speak, being let in, by a loving preface, and all he spoke, being ratified, with an assuring conclusion, that all he had spoken was for his good, if he would hear, believe and obey. In the next Chapters we shall hear Job making his defence, scattering the charge thus brought against him, stiffly maintaining, and importunately renewing his first complaint. JOB, Chap. 6. Vers. 1, 2, 3. But Job answered, and said. O that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together. For now it would he heavier than the sand of the sea, therefore my words are swallowed up, etc. THis sixth Chapter gins Jobs replication, which is continued to the end of the seventh. He replies exactly to the several parts of the charge, given by Eliphaz, who in the two foregoing Chapters, undertook both to reprove the impatience of Job, and to advise him a more holy and better tempered carriage, towards God, under his afflictions. In this reply, Job shapes and forms up answers unto both. I shall endeavour to give you a brief of the whole, and then to particulars. First, Job enters with a refutation of those reproofs of impatience, which Eliphaz had heaped upon him; and with that subjoins a refusal of the counsels (in his sense) which he had given him. In this work, seven verses of the Chapter are spent. Secondly, We have a renovation or a re-inforcement of his grief and desire to die, from the 8 to the end of the 13 verse, O that I might have my request, that God would cut me off, etc. As if he had said, I am so far, from being satisfied, with what thou hast spoken against me, or from recanting and recalling, what I have spoken, in those my breathe after death, that I will be bold to make the same suit to God again, O that I might have my request, and that God would cut me off! etc. Thirdly, He proceeds to a charge of rash censure, of uncharitable, yea of deceitful dealing upon his friends, from the 13 unto the 24 verse. To him that is afflicted (saith he) pity should be showed from his friend, my brethren have dealt deceitfully, as a brook, etc. Fourthly, He yet submits himself to their judgement and direction, if they would speak reason to him at last, and come home to his case indeed; or, if they could fully and candidly discover to him any error, he was willing to be rectified; This he professes (and it is a most ingenious profession) in the 24. and 25. verses, Teach me (saith he) and I will hold my tongue, and cause me to understand wherein I have erred, etc. As if he had said, All that you have spoken hitherto, doth not reach my condition, ye have quite mistook my case; yet, you shall see, I do not stand out against you, because I will stand out, it is not my will that opposes what you have spoken, but my understanding; therefore, if you can show me better reason, I lay down the bucklers, and yield myself a prisoner to yourselves, and unto truth. I delight not to lengthen out contentions, nor am I resolved to have the last word, Teach me, and I will hold my tongue. Fifthly, He adds an expostulation, mixed with an aggravation. An expostulation about, and an aggravation of their high jealousy, and low opinion of him, in the 26. and 27. verses, Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are ●● wind? As if he had said, Do you think, that you have had to deal with a man, that only makes a noise, or speaks a great many words, which have more sound than sense: do ye think I am out of my wits, and in stead of arguing with you, do only rave like a mad man at you? Ye have not had vain, windy words from me, but words full of weight and matter, words of truth and soberness, wherefore then do you speak thus? Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate? Do ye think I speak like one, who knows not what he speaks? Or that, I have at once lost my hope, and my understanding? Sixthly, He gives them advice and admonition to take better heed, to what they should after say, if they intended to to say any more, or to continue their counsel and discourse with him; in the three last verses of this sixth Chapter. Now therefore be content, look upon me, for it is evident to you, if I lie, return I pray you, etc. In the 7th, (which concludes his speech) he offers three things, especially to be observed. First, A renewing of many arguments and considerations, by which he confirms the equity of his request, to have his life cut off; upon which sad subject he insists, from the beginning of the Chapter, to the end of the 17th verse. Is there not an appointed time to man upon the earth? Are not his days like the days of an Hireling? etc. Secondly, After all his high strains of contest with man, we have an abasement of himself, as unworthy that God should take notice of him, either by mercies or judgements, in the 18. and 19 verses. What is man, that thou shouldst magnify him, and that thou shouldest visit him every morning? etc. A godly man will stand (when he sees cause) upon his terms with men, but he ever falls low before, and hath not a word to reply against God. He is sometime angry, when men vilify him, but he ever admires, why God should magnify him. What is man, etc. Thirdly, He concludes his speech with an humble acknowledgement of his own sinfulness, and with an earnest request for the pardon of his sin. Lord (saith he) I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, O, thou preserver of men, vers. 20, etc. After all this heat and passion, after all these complain, Jobs heart lay level before the Lord, yea he abases himself to exalt and give glory to God, with humble confession, and an earnest supplication for the pardon of his sin. Thus we have the general parts and substance of his answer to that charge of Eliphaz, in the two former Chapters. But Job answered and said, etc. In these words, and the three following verses, Job gives us the refutation or rejection of that reproof, given him by Eliphaz; And he refutes it by showing the reason why Eliphaz (as he supposed) was so sharp and bitter in reproving him. And further, he shows cause why he rejects his counsel or consolation. The reason upon Amicos taxat, quod antequam ipsum reprehender ent, non expendissent suam miseriam. Coc. which he puts off those reproofs is this, because Eliphaz had not duly considered his sorrows, or was not so sensible of them, as a man should be, that undertakes a friend in his condition. The sum of his argument, against what Eliphaz had spoken, may be thus form; He cannot duly reprove or convince another of impatience in complaining, who hath not fully weighed those calamities, which are the cause and ground of those complaints. But Eliph. z, thou hast not fully weighed and considered my case and condition, my troubles and calamities, which are the ground and cause of my complaints. Therefore thou canst not duly reprove or convince me of impatience. The Assumption or second Proposition of this argument, is couched in the second verse, O that my grief were throughly weighed, and that my calamity were laid in the balances together! As if he had said, I had never received such harsh censures, such a judgement or reproof, if thou hadst duly weighed my sorrows; if thou hadst faithfully studied my case, thou hadst never rebuked me thus. The weight of his calamity, himself expresseth two ways. First, Comparatively, at the third verse, by putting it into the balance with the sand of the sea; For now (saith he) it would be heavier than the sand of the sea. Secondly, He sets forth the greatness of his calamity, demonstratively, by declaring in what manner he had been afflicted, My affliction is not an ordinary affliction; I am wounded with the arrows of the Almighty, and those poisoned arrows, and those arrows drinking up my spirits. I have not only some single great affliction, or many small ones upon me; but, I have terror, and terrors, yea I have an army of terrors, yea an army of terrors always encamping about me, and charging me continually, why Eliphaz thou didst never clearly consider these things, much less hast thou had a sympathy or fellow-feeling of them. Thou hast not been afflicted in my afflictions: Thou hast not sorrowed my sorrows, nor wept my tears; Therefore it is, that thou hast so sharply reproved me, and put so much gall and wormwood into thy discourse. So then, the sum of this first part may be thus given, taking it out of those high and hyperbolical strains, in which his passion was carried; as if Job had thus answered Eliphaz, It is an easy matter to slight that which a man doth not know, and to think others complain too much, when we ourselves feel nothing; but is it any wonder to hear a man groan, that hath a burden upon his back, as heavy as the sand of the Sea? Is it any wonder to hear a man cry out, whose flesh is filled with poisoned arrows, shot from a bow, bend and drawn by the arm of omnipotency? Is it any wonder, if that man fear, who is encompassed about with terrors? Is it any wonder, if that man be troubled, who hath the terrors of the Almighty encamping about him? Why Eliphaz, thou wouldst not think, that an Ox or an Ass were reprovable, if the one should low when he hath no grass, and the other bray when he hath no fodder; if it be so, that the very irrational creatures do according to reason, when they complain upon their wants, dost thou think me desperate or irrational in complaining of mine? Alas all my fodder and my grass, all my comforts and refresh are taken from me: Dost thou not see, how, upon a due consideration of my estate, all thy reproofs may be wiped off from me, or retorted upon thyself? what great matter is it, if thou dost not complain, who sittest at ease and knowest no sorrow? Thou art in green pastures or full barns, thou hast grass and fodder in abundance, and therefore hast no cause of complaint. Thus in the general. But Job answered and said. To answer, is here taken properly: he answers to a charge, reproof, or argument. At the third Chapter; verse the first, when Job began to speak, it is said, Job answered and said. In Scripture language answering is often put for speaking, though none have spoken a word or made any proposal before. But here answering is taken in a strict sense, as it notes a reply to somewhat before spoken; Job answered and said. Note this from it. It is the duty of a man to answer, when he is questioned or charged. It is the Ahostles rule (1 Pet. 3. 15.) Be ready always to give an answer to every man, that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you. As a man in duty ought to give a reason of the hope that is in him; so in duty he ought to give a reason of the sorrows that are in him, and of the complaints that proceed from him; We must answer for our passions, as well as for our speeches; we must answer for our sorrows, and for our joys, and for our fears; as well as for our hope, or for our faith. These must all be answered for, and when any shall charge us about any of these, we must be ready to give a reason of them (as the Apostle advises there, in the case of our hope) with meekness and fear. It is our duty to answer thus, both in reference to ourselves and others. First, It is our duty in reference to ourselves, that we may vindicate that, which should be more precious to us, than the gold of Ophir, our own credit or sincerity, No man ought to despise his own integrity or reputation, so, as not to stand up for it. Therefore Job grows resolute in that point, professing that he would hold his integrity, till he died, he would never let that go, but answer stiffly for it: It is justice to dis-asperse ourselves, and give witness to our own wronged innocency. A man is more bound in duty to stand up for himself, then for any other, by how much he is nearer to himself, then to others. Secondly, It is our duty to answer in respect of others; (and that Job might have an eye unto) namely to satisfy those, who are scandalised, by what we have either done or spoken: Suppose, it be not a scandal given, suppose, it be only a scandal taken, as this of Job was: Job did nothing purposely to scandalise them, nor any thing, which upon a due consideration, was a scandal, but his friends had taken scandal at what he spoke, his impatient complain: therefore he was bound in duty to satisfy them, and to show further grounds, wherefore he so complained. Silence when we Si accusatus non respondeat aut criminis convictus aut certé suspectus videatur. Pined. are charged, either makes a full conviction, or strengthens suspicion; And in this case, if Job had held his peace, he had either yielded the cause, and confessed himself guilty, or at least his friends should have had cause to grow higher in their jealousies of his sincerity. To right ourselves is not a point of indifferency, but of duty. Self-love is the rule of our love to others. He who neglects his own wronged honour, will not be very careful (which yet he ought) of his neighbours. O that my grief were throughly weighed! Grief may be considered two ways, either Passively or Actively. Grief taken Passively is the thing which we suffer, or, which is grievous to us; affliction itself is called grief. Take grief Actively, and then it is the sorrow we express, under the pressures of grievous afflictions. The word in the Hebrew is translated sometimes anger, sometimes indignation, sometimes wrath. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ira, indignatio hoc loco, ira est que● imonia valde iracunda vel molestia, quam ex morbi & ulcer is gravitate concipiehat. Merc. Notat dolorem quem quis capit ex re adversa & displicenti. Coc. It is the same which Eliphaz useth, Chap. 5. v. 2. where he saith, Wrath killeth the foolish man; Eliphaz began his speech with that word, hinting at Job, as if his wrath and impatience towards God had discovered him for a fool, or a wicked one: Now Job returning answer, gins with the first word of Eliphaz his speech; As if he had said, You told me that wrath kills the foolish man, but O that my anger, or the wrath which you conceive to be in me, that grief which I have expressed, were fully weighed, you would quickly see, that it is not the anger or wrath of a fool, you would find reason for my passion, and that, not the want of wisdom, but the plenty or weight of my grief hath wrought out these complaints. Therefore my desire is, O that my grief, O that my sorrows poured forth in my former lamentation were throughly weighed, you have but guessed at them yet, you have not weighed them; or if weighed them, yet not throughly weighed them, you have not weighed them (which you ought) as you would weigh gold, to a grain, or to the turning of the scale: or if so, your beam is not a true one, nor your balance the balance of the Sanctuary, you have weighed me, but, by a common beam, or (I fear) by false balances, and a bag of deceitful weights. O that my grief.] The Vulgar Latin translates, O that my sins, namely, for which I am thus afflicted were throughly weighed; utinam peccata mea. Vulg. As if the meaning of Job were to lighten his sin, and to aggravare his suffering: But doubtless, that was none of Jobs mind or meaning, neither will the original bear such a translation; when our sins are put into the balance with our sufferings, all our sufferings, the heaviest we can feel or go under in this life, are but as a feather to a talon of lead. As all the afflictions of this life are light, in comparison of that exceeding weight of glory, prepared for us in the next life. So all the suffering of this life are light, in comparison of the exceeding weight of one sin, committed by us. Therefore Job makes no such comparison here, as if he had been afflicted more than he deserved; That of Ezra concerning the Church of the Jews (Chap. 9 13.) Thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, is true of every punishment; put any punishment of this world, spiritual or temporal, in one scale, and the least sin, in another, that lightest sin outweighs our heaviest punishment. Only in hell sins and sufferings shall be of equal poise. God will then pour and measure our punishments, which shall come up to the proportion and dimension of our sins, and what the creature cannot bear at once in weight, shall be weighed to him in eternity. But to pass that rendering, as unsafe. O that my grief were throughly weighed. Our English word, scale, which is the instrument, by which we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Libravit, ponderavit, olim moneta libraebatur & ex pondere habebatur summa pecuniae. ut mini ex numero nummorun, Ulpian. weigh, is well conceived to come from the Hebrew word here used (Shakal) signifying to weigh any thing, but especially to weigh coin or money, to weigh gold and silver; As Gen. 23. 16. Abraham upon the purchase of that field, which he bought of the children of Heth, for a burying place, weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named. It was the custom of those times, in stead of telling, to weigh their money, and that was the most exact and ready way of payment: And from that word (Shakal) signifying to weigh money, comes the Hebrew word for one special sort of money, the Shekel, because they weighed by the shekel, that being as their standard or a special coin, of such a known weight and value, that all their coin was weighed and valued by it. So in Siclus moneta certi ponderis & omnium ponderum regu●a. the Latin and likewise in our English, we call one special sum of money, A pound, which is a weight, and by which money is commonly accounted and paid. And hence by a Metaphor, this word signifies to judge or to consider of a thing exactly▪ and fully, because of all matters that men weigh, they will weigh gold and silver most exactly; if a man weigh gold, he weigheth it to a grain, if gold want but the turning of the scale, more than due weight or allowance, it will not pass, Isa. 33. 18. Where is the Scribe, where Vil begis verba ponderant. Sanc. Quaestor praefectus aeratio militari. Jun. is the Receiver; The Hebrew is, Where is the weigher; that is, either the spiritual weigher; He that uses to be so exact in weighing every tittle of the law. Or, the Civil weigher, because they used to weigh all the money, they received. So then, O that my grief were throughly weighed, is as if he had said, O that my grief were weighed, as gold and silver is weighed, weighed exactly, to the least, to the utmost, that you might fully know what it is. The word single by itself, notes an exact examination by weighing, but when (as here) the word is doubled, or (by an Hebraisme) repeated, O that my grief in weighing were weighed, it heightens and increases the sense exceedingly: Hence we translate O that my grief were throughly weighed, weighed so, as that there might be a clear discovery, how much my sorrows weigh. The doubling of a word, to this sense, is very frequent in Scripture, I shall not need to instance. Take only that (Gen. 2. 17.) Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, in dying, thou shalt die, (that is) thou shalt surely die; So here, O that in weighing it were weighed, that is, O that it were throughly and exactly weighed Lay all together, and it imports thus much; as if Job had said, I would not have my sorrows weighed at a vulgar beam, or in ordinary balances, I would not have the sound or letter only of what I have spoken considered, but I desire that you would take my complaints together, the words and the matter, and that you would weigh all impartially, that you may come to a full understanding, what my condition is; and then surely you would give up a better judgement, and make a fairer interpretation of my words, then as yet you have put forth: Thus he speaks also Chapter. 31 6. Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity. Uneven balances will not make a perfect discovery: That which is false, cannot give a true report: Things and persons act as they are; therefore Job desireth to be weighed in an even balance, such a beam will speak the truth of my estate, both to God and man; God needs no means to make him know, he knows all immediately, and he weighs by his eye, not one thing by another, but all things in themselves; Job speaks of God after the manner of men And my calamity laid in the balances together. My grief and my calamity. Grief caused by my calamity, and calamity the cause of that grief. My calamity. The word signifies any troublesome evil, sad event, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or accident, vulgularly called a misfortune; O that this sad à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 estate and condition wherein I am, were put into the balance. The Original for balances, is very observable; As there is fuit, eventus malus, infortunium. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trutina, statera quod duas sc. habeat lances, velut aures Pagn. much elegancy, in the word by which the action, so, in this, by which the instrument of weighing is expressed. It is found only in the plural, or dual number, as many of that nature are; The same word in Hebrew, signifies also the ears, which are the organ of hearing; and the reason of it is thus given, because as the tongue of the balance stands like a judge between the two scales, inclining to neither till the weight be laid in; so should the ear of a Judge by office, or of any man, by deputation, called to hear and determine of things in difference, stand indifferent to both parties, till he hear the matter debated, and the reasons brought forth on either side. The Moralists emblem this, by the place of that Sign in the Zodiac, which they call the Virgin, standing (according to the doctrine of Astronomers) between the Lion and the Bellances; The Lion bids Virgin Justice, be stout and fearless; The Balances advise her to weigh the matter on both sides, with moderation, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and be cautious, inclining neither one way nor other, but as the merit of the cause, fully heard, shall sway her judgement. à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Job desires, that his calamity might be laid thus in the balances, Levavit, sustulit, nam qui appendit ali quid tollit lances in altum, Drus. before his sentence; Laid; The word is, O that my calamity might ascend in the balances; And that manner of speaking is used, either because in weighing, the lighter scale of the balances doth ascend, or because when things are weighed, the balances ascend or are lifted up: A man takes up the balances in his hand to weigh; So it is, as if he had said, O that these, might be poised together and lifted up, to see which way the scales will turn. Together. There is some difference in opinion about that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pariter vel potius similiter. Nulla ejus parte praeter missa. Together, whether he meaneth thus; O that all my grief and calamity were weighed, you consider things to halves, and leave out those points which are most weighty and material; you should take in all together, Or whether his desire be, that his grief and calamity, both together, might be put into one balance, and the sand of the sea into another, and so an experiment be made, whether his grief and calamity, or the sand of the sea were heavier. Or thirdly, Whether thus, that his grief should be put into one balance, and his calamity into another, and then trial be made which of those two were heavier, his grief and sorrow, or his calamity and trouble. A learned interpreter conceives, that job Mercerus. wishes his grief and calamity might both together be put into one balance, and all the sand of the sea (if it were possible) in the other, supposing that his grief and calamity would outweigh that vast ponderous aggregated body. His opinion is chiefly strengthened by some difficulties in the Grammatical construction, unless this be admitted; and yet if it be, a greater difficulty is showed by a second, and therefore I rather take it thus; O that Bolduc. my grief and calamity were laid in the balances together, that is, O that my grief were put, one into one balance, and my calamity into another; or, O that my grief might be weighed with my calamity, and it would appear (notwithstanding your judgement of me) that yet, there is nothing so much weight in my grief, as there is in my calamity, that is, I have not yet grieved or complained up to the height or weight of those calamities, which are upon me: So that if my sorrow were laid in one balance, and my affliction in another, my affliction would outweigh my sorrow, and it would appear, that I have complained, not only, not without a cause, but not so much, as I had cause. And to prove that his calamity was heavier than his grief, he adds in the next words; It, (namely his calamity thus weighed) would be heavier than the sand of the sea: As if he had said, it is possible that in trying all heavy things, somewhat might be found heavier than my grief or my complaint hath been; but I am sure nothing can be found of equal weight with my calamity, for my calamity (which is the immediate antecedent) would be heavier than the sand of the sea, than which, nothing can be found more heavy. That of David, Psal. 62. 9 is parallel to this expression in Job, Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; To be laid in the balances, they are altogether lighter than vanity. The meaning is, That if men of all degrees, high and low were put in one scale, and vanity in the other, vanity itself would be weightier than the gravest and most weighty men: Hence some read, They together are lighter than vanity; Others to this sense, Men and vanity being weighed together, vanity will not be so light, as vain man. As David, to show man's lightness, makes him lighter than the lightest thing, vanity. So job, to show the heaviness of his calamity, makes it heavier than the heaviest thing, the found of the sea. Observe hence; first, That it is a duty, to weigh the sad estate, and afflicted condition of our brethren thoroughly. But (you will say) what is it to weigh them throughly? I answer, It is not only to weigh the matter of an affliction, to see what it is, which aman suffers; but to weigh an affliction in every circumstance and aggravation of it; The circumstance of an affliction, is often more considerable than the matter of the affliction. If a man would confess his sins, and confess them throughly, he is to confess, not only the matter of them; as sins are the transgressions of the Law, and errors against the rule, but he must eye the manner, in which sin hath been committed, the circumstances with which it is clothed, these render his sin out of measure, and out of weight sinful. Likewise would a man consider the mercies and favours received from God, would he know them throughly, and see how much they weigh? let him look not only what, but how, and when, and where, and by whom he hath received them. There may be (and often is) a great wickedness in a little evil committed, and a great mercy in a little good received. As relations, so circumstances have the least entity, but they have the greatest efficacy. Now, as there is often more in the circumstances, than in the matter of a sin, or of a mercy so, there is often more in the circumstance, than there is in the matter of an affliction, therefore, he that would thoroughly weigh the afflictions of another, must consider all these accidents, as well as the substance of it. As namely, the time when sent, the time how long endured, whether a single affliction, or in conjucture with other afflictions, the strength of the patiented, and the dependencies that are upon him. Secondly, He that would weigh an affliction throughly, must put himself in the case of the afflicted, and (as it were) make another's grief, his own. He must act the passions of his brother, and a while personate the poor, the sick, the afflicted man. He must get atast of the wormwood, and of the gall, upon which his brother feedeth. In a word, He must lay such a condition to heart: The Prophet Malachy threatens a curse upon those, who laid not the word and works of God to heart (Chap. 2. 2,) I will curse your blessings (saith the Lord) because ye do not lay it to heart; that is, ye do not consider, what I say or do, throughly: God cursed them throughly, because they would not throughly consider His Laws and judgements: So then, to weigh the affliction of another throughly, is to put our souls, as it were, in their soul's stead: Hence, that we may be assured, Christ hath throughly weighed all our afflictions, He is said to be afflicted in all our afflictions; He doth not only intuitively consider or contemplate them, but he is (though above enduring) as, actually enduring them. He is afflicted in all our afflictions, that is, he considers our afflictions as his own, and is affected with them, as if himself were pained with all our pains: and therefore it is said, that himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses, Mat. 8. 17. the meaning is, he weighed the grief of his people fully. In these two points, this holy art of weighing grief consists, consideration of circumstances, and sympathy of the smart. Mere speculation moves little. We have no feeling of another's suffering, till we have a fellow-feeling. The bare Theory of affliction, affects no more, than the bare Theory of fire, heats. Secondly, When Job saith, O that my grief were throughly weiged; we may observe, That it is an addition to a man's affliction, when others are not sensible of his affliction. For it is, as if Job had said; This makes me cry out so much of the weight of my sorrows, because my friends weigh them so little. The Church (Lam. 1. 12.) complains thus, Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. Is it nothing to you? as if the Church had said; My affliction is something to me, and this aflicts me, above all my affliction, that passengers and beholders slight my calamities, and think my affliction no affliction; that is, not so great, as indeed it is: Or, it is nothing to them, (they are not touched with it) how great soever, they see it is to me: That which wounds and breaks my heart, doth not prick their little fingers. And because, man is so ready to afflict his brother with this negative affliction, a not being sensible of his afflictions, therefore the Apostle assures us (Heb. 4. 15.) That we have not an High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are. This is spoken to comfort the Saints in their extremest sufferings; what though men will not take notice and be sensible of your condition? what though men will not weigh your grief? yet Christ will; our High Priest, is none of your senseless Priests, who care not what weather the People endure, so they be warm and at ease. Thirdly observe; We can never rightly judge, till we throughly weigh the condition of an afflicted brother. For Job conceived that Eliphaz proceeded to judgement, before he had been in consideration. This is the reason why thou hast judged me uncharitably, because thou hast not weighed me seriously. To show, that consideration must go before judgement, God himself is expressed to us, in Scripture considering the state of things, before himself judges. So Gen. 11th in the case of the bvilders of Babel, and Gen. 18 ●h in the case of the men of Sodom, it is said, that the Lord came down to see, whether they had done altogether, according to that cry, which was come up unto him; Not, as if the Lord moves from one place to another, from Heaven to earth, for he filleth all places; not that the Lord needs come down to receive information, or to examine his own intelligence, to see whether things are, as they are reported; but, it is only an allusion to the manner of men, or, to show, that he doth not censure or judge any man, or men, or Nations, till he hath taken a full cognisance of their condition. Now if God, who is infinite in knowledge and wisdom, represents himself coming down, and by degrees deliberating about and weighing the estates of men, before he censures them, what need then have blindfold men, ignorant men, men, who at best have much darkness mixed with their light, what need (I say) have they to examine, weigh and try every man's estate, before they sentence or determine it? Fourthly observe; A man, who hath not been, or is not afflicted himself, can hardly apprehend, what another endures, who is under affliction. As there are comforts, especially spiritual comforts, which no man knows or can know, but by the enjoying of them: The white stone (promised, Rev. 2. 17.) hath a new name written in it, which no man knows, saving he that receiveth it; A man that is a stranger to Christ and his ways, is not able to make any judgement what the comforts and refresh of a Christian are. He admires to hear men speak of spiritual comforts and consolations, he knows not the meaning of those things. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, because they are spiritually discerned, 1 Cor. 2. 14. It is so (proportionably) in all sorrows and afflictions, especially in spiritual sorrows and afflictions, which lie off from sense, yea, which lie quite beyond the reach and borders of reason: spiritual sorrows, the hidings of God's face, the withdrawing of assistance, few pity in others, because few have had experience of these things, in themselves. They think men are mad, when they complain of such afflictions; when they cry out of their sins, of the want of the favour of God, and the shining of his love, of deadness and coldness in duty, of unbelief and hardness of heart, etc. And therefore our Lord Jesus, to assure our hearts that he hath a full sense of all our sorrows, tasted himself of our sorrows. There is not any sorrow that can be upon any soul, or any affliction that can be upon the body, but our Lord Jesus hath had (some way or other) an experience of it: This makes him (to our apprehensions) most fit to judge and compassionate the distresses of his people. As all the sins of his people were laid upon him, so all their sorrows were laid upon him too; therefore the Prophet Isaiah describes him thus, Ch. 53. 3. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; Grief and he were no strangers, while he was here upon the earth, grief was his acquaintance and Familiar (as it were) that went up and down with him, all the while he traveled here below. Therefore seeing it is so, the whole church and every particular believer, have strong consolation in their sorrows, that the Lord Jesus Christ doth throughly weigh their condition, and knoweth fully what it is, We have not (as was touched before) an Highpriest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; why, what assurance have we of this? it follows, He was tempted in all things like unto us, yet without sin. Christ had temptations unto sin, yet without sin, therefore he knows how to secure us, when we are tempted unto sin; Christ was tempted by manifold sorrows, therefore he knows how to secure us, when we are under manifold sorrowful temptations: If we had a Mediator in Heaven that had not been tempted on earth, we might doubt whether he would be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, whether sinning infirmities, or sorrowing infirmities. And were it not, that some of the Saints have been tempted and tried, they, who are under trials and temptations, would find none on earth, to secure them. As God doth comfort some in all their tribulations, that they may be able to comfort them, which are in any trouble, with the same comforts wherewith they themselves are comforted of God, 2 Cor. 1. 4. So he afflicts them, that they might pity and help others, as being under the same troubles, with which themselves have been afflicted. A man that hath only travelled in Geographical books and Maps, is not able to give you such lively descriptions of, or directions about foreign Countries, as he that hath travelled to, and been upon the places; so, they who have read and studied much about afflictions, can never give such enlivening, strengthening, heartening counsel, as they, who have been afflicted, and have dwelled sometime upon the Land of sorrows, To pass on. For now it would be heavier than the sand of the Sea. That is, it would be most heavy. Who can tell how heavy that is which is heavier than the heaviest? If my calamity (saith Job) were weighed, it would have been found heavier, than the sand of the Sea, that account would be given of it; though you (my friend Eliphaz) seem to account it as light as a feather. The sand of the Sea is applied three ways in Scripture, First, to set forth an exceeding great number, (Gen. 22. 17.) I will multiply thy seed as the Stars of the Heaven, and as the sand which is upon the Sea shore. That is, I will exceedingly multiply thy seed, thy children shall be not only numerous, but numberless; Though a book of Numbers be written concerning abraham's posterity, yet their total number is not written. So (Psal. 78. 27.) He reigned flesh upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the Sea, that is, he reigned abundance of feathered fowls. Secondly, The sand of the Sea, is used to express the largeness, the mighty extent or capacity of a thing; The sand of the Sea, is of a vaster extent, than the Sea itself, as being the outward line or bound of it; therefore (Jer. 33. 22.) it is spoken of, as a thing impossible, for the sand of the sea to be measured; As the host of Heaven (sc. the Stars) cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the Sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of my servant David. Measure is taken both of the content, and extent of things; The sand of the Sea is immeasurable both ways, it cannot (as we speak of humane impossibles) be measured by the pole or by the vessel. And in 1 King. 4. 29. it is said, God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart as the sand of the Sea, that is, as the sand incompasses and takes the Sea in its arms, so Solomon had a heart, comprehending all the depths and oceans of knowledge; he had the compass of all learning in his understanding. Hence, when a man attempts a thing impossible, we say to him proverbially. Thou measurest the sand. Are●am metiris. Thirdly, The sand of the Sea is applied in Scripture, to note the exceeding weight and heaviness of a thing: that instance is pregnant for it (Prov. 23. 7.) A stone is heavy, and the sand is weighty, but a fool's wrath is heavier than both; when Solomon would Stulti mores ●ntolerabiles. show us, how intolerably burdensome, the manners of a wicked man are, he compares them to a stone and to the sand; The wrath of a wicked man is very weighty, but (by the way) the wrath of God is incomparably more weighty: Wrath proceeding from extreme folly, is weighty, but wrath proceeding▪ from infinite wisdom, is infinitely weighty; The wrath of a fool upon his brother, is heavier than a stone, or then the sand; How heavy then will the wrath of the most wise God be, upon that fool? It is further considerable, that, he saith not barely, heavier than Triplex est a●enae genus foss●●ia, flavialis & Marina, Plin. lib. 3 na● hist. cap. 23. the sand, (any sand is very heavy) but heavier than the sand of the Sea: Rivers have sand, and dry pits have sand, but sea-sand is the vastest and the heaviest sand. Again, He speaks not in the singular number, Heavier than the sand of the Sea; but (the Hebrew is plural) heavier than the sand of the Seas; as if Job had said, if thou shouldest shovel up all the sand, that is upon the shores of all the seas together on a heap, it would not be so heavy, as my calamity; In such Hyperboles or high strains of eloquence, Job rhetoricates about his sad condition, as if he resolved to put more weight into his expressions, as he found more weight put into his afflictions. Hence observe, Afflictions are heavy burdens. The judgements of God upon wicked men, are frequently in Scripture called burdens, and they are heavy burdens; Isa. 15. 1. we read of the burden of Moab, that is, the judgement and calamity that should fall upon Moab; And Isa. 17. 1. The burden of Damascus. And Isa. 19 1. The burden of Egypt. And Isa. 21. 1. The burden of the desert of the Sea. And afterwards, The burden of the valley of vision, that is of Jerusalem; And (2 King. 9 25.) when Jehu had killed Jehoram, he said to Bidkar his Captain: Take up and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, for remember, how that when I and thou road together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him; That is, that he should be slain and thrown out in this manner. As afflictions upon wicked men are burdens; So, afflictions upon the godly are burdens too, they are also heavy burdens: Their sins are burdens upon them, My sins (saith David) are gone over my head, they are a burden too heavy for me to bear, Psal. 38. 4. Their sins are burdens and their sorrows are burdens. Sin doth not only burden man, but it burdens God, I am pressed under your sins, as a cart is pressed, that is full of sheaves, saith God, Amos 2. 13. As man, by sin burdens God, so God, by affliction burdens man. But of all afflictions, inward afflictions are the greatest burdens: As the spirit of a man is stronger than his flesh, so the afflictions which are upon his spirit are weightier than those that are upon his flesh: The spirit hath wonderful strength, all spirits are strong: Angels are mighty in strength, One good Angel is an over-match for all men. And the devils (who are spirits) are called not not only Principalities but powers, because of their strength. Proportionably, the spirit of man hath a mighty strength in it, and so the afflictions, which are upon the spirit, may have a greater weight in them. The affliction which Job complains of, as heavier than the sand, was not so much the calamity that pressed his flesh, or the pain that tormented his body (as is plain in the next verse) but it was the calamity of his spirit, the affliction lying there, A man can sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit, (that is, when a man hath got a blow, a wound, an affliction upon his spirit) who can bear? Pro. 18. 14. As if Solomon had said, I challenge all the world to find me out a man, that can bear a burdened wounded spirit; unless Christ put under his hand, no strength of man's spirit can bear the burden of a wounded spirit; A spirit hath no weight at all, only fleshly and material substances are ponderous; but a wounded spirit is heavier than wounded flesh. The spirit is strong enough to bear the burdened flesh, but nothing in flesh can bear a burdened spirit. In the close of the verse, we have the effect of this heavy weight of affliction, both spiritual and corporal. Therefore (saith he) my words are swallowed up. That is, I want words to express my grief. a Verba deficiunt quibus mognitudinem dolorum exprimam: Nulla possum oratione ●●nsequi, quanto infester dolore. Merc. Vix satis esse queant tanto jam verba dolori. All language is too narrow for the vastness of my sorrows. Some read it, b Propterea verba mea ama●a, Symmach. Therefore my words are bitter, or therefore my words are steeped in bitterness, as if he had said, I myself feed upon bitter things, I feed upon gall and wormwood, therefore no wonder, if my words taste of them. The Vulgar goes farther from the letter of the Text, rendering, c Proptereaverba mea sunt dolore plena. Vul. Therefore my words are full of sorrow; as if he had said, the sorrows which are in my mind, flow out upon my tongue. The Septuagint yet further off. d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Sep. Therefore it seems my words are evil, or ill taken. My grief renders my words more liable to exception or misinterpretation. M Broughton translates, Therefore my words come short, there is a weight upon me heavier than the sand of the sea, Therefore my words come short, or my expressions come not up to my intention. We translate near that sense and answerably to the original, My words are swallowed up. The Hebrew word signifies to lick up, or to swallow down, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lambit absorbuit per Metaphoram perdidit corrupit. by a Metaphor to destroy or to consume; in the prophecy of Obadiah, vers. 16. The word is used to that purpose, They shall drink and they shall swallow down; And Prov. 20. 25. It is a snare to the man, who devoureth that which is holy, or who swalloweth down that which is holy: So here, Therefore my words are swallowed up, that is, when I would speak, my words are, as it were, halfe-eaten before spoken, or my words are snatched down in the Verba semesa. Jun. speaking, by the sharp teeth and devouring stomach of my grief and sorrows. Others from the letter read, Therefore my words are corrupted, Verba mea corrupta sunt, aut pe●dita R. Levi deleta R. Moses intercisa, Theod Lasta. Chald. Verbum per●in●t ad pronunciationem corrupt●m & ad ●albuti●m, wearied, l●st, blotted, blubbered, so cut-off, that I cannot speak distinctly, alluding unto those that stammer. A stammerer is in such haste to speak, that he eats his words, and (as we use to say proverbially in our language) he eclipse the King's English, he swalloweth up half his mind, when he would bring it out in words; such is the meaning of Job, My words are swallowed up, I cannot speak all: my grief takes me off, and cuts me short. And so he seems to excuse himself. First; in case he had spoken abruptly and brokenly, my pain hath been so great, that I can hardly speak, therefore take no advantage Vix loqui possam, vox faucib●a haeret, Vat. of the abrupt language and broken sentences, which have fallen from me, for the truth is, my grief hath swallowed up my words. I have rather sighed then declared my mind; real sorrow as well as poetical passionate imitation of sorrow makes many an (Ap siopesis or) sudden stop and breach, when the tongue is upon the swiftest speed, and quickest motion. And secondly, he seems to excuse himself for the matter of his speech, I have not yet spoken all my mind, I have not given you my full sense, about my condition: for through grief I was forced to swallow up my words, and to suppress what I had further to say Therefore suppose my speech hath been imperfect, yet be not scandalised at it, for if you will have patience to stay, I shall anon bring up the words again, which my sorrows have snatched from me and swallowed down. Stay a while, and you shall hear more, you shall hear all, I will speak more largely and more distinctly than I have done. One of the Rabbins takes the Rab. Kimchi. words actively, and refers the act of swallowing to Jobs friends; as if he had said, Ye my friends have swallowed down my words. Ye have not leisurely fed upon and digested them, but swallowed them in such haste, that ye have not tasted them. As a man that swallows down a morsel greedily without chewing, never tastes either the sweetness or the bitterness of it. It is a usual Metaphor. to express hearing by eating; and we have it (as many interpret) at the sixth verse of this Chapter, Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt. It is a truth, that when words are thus swallowed or gobled down, we take not out the strength or intent of them. But I stay not upon this exposition, because it strains too hard upon the grammatical construction, and other circumstances, of the Text. Observe out of the former meaning. First, Great grief interrupteth speech, and makes broken language; Therefore my speech or my words are swallowed up. As sometimes our words devour so sometimes our words are devoured; some men speak swallowing words, and others swallow their words, (Psal. 57 4.) Thou lovest all devouring words, or thou lovest all swallowing words, O thou deceitful tongue. There are swallowing words, as well as swallowed words. Malice makes a man swallow the integrity of another with his words; And grief will make a man swallow down his own words, so that he cannot speak to maintain his own integrity. Secondly, observe, That some afflictions exceed all complaints and are too big for expression. That note reaches M Broughtons' sense, my words come short of what my condition is, there is no language large enough, no Oratory eloquent enough to describe or make known my sorrows. Lastly, observe, Not to be able to express our grief is an increase of our grief. Therefore my words are swallowed up. This is an addition to my sorrows, that I cannot make known my sorrows. It is a great part of my trouble, that I can tell you but a part of my trouble. Let a man be hindered from expressing his grief, either through want of power, or through the restraint of power, both ways grief increases. Some, who have been dying Apud Sophoclē electra faelicem vocat Niobem, cui lugere filiorum inter●tum permissum est, cum id sibi matris crudelitas negaverita upon cruel racks, or under bloody tortures, have yet esteemed this, beyond all their tortures, that, they might not freely speak out their minds and sorrows: to have their mouths stopped, was worse to them, then to have their breath stopped. It is a pain to be kept from speaking. To command a man to swallow or eat down his words, is next to the command of eating and swallowing down his own flesh. The cruelty of a disease, may gag a man, as well as the cruelty of a Tyrant. Such is my grief that my words are swallowed up. JOB Chap. 6. Vers. 4, 5, 6, 7. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. Doth the wild Ass bray when he hath grass? Or loweth the Ox over his fodder? Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an Egg? The things that my soul refused to touch, are as my sorrowful meat. JOB continueth his reply and his complaint. He had expressed the greatness of his calamity, by comparing it with the sand of the sea for weightiness; now he proceeds in the same sad aggravation by comparing it to an arrow for sharpness, and to an army for terribleness: For the arrows of the Almighty are within me: The terrors of the Lord set themselves in array against me. We are in this verse to open a quiver full of poisoned arrows, and to marshal an army full of divine terrors, The arrows of the Almighty, etc. An Arrow, is a deadly engine, so called in the Hebrew, from its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sagitta à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dimidiavit, discidit, qaod scindit rem percussa●. effect, cutting or wounding. Being taken properly, it is an instrument shot out of a Bow, of wood or iron, either for sport or fight. But here figuratively. And arrows in Scripture are taken in a figure divers ways. First, For the word of God, Psal 4. 5. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies, whereby the people fall under thee. That is, thy words are sharp and piercing, whereby thou convincest and beatest down sin and sinners, either converting or destroying them. The Rider on the white Horse, going out conquering and to conquer (who, is conceived to be, Truth, or the word of God triumphing) is described, with a Bow in his hand; Rev. 6. 2. Secondly, Arrows are put for the bitter and reproachful words of men, Ps. 64. 3. 4. & Ps. 120. 4. They bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words. Thirdly, For any evil or mischievous purpose, which a man intends or aims to the hurt of his brother, Psal. 58. 7. When he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. Bending of the bow notes the preparing and setting of mischief; The arrow shot out of this bend bow, is the mischief acted and finished (Psal. 2.) The wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string; they prepare mischiefs against their neighbour. Fourthly For any kind of affliction, judgement or punishment, Zech. 9 14. And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning. Particularly, 1. For Famine, Ezek. 5. 16. When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine. 2 For Pestilence, Psal. 91. 5. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by nigbt, nor for the arrow that fleeth by day. What the terror and the arrow are, is explained in the next verse, which is not an addition of other evils, from which safety is promised, but an explication of the same. The pestilence that walks in darkness, and the destruction (being the same pestilence) wasting at noonday. The meaning of all is, Thou shalt be kept or antidoted against the plague both night and day. 3. Those thunderbolts and hailstones, which God sends out of the Magazine of heaven, and discharges in his wrath against wicked men, are called the arrows of his indignation, 2 Sam. 22. 15. Psal. 144. 6. & Hab. 3. 11. compared with Josh. 10. 11. Further the arrows of God signify inward afflictions, troubles of the mind and spirit, God often shoots an arrow, which pierces into the very soul. It was said of Joseph, The iron entered into his soul. And it is (in this sense) very usual for the arrows of God to enter into the souls of his people (Psal. 38. 1, 2.) O Lord rebuke me not in Thy wrath, etc. For Thine arrows stick fast in me: Where stuck they? He means it not of his body, haply, the skin of that was not razed. There is an arrow, which touches not the sides, but sticks fast in the soul of a child of God. Understand it here, of the arrows of affliction; and those either external, outward calamities, fastening in the flesh of Job; or internal, galling him to the soul and spirit. Therefore he saith, The Haret lateri Le●halis arundo. arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit. These arrows are described in the text two ways. 1. From the Efficient cause The arrows of the Almighty. They drink up my spirit. Effect 2: They are the arrows of the Almighty, Shaddai; Of which word we have spoken in the former Chapter, verse 17th at large, it being one of the names of God, noting out his power and omnipotence: There he calls them the chastenings of (Shaddai) the Almighty: And here, The Arrows of (Shaddai) the Almighty, 1. Because, they are sent out from him. His arm bends and draws the bow. And 2. Because of the mighty force and strength, in which they are sent home to the mark. The strength in which those arrows come, and the depth of the wound which they make, speak an Almighty arm drawing the bow. None but an Almighty arm can shoot an arrow thus deep, up to the feathers in the soul and spirit. It is not in the power of all the tyrants in the world to strike or shoot thus deep. The soul of a Saint hath such armour upon it, as no bodily weapon can enter. And therefore the Martyrs, when all was wound in their flesh, spoke and triumphed, because their spirits were whole, and untouched. Only a spirit can shoot arrows into our spirits. We find it frequent among heathen Poets and others, to describe Poetae deos arcu, ja●ulis, sagittisque armant, intelligentes quas inserunt mortalibus clades, quae feriunt eminus quod propri●m Dei videtur, Bold. their gods armed with bows and arrows. And in that they shadowed their power to wound the minds of men; and to wound them suddenly and secretly. The Scripture describes the true God thus, furnished with his Quiver of arrows, and his bow, (Psal. 7. 13.) He ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. God ●ath an a-row for the wounding of his enemies, and an arrow for the wounding of his friends: He hath arrows for both; and both are wounded; and both are wounded with poisoned fiery arrows; yet with a vast difference; these are wounded and poisoned, that they may be healed, and they are wounded and poisoned, that they may be destroyed. Arrows are 1. Swift instruments. 2: Secret 3. Sharp 4. Killing I will make mine arrows drunk without blood (Deut. 32. 42.) They are instruments drawing blood and drinking blood even unto drunkenness; afflictions are like arrows in all these properties. 1 Afflictions often come very speedily, with a glance, as an arrow, quick as a thought. 2. Afflictions come suddenly, unexpectedly; an arrow is upon a man afore he is ware: so are afflictions. Though Job saith, The thing he feared came upon him, he looked for this arrow before it came; yet usually afflictions are unlooked for guests, they thrust in upon us, when we dream n●t of them. 3. They come with little noise: an arrow is felt, before, or as soon as it is heard: an arrow flies silently, and secretly, stealing upon and wounding a man, unobserved, and unseen. Lastly, all afflictions are sharp, and in their own nature killing and deadly. That any have good from them, is from the grace of God, not from their nature. The poison whereof drinketh up my spirits. There's the effect of his afflictions. Some read it, The fury Quarum indignatio. Vulg. Furor. Sept. Fervour, T●gur: plu●i●● Venenun or anger whereof drinks up my spirit. It may be called the fury and anger of an arrow, because the arrow is often sent in fury and in anger. We read also of the fire of an arrow or of a fiery arrow, (Ps. 76. 4.) There brakest thou the arrows of the bow. Arrows even firing themselves by the swiftness of their motion. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sagitta, ignita, incalescens motu. The word of the Text is derived from a root, signifying to wax very hot, and in the Noun heat. Hence by a Metaphor it signifies anger, because angry men wax hot, Anger is breathed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caluit, incaluit, ira sic dicta quod ira●● inca ●escunt. fire. (Isai. 42. 25.) Therefore he hath poured upon them the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle, and it hath set him on fire round about. Fire and fury, are near in name, and in nature. When fury burns within, fire quickly burns without: and so by a Metonymy the same word signifies poison; the reason is, because poison's heat and inflame; poisons inflame the flesh, and (as it were) set the body on fire, or because an angry man (like an angry Serpent) seems to breath out fire, or spit poison. Paul before his conversion, breathed threaten, fire and sword against the Church Act. 9 1. And therefore, either way, the word is well rendered, The anger whereof, or the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit. And in the Greek the same word signifies anger and Psal. 58. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. poison; because of that inflammation, which is about the heart of a man throughly angry. In these words, Job seems to allude to the custom of cruel savage men, who, when they pursued their enemies with deadly Venenatis g●avida sagit●is,— pharetra, Hor. Qui mortis saevo gem nent ut vulnera causas, Omnia vipereo spicula Felle linunt, Ovid. l. 1. de ponto. Mos erat persarum ut ponant venenum serpentis in sagittis suis; R. Solo. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hatred and would wound them to death, used to dip the head of their arrows, the top of their spears, or the point of their swords, or whatsoever weapon they fought with, in poison, that so every wound might be a death; The poison of such an arrow, spear or sword, drinks up the spirit, and corrupts the blood presently. Some poison strikes the heart, almost, as soon as the weapon strikes the arm. Job compares the arrows, which God shot into him, not to ordinary arrows, which kill only by piercing, but to poisoned arrows, which kill by insecting; As if God had set himself to the utmost, to pour out the fierceness of his indignation upon him; not only shooting an arrow, but an arrow dipped in poison, such an arrow, as the most barbarous and cruel men shoot at their most professed and mortal enemies. Drinketh up my spirit. Poison gets quickly to the spirit, and there drinks: poison is subtle and spiritful, and therefore (if I may so speak) incorporates with that which is most subtle in man, his spirit. Flat, paled, gross or dreggish liquor, will not quench the fiery thirst of poison, it drinks nothing, but pure spirits; yet some read, It drinketh up my blood; but this amounts to the same sense, for the spirit of a living creature is in the blood; the spirits swim in the blood. There are different opinions about this spirit, or what we are to understand by it. First, Some take spirit here, for the breath, or for the act of To● confossus vulne●ibus ●ix respi●are valeo. Aquin. breathing; As if he had said, I have received so many wounds, by these poisoned arrows, that I begin to faint, and cannot draw my breath, These arrows sup up my spirit, and by wounding, stop my breath. Secondly, Others understand it more generally, taking spirit for his strength and vigour; spirits are so strong, that they are put for strength▪ The Egyptians are men and not God, and their horse's flesh and not spirit (Isa. 31. 3.) that is, they are not strength, but weakness. So here, it drinketh up my spirit, that is, the strength that is in me, all the powers and abilities of body and Dolores mei ●●c penitus enervant, atque exhausto robore de●iciunt. Pined. soul, are wasted and consumed: These calamities spend upon my spirit, where the stock of my strength is laid up, or which is the lock wherein my strength lies. A third apprehends, that by spirit, he means his judgement, reason and understanding, as if he had said, showers of arrows and troubles come so thick upon me, that they even darken my mind, and drink up the strength of my understanding; Hence I may seem to speak distractedly, unadvisedly, weakly; I have not that spirit to quicken, that strength of reason to judge, which formerly I had: the pains of my body, disable and distemper my mind; And therefore if I have spoken any thing below what I ought, it is, because I am cast below what I was. The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. Arrows and terrors, are the same thing, in a different clothing of words: Or the arrow is the affliction itself, and the terror is the effect or consequent of it. The word here used for Terror, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes the most terrible terror or affrightment. Terror is the extreme of fear, or fear confused, into amazement and astonishment: Death is therefore called the King of terrors, because there are so many powerful terrors in death, Psal. 55. 4. That vexation which Saul felt, when God sent out an evil spirit with commishion to vex him, is expressed by this word, 1 Sam. 16. 14. An evil spirit from the Lord, troubled, or terrified him; Such terrors, for the matter, such for the manner and present workings of them, seized upon upright-hearted Job, and falsehearted Saul. A believer, a child of God, an heir of Heaven, may feel himself haunted and pierced with hellish terrors. These are called the Terrors of God, either first, by a common Hebraisme; because great, and strange terrors. In that language, God is often put as an Epithet, to show exceeding greatness, himself being the greatest. So Chap. 1. ver. 16. Fire of God, etc. Secondly, Terrors of God, because he sent and commanded that Army of Terrors. When Jacob journeyed with his little Army, Gen. 35. 5. It is said, The terror of God was upon the Cities round about, and they pursued them not; that is, the Lord sent an Army of terrors to oppose the Cities, lest they should arm against Jacob. The terror of man is very terrible, and therefore the Apostle arms the Saints against it, 1 Pet. 3. 14. Be not afraid of their terror. The terror of God is infinitely greater; and thereupon the Apostle argues, 2 Cor. 5. 11. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade. Those terrors of God, may be taken two ways: Either actively, or passively: Actively, for that work of God, in terrifying and troubling. Thy terrors, that is, the terrors which thou didst afflict me with; Or passively; for those afflictions which oppress Nomen terroris frequenter, in Scriptures sumitur, pro flagellis malisque gravissimis a Deo missis. the mind; when God leads that army against us, sets it in array to charge, and commands it to encamp about us, in either sense we may take this of Job, as also that of Heman, Psal. 88 15. While I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted. Further, There is a twofold terror: First, caused by outward imminent danger. Secondly, caused by inward guilt. Or, Terror coming from the wrath of man; and terror coming from the wrath of God. Thus it was threatened, Levit. 26. 16. I also will do even this unto you, I will appoint over you terrors. Deut. 32. 25. The sword without and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin. That is, fear shall kill those who escape the sword. A people cannot stand before the Army of men, who are once surprised with an Army of terrors: Hence Josh. 2. 9 Your terror is fallen upon us, saith Rahab to assure the spies, that the Canaanites could not stand before the people of Israel. Again, The terrors of God afflict the soul; First, When sin is set openly (to the eye of conscience) in array against us. An army of sins, are an army of terrors. The Church is called, Terrible as an army with banners; Cant. 6. 10. when she is strengthened and armed for the exercise of all that power, which Christ hath given her; and when our sins stand before us, in all that strength, which the law hath given them, they also are terrible as an army with banners. Secondly, When God hides his face from us, an army of terrors quickly faces us; Though an army of sins come out in array against us, yet if God appear to us, in the fullness and freeness of his grace; if Christ our Captain will but lead us on against this army, we shall quickly overcome them, or they will will fly before us; But an army of sins is exceeding terrible, when Christ appears not in the field for us, or when God hides his face from us, and leaves us in the dark: It is usual in Scripture, to set forth terrors, as the effect of that darkness, and the hidings of the face of God; Naturally, terror accompanies darkness; children are afraid in the dark; and not only children, but men: Histories tell us of great Emperors who durst not be in the dark, for fear. And as natural terrors meet us in natural darkness, so spiritual terrors in spiritual darkness; When the light of God's countenance is clouded, and (as it were) benights the soul. then terror takes hold upon us. Under either of these notions, we may understand the terrors of this text, The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. It was true in respect of outward troubles, they were very terrible: But especially in regard of inward troubles; when God set his sins in array before him, or hide his face, and obstructed the course of his wont communion. Set themselves in array against me. The Original imports, a very exact, curious, artificial ordination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ordinavit, ratione & proportione, disposuit, instruxit. and disposal of things; As if the Lord had even studied to be exact and exquisite in afflicting Job; he puts his sorrows into a method, and his troubles into order. The providence of God observes a rule, and is harmonious in those things which appear to us, a chaos, a heap of confusion. The word is applied; First, To the ordering of speech, or disputations; There is a kind of embattailing in disputation, when it is regular and artificial (Job 32. 14) Now he hath not directed his speech against me, saith Elihu concerning Job; as if he had said, Job hath not marshaled his arguments against me, but all the charge hath been upon you. Secondly, I find the word used in reference unto prayer: Prayer ought to be full of holy order and composedness (Psal. 5. 3.) In the morning will I direct my prayer to Thee, and look up. In the morning will I put my prayer in array, I will posture my prayer in a gracious order, my heart in order, and my words in order, every petition shall (as it were) keep rank and file, when I am seeking unto God: Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty, to utter any thing before God, is the counsel of the Holy Ghost by Solomon, Eccles. 5. 2. But, properly, the word is applied to the marshalling and imbattailing of an Army (Jer. 50. 9) Lo, I will raise, and cause to come up against B●bylon, an assembly of great nations from the North country, and they shall set themselves in array against her, etc. So then, whereas Job saith, The terrors of God are set in array against me, he would intimate, that God afflicted him, both orderly and resolvedly. It was not some confused terror, or sudden surpti●al, but the Lord God, like some great Commander or General, mustered and marshaled his army, and led it up exactly formed, to a pitched battle against him. Observe from hence, first, Afflictions come sometimes by multitudes. You shall have a whole Army of them together; Sometimes we see a duel or single combat, one man matched with one trouble; Bellum atque virum. Here a man and an affliction; there a man and an affliction; but another time we may see a man and an army (as he spoke in the story, when one made good a pass against a whole host of the enemy) in the spiritual war, one soul grapples with a multitude of troubles, and conflicts▪ with a thousand temptations: As there are legions of evil spirits, so legions of spiritual evils assaulting at once. Secondly Observe, God sometimes appears as an enemy to his own servants. The terrors of God, and the arrows of God (saith Job) God shoots the arrows, and sets the terrors in array. Job expected favour and succour from God, but he finds terrors and arrows: Those wounds make our hearts bleed most, which we apprehend given us from his anger, whom we have chosen as our only friend. The Church had that apprehension of God (Lam. 3. 3.) Surely against me is he turned, he turneth his hand against me all the day. The Church speaks, as if God were quite changed, as if he having been her friend, were now turned enemy. So Job; I that was wont to have showers of sweet mercies, shot and darted into my soul, now feel deadly arrows there, shot from the same hand; my spirit was wont to drink in the pleasant influences of Heaven; but now poison drinks up my spirits. I was wont to walk safe, under the guard of divine favours, but now divine terrors assault me on every side. Thirdly observe: When God appeareth an enemy, man is not able to hold out any longer. See, how Job (poor soul) cries out as soon as he found, that these were God's arrows, and Gods terrors. Job was a man at arms, a man of valour, and of an undaunted courage; A man that had been in many ski● mishes with Satan, and had often, through the power of God, foiled him, and come off with victory. Chaldeans and Sabeans, were (indeed) too hard for his servants, and conquered his cattles, yet the spirit of Job beat those bands of robbers, and triumphed over them; but, he was never in battle with God before, and perceiving now God himself to appear as an enemy in the field, he cries out, O the terrors of God, O the arrows of the Almighty. When God is angry, no man can abide it. (2 Cor. 5. 11.) Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men: We (saith the Apostle) who have felt by experience, or by faith have understood the terror of the Lord: we knowing it experimentally, or knowing it beleevingly; we, being fully persuaded that the terror of the Lord is most terrible, persuade men; O take heed you put not yourselves under the terror of the Lord, or provoke the terror of the Lord against yourselves. Those terrors of the Lord which come from pure wrath, are altogether intolerable: And those which come from love, and are set in array by the infinite wisdom, and gracious providence of God, ordering all things for good (to his) in the issue, even those are very dreadful, no man, not the holiest of men (and they are the strongest in this war) are able to stand before them. Psal. 38. 2. Thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore, there is no soundness in my flesh by reason of thine anger: that is, I am as a man, who hath not a whole piece of skin all his body over, all is a wound: or I am as one, whose flesh is all rotten by reason of his wounds. As Ely speaks to his sons, 1 Sam. 2. 25. If one man sin against another, the Judge shall judge him, but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? So, we may say on the other side, if man contend with man, some one may help him, he may have a Second to relieve him; but if once a man be contending with God, who will be his Second? who will undertake for him? who can come in, to the rescue; when God is fight and contending with us? We wrestle not against flesh and blood, (saith the Apostle, Ephes. 6. 12. when he would show, what a terrible thing it is to wrestle with the Devil) but against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickednesses in high places. Flesh and blood is no match for a spirit, though a created spirit, though an unclean spirit, a Devil: how then shall flesh and blood be able to wrestle with the creating Spirit, with him, who is a most holy Spirit, with God, who is The Principality, The Power, The High, the Srong, The Almighty Shaddai. In other battles it is man with man, or at worst, man with Devils; but here it is man with God, weakness and frailty, contending with omnipotency: and therefore when once God appears against the soul, the soul can hold out no longer, His anger, who is The Spirit, quickly drinks up our spiirts. Fourthly observe. Inward wounds and terrrours are most terrible. Do not think that the sores upon Jobs body, fetched all these complaint from him. He shows you now, what it was that made him complain indeed, The arrows of the Almighty are within Tanto poena intolerabilior, quan●o spiritus corpore subtilior. me, the terrors of God set themselves in array against me. As the joys and exultations of the spirit do infinitely exceed all the pleasures which come in from the senses, all bodily pleasures: so the troubles and afflictions which are upon the spirit, infinitely exceed all the troubles and afflictions which fall upon the body. As God hath such comforts, such joys to bestow upon his people, as the world can neither give nor take away; so likewise, he hath terrors and troubles, which all the world is not able to remove or mitigate: There are no medicines in the whole circuit of nature, that can heal a wounded spirit; All your friends, all your relations, all your riches, yea all your natural wisdom, will be but as the white of an egg to your taste, in the day when God smites the heart with these terrors. These arrows and terrors are often preparatory to conversion; when some men are overcome to receive Christ, an Army of terrors is sent out, to take them captive, and bring them in. There are many (I grant) whom God wounds with love, he shoots an arrow of favour into their hearts, and overcomes them with Troops of mercies. Again, An army of terrors, is sent out to try the holy courage of those, who are converted, as well as to conquer the unholy enmity of person: unconverted. That was Jobs case here; and these second armies may be as terrible to the soul as the first, and often are more terrible. And (we have such cases) a man that was converted without an army of terrors, may have an army of terror, sent against him after conversion. The dispensations and methods of God are various, though both his rule and end be ever the same; But whether this army of terror comes before conversion, or after conversion; whensoever it comes, it must needs distress the soul exceedingly. A broken spirit is very comfortable, but a wounded spirit is very dreadful: Of a wounded spirit we may say, as I remember the Moralist speaks, concerning those barbarous naked fights, among the Romans, when men fought naked with men; or naked with beasts; Surely (saith he) all the former fights and battles, were sports and Quicquid ante pugnotum est miserico●dia fuit, Sen. mercy to these: So all other troubles, all other terrors, are pleasures and recreations to these; When you come to this bout, when God sends these arrows and arrayeth such an army of terrors against you, fire and sword, stone and gout, are, yea, Hell itself (to present apprehension) is a pleasure. Many under those assaults have thought they should gain by the exchange, and have wished to be in Hell, so they might be out of those terrors. Few believe this, but they who have had experience of it. As the joys of the spirit, so the terrors of the spirit, are secrets unto most; As the Prophet speaks concerning those carnal ones in his time; If one prophesy unto them of wine and strong drink, he shall even be the Prophet of this people. To prophesy, or to speak unto some of riches, and of honour, and of pleasure, they find some taste in these things, this is wine and strong drink unto them. There is some relish in these things, they understand what you mean; but if you speak unto them of joy in the holy Ghost, of peace of conscience, of the refresh which are had in communion with Christ; they understand not the language, they know not what is meant. So, on the other side, if you would be a Prophet, or speak, or preach to some of fire and sword, of spoiling and plundering their estates, preach to them of plague and pestilence, preach to them of the gout, and of the stone, of burning fevers, and languishing consumptions; they understand these and are afraid, they even tremble to hear you speak of these things: but preach to them of the arrows of the Almighty, shot into the spirit, of the terrors of God set in array against them; preach to them of trouble of conscience, and the hiding of God's face, they smile at these things, they wonder what you would have, they know no such matters. Spiritual good or evil, is seldom known till felt, yea neither of them is known (to purpose) till it is felt: Spiritual troubles are as little known, till felt, as spiritual joys are: The natural man perceives none of the things of God, he cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned: And there is as much spiritualness evidenced in discerning spiritual sorrows and afflictions (our own or others) as there is in discerning our own or others spiritual joys and consolations. I shall add a word here to those, who live securely, in, or dally with, their sins; Surely, if Job here in the text; if David often in the Psalms, and Heman (Psal. 88 15.) cryeth out, While I suffer thy terrors I am distracted; If these cried out thus of the terrors and arrows of God, then, (I say) Sinners and Secure ones, what will you do, when God bends his bow, and opens his quiver, and shoots his arrows at your naked breasts? What will you do, when God shall bring up armies of terrors to charge upon you? When you hear a Job thus crying out of terrors? How sad will it be to you, who will be a terror to yourselves, M●gor missab●b. as Pashur was threatened, Jer. 20. 4. and God a terror to you likewise? What will you do, when there is a fear round about, and fear within? The sinners of Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath surprised the Hypocrites; who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burn? Isa. 33. 14. If they who have a shield of faith to keep off these arrows, and a rock of salvation, Jesus Christ, to hid themselves in, when these armies come to battle against them, are thus afraid; what will become of you, that are unarmed, of you, naked ones, of you, who have no shield, no shelter, no faith, no Christ? One thing more. Forasmuch, as there are such arrows and terrors sent by God, even against his own, for their trial; Take heed of making arrows against yourselves; Take heed you be not found to raise and prepare an army of terrors, against your own souls. All the while men sin, knowingly and presumptuously, they shoot arrows against God, and God may take those arrows and shoot them back into their breasts, he can make their sins recoil upon themselves, and pierce their own hearts with the works of their own hands. Men muster (as it were▪) whole armies of terrors, and levy a bloody war against themselves by wilful sinnings. That text, Psal. 50. 21. telleth us, that God will bring Significat quasi distinctio ordine bellico▪ apparatu catalogum omnium scelerum proponere. the sins of wicked men, as an army against them, I will reprove thee, and set thy sins in order before thine eyes: It is the same Hebrew word, we have in the text, I will set thy sins in array before thine eyes; as if he should say, thou thoughtest all thy sins were scattered and dispersed, that, there was not a sin to be found, that they should never be rallyed and brought together; but I assure thee, I will make an army of those sins, a complete army of them, I will set them in rank and file, before thine eyes, and see how thou canst behold, much less contend with such a host as they. Take heed therefore you do not levy war against your own souls; that's the worst of all civil or intestine wars. If an army of divine terrors be so fearful, what will an army of black, hellish sins be? When God shall bring whole Regiments of sins against you, here a Regiment of oaths, there a Regiment of lies, there a third of false deal, here a Troop of filthy actions, and here a Legion of unclean, or profane thoughts, all at once fight against thy life, and everlasting peace. Lastly, you that have never felt these arrows, nor seen any of these armies, and yet God hath been pleased to discover to you his love in his Christ, see what cause you have to bless God; Or, if you have at any time felt them, and are now again at peace, and if those terrors are removed, and the poison of those arrows sucked out, and the heads of the arrows drawn out; bless God. Do you not hear how Job complains of arrows and of terrors? The arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit; the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. Vers. 5. Doth the wild Ass bray, when he hath grass? Or loweth the Ox over his fodder? etc. The three verses following contain similitudes, taken from nature, by which Job tells on the story of his sorrows, and justifies his complaint. The sense in General is this, as if he had said, I do not cry out without cause; I should be more unreasonable than bruit beasts in so doing, The wild Ass doth not bray, when he hath grass, etc. Or thus, We blame not beasts, if they complain, when they have cause: take away grass from the Ass, and fodder from the Ox; Pinch them with hunger, and they will tell you of it, in their language; they will low and bray, till you understand they want meat; Therefore surely you have no reason thus to find fault with me, or to charge me so heavily, because I have complained, when my grass and fodder, my comforts and my necessaries are taken from me: Nor is it any wonder, if you complain not, who have contentments to the full, and know not (by experience) what sorrow meaneth. Doth the wild Ass bray, when he hath grass? The * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fera, onager à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fructisicavit, fructum fecit, quod ferae Domesticis animā●ibus sint foecundio res. Shin. Hebrew word for a wild Ass, comes from a root, signifying, To bring forth: and the reason is given, because wild beasts usually are more fruitful, and bring forth more plentifully than the tame. The word also notes wild in general; and is applied to wild and savage men, who delight in wild beasts, or wild places forests and wildernesses. So (Gen. 16. 12.) God speaks of Ishmael, whom Hagar bore unto Abraham, that he should be A wild man, that is, wild among men; or as a wild ass among 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Onager inter homines subaudito 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 erit inter homines sicut Onager, robore praevalens. men, strong and active, delighting in fields and forests. Doth the wild Ass (saith Job) bray, when he hath grass? When the ass hath meat he is quiet; You hear not of him: but if he want graft, he brays and makes a dismal noise (Jer. 14. 6.) The wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons, their eyes did fail, because there was no grass, speaking of a time of drought and famine; The wild ass is very impatient, both of hunger and of thirst. And therefore the rivers are (by name) assigned to them for drink, Psal. 104. 10, 11. He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills; they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild Asses quench their thirst. Hence wild asses are observed by natural Historians to delight in, and frequent rivers and springs. To which that profane fiction of the Roman Historian (in abuse Cornelius Tacitus, l. 21. of the Jews) hath relation; who speaking of the travels of the Israelites, through the wilderness, tells us (to obscure the miracle. which God wrought for them) that they being ready to die with thirst, at last espied a company of wild asses upon a rock: which advantage Moses took, and presently followed them, knowing that they would lead him to the waters, if any were to be had in those parts. In pursuance of which lie, Plutarch affirms, that the Jews worshipped an ass, as a Deity, which they had in special Plutarch. l 4. Convivalium Questionum. quest. 5. honour and veneration, for that famous deliverance. Upon this stock of lies, the Heathen grafted that usual scorn against the Christians, That they worshipped the head of an ass. As that great Assertour of the Christian. honour against Heathenish cavils and hellish imputations hath observed. Tertul. advers. Gentes cap. 16. But, that is a harmless and a witty observation (how solid I leave the Reader to judge) which hath been hinted from this natural thirstiness of the wild ass: namely, that the Lord gave Samson water out of the jawbone of an ass, Judg. 15. 19 thereby advancing the miracle, that a dead bone of that thirsty creature should be made a spring of water to revive him, who was ready to die with thirst. The intendment of this digression, is only to clear up the text, by showing that the wild ass is most fitly instanced in, to show the great cause which Job had to cry out, as he did of his afflictions; forasmuch as the wild ass (who is so greedy ● grass and thirsty after the waters) will not bray for either till he is afflicted with the want. Or loweth the Ox over his fodder? This carries the same meaning with the former instance; that being in wild creatures, and this in tame: as if Job had said, look amongst all sort of cattles, wild or tame, you shall find they are content, when they have food convenient for them. And hereupon grounds his argument, that if bruits led only by sense and appetite complain not without reason, then surely he, at least a reasonable creature, had reason to complain, or else he had not complained. Hence, Observe; First, Bruit beasts complain not without cause. They complain not till want provokes them. Surely, men are more than brutish, who complain when they have no want: But most of all, They, who are not content with abundance. Some are discontent, not only, though they have daily bread, and (as the Apostle speaks) Food and raiment (wherewith all should be content) but though they have store of bread and clothing laid up for many years. Shall not the ox or ass condemn these, who bray and low, when they have grass and fodder plenty, when they stand continually at rack and manger. By whom shall these men be accused think you? We shall not need to send for the Angels out of heaven, to witness against them; No, we may call the wild beasts, and bid them be witness: we may empannel, A Jury of asses and oxen to pass a verdict upon such men. As God upbraids his people in case of their ingratitude for mercies, The Ox knows his owner, and the Ass his Master's crib; and (Jer. 8. 7.) in case of their neglect of judgements. The Stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times, and the crane; and the turtle, and the swallow observe the time of their coming, but my people doth not know the judgement of the Lord. As if the Lord had said, whither shall I go to fetch witness against this people; shall I go up to heaven for Angels, or call in men out of other Nations? No I need go but to the air for birds, for the turtle, the crane and the swallow; any thing in nature will serve to condemn them, who act against, or below the dictates of Nature. Men are worse than beasts, when they do worse. Their pre-eminence of constitution is lost in the baseness of their actions: and they put themselves by so much inferior to beasts, by how much they were placed above them. The Psalmist charges it sadly upon himself, that he walked in the sphere of a beast, So foolish was I and ignorant, I was a beast before thee (Psal. 73. 22) How sadly then shall they be charged, who walk in a sphere below beasts, who are more foolish and ignorant than a beast. Take heed of complaining without cause; if beasts are satisfied with what is agreeable to nature, man should be so much more, When Nature hath not enough, Grace hath all. Grace will not bray or low, when there is no grass, no fodder: surely then they have a scarcity of grace in their hearts, who bray and low over their grass and fodder. Spiritual accommodations will make a good heart forget temporal incommodities; and it is reason they should God promiseth (Isa. 30. 20.) Though I give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet thy teachers shall no more be removed into a corner, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers. As if he had said, though your bodies are coursely fed, yet your souls shall be feasted; Good cheer shall daily be served into them, both at your eyes and ears, Thine eyes shall see thy teachers and thou shalt hear a voice behind thee. Thy sight and thy hearing shall be refreshed with heavenly Messengers and good news from heaven Now besides this promise expressed, there is a duty employed in the text, namely, that because their spirits were so well fed, therefore they must not complain, though their flesh come short in feeding. The bread of affliction should be pleasant to us, while we eat Gospel-dainties. In these times God gives more plenty of spiritual food than formerly, yet many complain, because their natural bread is shortened; Remember beasts complain not, when they have what is suitable to nature, then let not Christians complain, when they have what is suitable to grace, though nature have but spare diet, and short commons. Verse 6. Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt. He proceeds to another similitude. It is, as if Job had said, Nature will complain, when it wants meat, yea oftentimes nature will complain, when it wants pleasant meat. Nature is not pleased, if it want a grain of salt, if it have not sauce, it is not satisfied. Therefore, surely I am to be borne with, and not to be charged thus deeply, who complain; when you offer me that which is unsavoury, when you give me meat without salt, without sauce, without any thing to render it, either pleasing to my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est quod debito condimento & temperamento caret, sive in defectu, sive in excessu. Sales, pro facetijs, quod sint quasi condimentum, sermonis Literae Sparsae sale humanitatis. Gicer, ad Artic. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Est prepositio absque fine. Sed quidam accipiunt pro nomine composito ex Min, quod est, ex & beli, à Balab, quod est, ve●●st●s. H●nc locam reddunt; Infaluatum ex vetustate salis, potius quam insipidum absque salae. Bold. Job rem prae horrore prorsus impossibiliem vult significare; Numquid comodetur? etc. At impossibile omnino non est comedere insipidun sine sale, carnes autem corruptae ex vetustate salismanducars nulla tenus possunt. Bold. palate, or easy to my digestion: Unless I were senseless like a stock or a stone, how should I not disrelish and disgust sapless, saltlesse, how much more, bitter things. Can that which is unsavoury. The word, which we render unsavoury, is the same used, Chap. 1. ver. 22. which we there opened at large; Job did not charge God with folly or foolishly, or he spoke not unsavorily of God. There is a threefold application of that word in Scripture. 1. To unpleasant meats. 2. To untempered mortar. 3. To indiscreet speeches, which want the seasoning either of wit, wisdom, or of truth, Lam. 2. 14. Thy Prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee; Lying visions without truth, vain words without wisdom. So here, Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? Seasoning makes unsavoury things sweet; As salt gives a relish to meat, so wisdom and wit to words. And therefore the Latins express wise, witty speeches, pleasant discourse, a good grace in speaking, and a salt, by the same word. There is another Interpretation of that word, which we render b without: for some understand it, not as a Preposition, governing the word Salt, but as a compound word, noting the oldness or staleness of meat, wherein the very salt itself is putrified; and so whereas we say, Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? They translate thus, Can that which is unsavoury through the corruption of salt be eaten? Or, can that meat be eaten, which having been salted, is now putrified? Salt which keeps meat from corruption, may in time be overcome with the corruption of the meat. And a learned Interpreter gives the reason why he rather chooseth this interpretation of the word, because (saith he) it carries a stronger Emphasis with it; Job speaks as of a thing (in a manner) impossible to be done; Now it is very possible to eat unsavoury meat, without salt? A good appetite will down with unpleasant food, and hunger will dispense much with Cookery. But when seasoned or salted meat corrupts and putrifies, whose stomach doth not loath and abhor it? Therefore it is a fuller, and a more flat denial to say, Can that which is unsavoury through the corruption of salt, be eaten then? Then to say, Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an Egg? These words are much obscured, by most Translators, and have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 found almost as many expositions, as Expositors. Some translate thus, Is there any taste in that, which being taken brings death? So the Vulgar; Doubtless a man hath but little pleasure to taste An potest aliquis gustare quod gustatum affert mortem. Vulg. that, which tasted, will be his death: So the words are an aggravation of the unsavouriness of those things, which were offered him by his friends; to touch or take them, was to take poison, or to drink in a deadly cup. To clear up this Exposition, they make the Hebrew word (Challamuth) which we translate, Egg, a compound, from Muth, signifying to die, whence Maveth, death; and Chala, signifying froth or foam, or from Chali, signifying infirmity: As if the word having these parts put together, had this sense, The froth and foam of death. Or, The infirmity of death: That is, deadly froth, on deadly infirmity. As if he had said, is there any pleasing taste, in the spittle of dying men, who we know often foam and froth at their mouths, when they lie drawing on. Others thus, Is there any taste in the spittle of a healthy man. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sanus, confortatus, convaluit▪ The word (Rir) which we translate white, signifies spittle or froth; As when David acted the madman before the King of Gath, it is said, that he let his spittle fall down upon his beard, 1 Sam. 21. 13. And the word which we translate, Egg, signifies Health, and the verb, to be healthy. Chap. 39 4. of this book, Their young ones are in good liking. So, Isa. 38. vers. 16. But I leave this, as a very diseased and sickly Interpretatiion. I shall therefore pass from these, to our own rendering, Is In albumine vitelli. there any taste in the white of an Egg? The word signifies strictly, but the yolk of the Egg, so Mr Broughton, Is there any taste in the white of the yolk? And in the root to wax fat or strong; and it is therefore taken for the yolk of the Egg, because that is the fatter, grosser, and more condense part of the Egg. As the white being the thinner, and much like spittle, is therefore expressed by a word, which also signifies spittle. The white of an egg, is an emblem of things, without taste or savour. And so the sum of all is, that Job in this place by a Proverbial speech (for so I take this to be) intends only thus much, that he had very insipid tastlesse things presented to him; such as he found to relish at all in, such as no way raised his appetite or quickened his stomach to receive them, all were unseasoned and flat. In the next words he goes yet higher, even to the highest Antipathy against them. Vers. 7. The things which my soul refused to touch, are as my sorrowful meat. Here is the application and explication of both the former similitudes. The things which my soul refused; that is, the things Anima. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, partem, scilicet animae qua concupiscimus no●at hoc loco. which I exceedingly refused or abhominated, (The soul is here taken for the appetite) As to desire with the soul, notes a strong intention of desire, (Isa. 26. 9) With my soul have I desired thee in the night, yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early That is, I have most vehemently desired, and in my most retired▪ thoughts sought the Lord, When the soul is expressed to do that which nothing can do but the soul, it imports the highest actings of the soul in doing it. To desire with the soul, implies the sweetest delight, and so to refuse with the soul, implies the bitterest aversation, a refusal to the uttermost. The word, refuse, is proper to the nauseating of the stomach; at the sight of any filthy thing, (Isa. 30. 22.) Thou shalt defile the covering of the graven images, etc. Thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth, thou shalt say unto them, get ye hence. So here, the things which my soul refuseth, as a man refuses a filthy clout, or, as he should refuse that which is most loathsome, than any filthy clout, an Image or an Idol. These things (saith he) are now my sorrowful meat, or, the meat of my sorrow; The terms of the latter clause are at farthest distance from, and opposition with that which went before. Not to touch a thing, notes the greatest aversation from it; and to have a thing given us as meat, notes our greatest communion with it. That which a man will not touch with his finger, how fare is he from chewing it between his teeth, or letting it down into his stomach, and digesting it into himself? So that Jobs meaning seems to be this, that, what he desired to be the greatest stranger from, was now offered to his nearest familiarity and acquaintance. He was now (as it were) to eat, what before he would not touch, This we call sorrowful meat. Psal. 127. 2. We read of the bread of sorrow, that is bread gotten with sorrow, bread eaten with sorrow or course bread, As bread of pleasure (Dan. 10. 3.) is fine bread: here sorrowful meat is either unpleasant meat, or any meat eaten in that time of his sorrow. That relative (the Things) is not in the Hebrew, and so we may render word for word thus, my soul refused to touch them as my sorrowful meat. Or as another, My mind refuses to touch them; these are plainly, the very sickness of my meat. As if he had said: I am so fare, from being refreshed with these that (the truth is) they make my very meat, and so my whole life unpleasant to me. Mr. Broughton varies the latter clause: Those things which I have loathed to touch, are now the very sickness of my flesh. The word (Lechem) which we translate meat, or prepared flesh, signifies also living flesh, in the Syriac and Arabic languages, as the learned Grammarians observe: Besides, we render the word (Lechem) flesh, Zeph. 1. 17. Their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung, Hence he translates, These things are to me as the sickness of my flesh; That is, the things which my soul refused to touch, are now brought very near, and laid close upon me, as sickness or sores cleave unto, and are in the flesh, or they trouble me as much as the sickness of my flesh. The right application of these words, is as difficult as the translation of them; there are divers ways to make out the sense; I shall reduce them unto two: Either, first, That all these unsavoury, tastlesse, sorrowful meats; which Job speaks of, are but the shadows of his afflictions and troubles, received from the hand of God. Or, Secondly, That they are shadows of the counsels and reproofs, which he had received from the mouth of his friends. Nauseabam ego quondam ad hujusmodi aerumnas, movebant mihi stomachum, squalor, paupertas, vilior●cibus, ulcerna, sanios, verss nunc vero his ipsie abundè pascor, Pined. First, Some refer and apply all to the troubles, which were upon Job: and so these words are a fuller justification of himself, that he had great cause to complain, because his grass and fodder, that is comforts suitable to man's nature (as they to a beasts) were taken from him, and he was now fed and dieted with unsavoury meat, meat without salt, the white of an egg, distasteful grievous afflictions, very gall and wormwood; The things which heretofore my soul refused to touch, are as my meat; I am put (as it were) to feed upon that, which I would not willingly come near: poverty and sores, sorrows and worms are my companions, and my cates. From that sense note, What at one time we loathe, at another time may be our diet. We have a saying, what is one man's meat, is another man's poison; but it may fall out to the same man, that what he disgusted and avoided as poison he shall be constrained to receive for his meat and portion. Lam. 4. 5. They that did feed delicately, are desolate in the streets, they that were brought up in scarlet, embrace dunghills: When those gallants were in scarlet, how did their souls loath to touch a dunghill? they loathed to touch it with their feet, but now they must hug it in their arms, and lay it in their bosoms; they embrace dunghills. How many have been brought from faring deliciously, from wearing purple and fine linen every day, to scraps and rags, to hunger and nakedness every day. The Lord threatens the nice delicate dames of Jerusalem with such things, as their proud spirits and naughty souls refused to touch, Isa. 3. 24. It shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell, there shall be a stink; and instead of a girdle, a rent; and in stead of well set hair, baldness; and instead of a stomacher, a girding with sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty. Take heed of coyness and curiosity: many a dainty tooth hath been taught by hunger, to knaw bones, and water for a crust of bread. Observe secondly, That which makes afflictions most grievous to us, is the unsuitableness of our spirits to afflictions: Delight and content, consist in suitableness of the object to our affections and desires. God offers spiritual food to the natural man, but his soul refuses to touch it; he loathes Angel's food, and is weary of the manna of the word; The precious Gospel, the bread of life, is an affliction to him, because his heart is unsuitable to it; how will such be afflicted at the last, when they find, That, as their sorrowful meat for ever, which their souls will for ever refuse to touch. They, who loath Christ and his ways, shall find nothing in the end to feed upon but what is most contrary to their appetite, even fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest, these shall be the portion of their cups, and the meat in their dish for ever. How sorrowful will that meal be? But we may rather apply all to the words of Eliphaz, in the two former Chapters: And Jobs ready submission in the first and second Chapters, to the afflicting hand of God, argues for him that afflictions, how grievous soever, were not the things which his soul refused to touch. And the apprehension of a learned interpreter, atisfies me in it, This sense (saith he) is too low for a man Sensus humilior est, quam hominem deceat gravioribm malis exagtiatum. Pined. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. afflicted with troubles, fare above these, which concerned his outward man. The Septuagint are expressly for this opinion, who translate those words, Is there any taste in the white of an egg? thus Is there any taste in vain words? they are so fare off the judgement that these unsavoury things, the things which Jobs soul refused to touch, and the white of the egg, in the Text, are all meant of vain words, that they put it into the very text. It is a usual boldness with them, and a very unwarrantable one, to vary so from the words of the Original, and make their gloss the text, but it shows us, how strongly they were engaged to that sense; Most of the Greek writers concur with them in it, viz. that Joh aims at the counsels and speeches of Eliphaz, which wanted the seasoning of wisdom and prudence, yea of truth and soundness, as applied to the spirit of so sick a man, as Job was. And besides, many modern writers are clear in the same apprehension, giving the sum of all plainly to this effect, as the mind of Job in those fore going passages; I would not have complained of the things which ye have spoken, if they had been meat for me, but I assure you, your counsels are not nourishing: I can find no food, much less any sweetness or fatness in them; Your counsels want the due seasoning of wisdom, and the right temperament of holy zeal: They are either unsavoury or tastlesse, Taneum abest ut sermonibus vestris recreet, aut corum condimento reficiatur vita mea, uté contrà ●●bum ipsum mihi amariorem vitamque injucundiorem redd●t. Jun. Absit ut vir s●nctu aliquando amicorum suorum dicta despexerit, qui & humilio servut fueris. Greg. sapless stuff; Such, as I am so fare from being refreshed with, that indeed they are a burden to me; and the remedy you prescribe me, is worse than my disease. How can you expect, that I should submit or subscribe to what you have spoken, or that I should rest and acquiesse in your reproofs or advices, seeing I assure you, they are not for me, they hit my state or spirit no more, then unsavoury meat doth my palate; or that which I abhor to touch, can please my taste: And therefore, with my soul, I refuse and reject what you have spoken; And you have not only not satisfied me all this while, but you have vexed or tired me, and instead of mitigating my sorrows, have added to them. But an objection arises against this; and one of the Ancients is very angry with those, who make this application to the counsels of Eliphaz, as if Job had rejected them, as unfit food, and unsavoury meat. Let no man (saith he) think that this holy man despised the counsel of his friend, who himself was humble, as a fervant. To which I answer, That the counsels of Eliphaz, are to be considered, either in the doctrine, or in the use. His counsels, in the doctrine of them; were good and savoury, he spoke wholesome food; but as to Jobs case, he was quite mistaken in their use: and so instead of easing, troubled him. A Physician may give his sick patient; that which is good in itself, very cordial and sovereign, and yet it may kill him instead of curing him, if it be not proper for his body, and his disease. Thus it is also in giving counsel what we speak, must be fitted to the person, and to the season; There are many good counsels, of which we may say, as Hushai did of Achitophel's, ill ones, 2 Sa. 17. 7. They are not good at this time. That which is good counsel to a man at one time, may be, or might have been, ill, to the same man at another, I have many things to say, saith Christ, but ye cannot bear them now, Joh. 16. 12. And that which one man can bear, another cannot at the same time. And therefore the Apostle was made all things to all men, 1 Cor. 9 2. And accounted himself debtor, both to the wise, and to the foolish, to the learned and unlearned, to the weak, and to the strong; that is, he looked upon it as his duty, to speak truths, suiting the state of every degree and sort of men; which is the meaning of his rule to all the dispensers of holy mysteries, that they divide the word aright: The rightness respects, not only, or not so much the subject or word divided, as the object, or persons ● Tim. 2. 15. to whom the division is to be made, in giving every one his portion, or food convenient for him. One man may surfeit with that which another digests kindly, what fattens a second, may sicken or starve a third. This plainly is the meaneing of Job; what Eliphaz had said, was not savoury food for him, nor dressed for one in his condition: His soul did even refuse to touch, what he spoke, because his soul was not of that temper, for which Eliphaz had fitted his speech; He was a Physician of no value to him, because he brought a wrong potion, and mistook his case; his was good searching physic for the foul stomach, and gross spirit of a hypocrite: but it is enough to kill the heart of an uprightheart, when God seems angry with him, and appears against him, when he is smitten without. and smitten within, by sore afflictions of mind and body; then for his comforters to smite him with their tongues, to lay at him with hard words, and wound him with their unreasonable jealousies, then for his counsellors and helpers to be angry with, and opposite against him too. Observe hence; That not only words untrue, but words misapplied, are unsavoury, and may be dangerous. They are no food, and they may be poison. Prudence in applying, is the salt and seasoning of what is spoken. As a word spoken in the right season is precious, and upon the wheel, so is a word right placed: When that faith full Prophet (Ezek. 13.) reproves the false prophets, he saith, They daubed with untempered mortar; ver. 10. it is the word of the text: and why was theirs untempered mortar? even, because they applied the word of God wrong. They made sad the hearts of those, whom God would have refreshed, and they cheered the spirits of those, whom God would have sadned; they slay the souls that should not die, and save the souls alive, that should not live; This was untempered mortar: The Apostle advises all, Col. 4 6. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt. And speech must be seasoned, not only with the fault of truth, but with the salt of wisdom and discretion: and therefore the Apostle adds, that ye may know how to answer every one; that is, that you may give every man an answer, fitting his case, and the present constitution of his spirit. Of some have compassion (saith the Apostle Judas, ver. 22.) making a difference, and others save with fear. This shows the holy skill of managing the word of God, when we make a difference of our patients, by our different medicines, and not serve all out of the same box. Hence our Lord calleth those great Teachers of the Gospel, and dispensers of his Oracles, Light, and Salt; You are the Light of the world, and you are the salt of the earth, because they were to speak savoury things to every person, to every palate, as well, as to enlighten them with knowledge, and prevent or cure the corruption of their manners, and keep their lives sweet. As there is an unsavouriness in persons, when they are mis-employed, so there is an unsavouriness in speeches, when they are mis-applied. The history of the Church, speaks of one Eccebolius, who changed religion so often, and was so unsettled, that at last Conculcate me salem insipidum Niceph. he cast himself down at the congregation door, and said, Trample upon me, for I am unsavoury salt. And that word (though in itself a truth) which is unseasonably delivered, or unduly placed, may be cast at the doors of the Congregation, to be trampled on, for (in this sense) it is unsavoury salt; Such corrupt the word, and theirs is, but corrupt communication, such as cannot minister grace unto the hearers, and often grieves the holy Spirit of God. These workmen, for their ill division of the word of God, have reason enough to be ashamed; and the Lord may justly reprove them, as he did Jobs friends, Chap. 42. 7. Ye have not spoken of me (nor of my ways) the thing that is right. JOB Chap. 6. Vers. 8, 9, 10, etc. O that I might have my request! and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! Even that it would please God to destroy me, that he would let lose his hand and cut me off. Then should I yet have comfort, yea, I would harden myself in sorrow; Let him not spare, for I have not concealed the words of the holy One, etc. IN the former part of this Chapter, we have had Job defending his former complaint of life, and his desire of death. In this context, from the 8th verse, unto the end of the 12th, he reneweth and reinforceth that desire. He not only maintains and justifies what he had done, but doth it again; begging for death as hearty and importunately, as he did in the third Chapter, O that I might have my request! and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! The request itself, is laid down in the 8 ●h and 9 ●h verses: and the reasons strengthening it, in the 10, 11, and 12, verses. So, these 5 verses are reduceable to these two heads; 1. The renewing of his desire to die. 2. An enlargement of reasons confirming that desire. O that I might have my request! It is such a vehement desire, and so expressed, as david's was, 2 Sam. 23. 15. And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlem, which is by the gate. David did not long more to taste a cup of that water, than Job did to taste the cup of death. The sum and scope of Jobs thoughts in this passage, may be conceived thus. He would assure his friends, that his faith was firm, and his comforts flowing from it, very sweet; That, it was not impatience under the troubles of this life, but assurance of the comforts of the next; which caused him so often to call for death. That, these comforts caused his heart to triumph and glory in the very approaches of the most painful death, and made him despise, and lightly to esteem all the hopes of life. That, he was gone further than the motives which Eliphaz used, from the hopes of a restitution to temporal happiness: he now was pitched upon, and lodged in the thoughts of eternal happiness. That, he called for death, not, as that, with which he had made any Covenant, or was come to any agreement with, but only, as that, which would bring him to his desired home, The one Thing he desired. That his comforts had not a foundation in a grave, where all things are forgotten, but in the Covenant of God, who remembers mercy for ever; and therefore, it should not trouble him, to die, before he was restored to health, riches and honour (which his friends proposed to him, as a great argument of comfort, and of patience) For in death he should have riches and glory; and hence it was, that he had rather endure the extremest pains of death, then stay to receive any outward comforts in this life. His desires to be dissolved, were not so much, from the sense of his present pain (for he would harden himself to endure, yet more) as from the apprehension of future joy; This, was not a fancy or a dream, but he had good proof, and real evidence of it in the whole course of his life which had been as a continued acting of the word of God, and to a fitting him for nearest communion with God. This in general. The letter of the Hebrew runneth thus, Who would give me, that my request, or that my petition might come. He had sent up a request, a prayer, a prayer for death, and he thought his prayer too long gone upon that message; Prayer was not quick enough in its return from Heaven, every hour was a year till he heard of it, therefore (saith he) O that some body would give me, that my request might come back again unto me! The word whereby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he expresses his request, notes a very strong desire, a strong cry, a strong prayer; implying, that Job had sent up mighty requests, or strong cries about it. As it is said of our Lord Christ, Heb. 5. That in the days of his flesh, he sent up strong cries unto God, who was able to deliver him; Christ sent up strong cries to be delivered from death, and Job sent up strong cries for death. A word of the same root, signifies the grave; the grave is a craving, a begging thing; the grave is never satisfied, as it is in the Proverbs, The grave saith not, it is enough: And the grave is therefore expressed by a word that signifies to desire, or request, or to ask a thing importunately; because, the grave, hath a mouth, as it were, continually open to ask, and beg, and cry out for more morsels, it consumeth all, and is never full; such a desire Job put forth for death. And that God would grant me the thing that I long for! It is a repetition of the same desire, in other words. What it is to long, hath been opened in the third Chapter, ver. 21. Who long for death: Here Job reneweth the same suit again, O that I might have the thing that I long for! or the thing which I expect with great expectation and vehemency of affection. I shall not stay upon it: But only give you the general sense a little varied. In this passage, Job shows himself assured, that his comforts should not end, though his life ended, before he was restored to earthly comforts. And he thus seems to answer Eliphaz, who had made large promises of outward felicity. I am not stayed at all in Job expecta●ionem proximam facit mortem tanquam eam, quae patiendi ultimam & quietis ac faeli ●itatis primam representet li●●●●. my desires to die, because I may possibly live in greater worldly honour and fullness, than ever I enjoyed: All that is in the creature, is below wy longing, I have not a sweet tooth after worldly dainties: I shall not envy any who cut-live me to enjoy them, let them divide my portion, whatsoever it may be, among them also: The thing which I long for, is death (not for itself) but as that, which will bring me to the last of my ill days, and the first of my best. Jobs thoughts were in a higher form than his friends: They thought a golden offer of riches, would have made him a gogge to live. But Jobs heart lived above these, even upon the riches of eternal life; To enjoy which, he even longs for temporal destruction, and cutting off. I have spoken at large in the third Chapter, concerning the lawfulness of such a request, and how fare Job might be approved in it; therefore I need not discuss it here; Only observe in general, That A praying soul, is an expecting soul. Job had prayed, and prayed earnestly, and though it was but a prayer to die, yet he lived in the expectation of an answer. When prayer is sent up unto God, than the soul looks for its return. Prayer is as seed sown: After this spiritual husbandry, the soul waits for the precious fruits of Heaven. Psal. 62. 1. My soul waiteth upon God; and (Psal. 85. 8.) I will hearken what the Lord God will say; Job had sent up his request, and now he was harkening for an answer. O that I might have the thing that I look for! Habbakkuk in the second of that prophecy, verse 1. having prayed about the great concernments of those times, resolves, I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the Tower, and will watch to see, what he will say unto me. They who send Ambassadors to foreign Princes, wait for a return. Thus it is with the soul, having put up its request and sent an Embassy to God. Observe, Secondly. Answer of our prayer is the grant of God. Nothing stands between us and our desires, but his will. If he sign our petition, no creature can hinder us of our expectation. Observe, Thirdly, God often keeps the petitions of his servants, by him unanswered. Observe, Fourthly, The return of prayer is the souls solace and satisfaction. As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from that fare Country, Prov. 25. 25. O that my request might come; and O that I might have the thing that I long for! Would you know what his request was? He explains that in the 9 ●h verse, and a man would wonder, that one should be so very earnest to have such a request. Many have prayed to God to save and deliver them, but how unnatural doth this prayer seem, to be cut off and destroyed? Yet the thing which Job doth more than pray for, long for, is this, That it would please God to destroy him. and that he would let lose his hand and cut him off. That it would please God to destroy me. Some read, That he who hath begun, would make an end in destroying of me; For the word signifies both to be willing to do a thing, and likewise to begin to do a thing; therefore they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat li●ere velle, inchoare; acquiescere in re quapiam, eamque tota voluntate amplecti. make out the sense thus, That he who hath begun thus to destroy me, to tear and consume me, would finish his work, and make an end of me; As if Job had said, I am already near unto destruction, a borderer upon the grave. God hath begun to destroy me, I would have him to go on and perfect that work. As in works of mercy, Deut. 32. 4. He is the Rock, and his work is perfect. When he begins to deliver, he will make an end. So likewise, when he begins to destroy, he can make an end too; Job desires, that his afflictions might be perfected, to the destruction of his dying body, and that mercy might begin in the triumphs of his soul. But rather take it in the other sense, as we render it, To be willing to do a thing; Even that it would please God, or, even that God would be willing to destroy me! As if he had said, I find as it were a kind of unwillingness in God, to make an end of me, his bowels seem to yearn over me, he seems yet to be upon the dispute, whether to cut me quite off, or no: now I even desire that God would lay aside that his tenderness and compassion, that he would determine and resolve to destroy me, that he would acquiesce, and fully rest satisfied in that resolution. The word here used, to destroy, notes to beat a thing to powder, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Contudit, contrivit, comminuit. or to beat a thing to pieces, Psal. 143. 3. He hath smitten my life down to the ground, that is, He hath beaten me as it were to dirt: So Job here, I would have the Lord even beat me to dust or dirt. The word is used for contrition of spirit, Isa. 57 15. I dwell with him that is of an humble heart, and of a contrite spirit: That is, with him, that hath a spirit beaten to powder, or all to pieces, as any hard thing is with a hammer or pestle; A hard heart, is a heart all in a lump, condensate and closed together; but an humble, a repenting heart, is a heart beaten small and ground to powder; Thus Job desires here, O that it would please God to beat my life down to dust, and break me all to shatters; that he would crush me (as Eliphaz spoke in the 14th Chapter, ver. 19) as a Moth. Observe then in how sad a condition, Job was, who not only makes, but renews such a request, as this. Some upon a sudden pang wish to die, and hastily call for death, yet are willing it should take it's own time, and come leisurely: and as soon as death appears, they are crying, as hard for life. It is rare for any man's second thoughts, to keep up, to such desires. Job spoke once, and he speaks it over again; O that I might die, yea he woos destruction, and is an importunate suitor for the grave. How sad is a man's outward condition, when he hath only this complaint left, that he cannot die? when a man hath no help, but in destruction, or healing but in a deeper wound? Job in this appears like a man (that is to be pressed to death) lying under a heavy weight, yet the weight not heavy enough to crush him to death, he cries out, more weight, more weight. It will be a kindness to crush out my breath and bowels; the greatest favour I expect in this world, is, but to have more weight laid upon them, that I may die. Some of the Martyrs, when the fire was scant, have cried out, more fire. The cruelest flame was their friend, and the more the fire raged the more merciful it was to them. The book of our Martyr's reports of reverend Latimer, that when he was giving witness to the truth, and glorifying the name of Christ in the fire; he cried out, Oh, I cannot burn, the fire came not fast enough upon him. Such this expression of Job seems to be, Oh, I cannot die, I cannot be destroyed, I cannot perish yet; O that the hand of God would lay more weight upon me, that I might die. He seems to ask such a courtesy, as that Amalekite▪ said, King Saul craved of him, 2 Sam. 1. 9 Stand I pray thee upon me, and slay me: for anguish is come upon me, because my life is yet whole in me. This is the favour, the only favour, that remains for me. I am capable of no worldly comfort, but a quicker dispatch out of the world. And that he would let lose his hand, and cut me off. Here is the same Petition, though other language, That he would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Loco movit, evulsit, excussit. let lose his hand. That's an elegant expression; The word signifies to lose the bond, that a man may have use of his hands or feet. As prisoners are loosed, Psal. 146. 2. The Lord looseth the prisoners: So that it is, as if Job had said, Lord thou hast been smiting and wounding me, but I see thou hast not given thy hand the full scope, thy hand is as it were bound or tied behind thee: As you know, a man that hath great advantage of another, or is much his over-mach, will say to him, I will fight with thee with Translatio ab his qui manum vinctam habent my hand tied behind me. The truth is, God is able to contend with all the creatures, with his hand bound behind him, with his hands fast bound, that is, without putting forth the least part (to speak on) of his power; He can overcome with speaking; Job observing here, that God contended with him (as it were) with his hands bound or tied up, desires now that, God would give himself full scope, and put out his strength, and not strike, as if his hand were a prisoner. And he may have a respect in speaking thus to the Non se gerah erga me, instar hominis colligatam habentis manum. restraint or binding up of Satan's power, In this work Satan was God's hand; God put power into the hand of Satan, All that he hath, is in thy power, or in thy hand, Chap. 1. 12. First, God loosened Satan's hand, to take away his estate. Next, he let lose his hand a little further to the afflicting of his body; but saith God, spare his life, there he bond up his hand again. Now Job alluding (probably) to that restraint: Lord (saith he) loosen thy hand a third time, do not only loosen it, to take away my estate, to take away my health and strength, but O that thou wouldst loosen it, to take away my life too, enlarge I pray thee Satan's Commission, who is thy hand, let it quite lose, that he may make an end of me, and cut me off. The word here used to cut off, comes up to heighten Jobs sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inexplebilem cupiditatem atque immanem aviditatem vulnerandi, & humani sanguinu perfundendi sign ficat. still, signifying to cut off, with an unsatiable appetite of revenge; As if he should say, Cut me off, spare me not, spare not my blood, do it, as they, who are most greedy of blood, and thirst most vehemently after revenge. Let Satan, that bloodsucker, come with as great revenge (thy hand being loosened from restraining his) as ever the greatest Tyrant hastened with, to suck the blood of innocents'; Let him greedily cut me off, even, as if he were to have some great gain, or get some rich booty by my blood; What profit is there in my blood? (saith David, Psal. 30. 9) Let him make what profit he can of my blood, saith Job The word signifies to covet or desire gain; And it notes the worst kind of covetousness, covetousness of filthy lucre, or covetousness of bloody lucre. Hence Job saith: Let God cut me off, as if he were to have profit, or raise Avidè me absumat, quasi ex mea morte ingens lucrum reportaturus, Pined. himself a revenue out of my blood; or let Satan come upon me, and take his pennyworths out of my blood, let him murder me, as if he were to find all manner of treasure in my bowels, and could thence fill and adorn all his chambers of darkness with spoils. We may note from hence; First, That God dispenceth and acteth his power as he pleaseth. He looseth his hand gradually, as to him seemeth good. First, To the estate, then to the body, and when he wills, he can reach the life. Secondly observe; If God put out his power, no creature can stand before it. If God do but let lose his hand, man is cut off presently; It is but as a little twig, or as grass before the sith, or before a sword, there is no more in it. As when God openeth the hand of his mercy; he satisfieth the desire of every living thing, Psal. 145. 2. So when God looseth the hand of his judgements, he takes away the life and comforts of every living thing. God hath a hand full of blessings and mercies; if he please but to open that hand, all things are filled with comfort: God hath another hand full of judgements and afflictions; if he open or loosen that, all creatures fall before him, like a withered leaf. The reason why the enemies of God live and are mighty, is because God doth not fully loosen his hand against them: if he would but unprison his power, and let out his hand, he can with ease destroy, and cut them off in a moment. Therefore the prophet prays but for this one thing, Psalm. 74. 11. That God would pluck his hand out of his bosom; why with drawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom: Lord (saith he) this is the reason, why enemies yet prevail, thy hand is tied up, that is, Thine own act hath tied up thy hand, thy will stays thy power, or thy power is hid in thy will. God's power kept in by his will, is his hand in his bosom. Among men, a hand in the bosom, is the emblem of sloth, Prov, 19 24. Man hides his hand in his bosom, because he will not be at the pains to work: God is said to hid his hand in his bosom, when it is not his will and pleasure to work: therefore he saith: Lord, if thou wouldst but let lose, and put out thy hand, all mine enemies shall be consumed. And that's the reason, why there are such various dispensations of providence in these times; when the enemy prevails, God with draweth his hand, he keepeth his hand in his bosom. And when at any time his servants have victory, it is, because his hand hath liberty. If God holds his hand, men stretch forth theirs in vain. Observe; Thirdly, Assurance of a better life will carry the soul with joy through the sorrows and bitterest pains of death. It was not any Stoical apathy, or ignorant regardlessenesse of life which raised the heart of Job to these desires. He did not invite his end, like a Roman, or a philosopher, or by the height and gallantry of natural courage, set the world at nought, and bid defiance to destruction. But he had laid up a good foundation against this day; upon this he builds his confidence. He knew, as Paul, that he had Christ, while he lived, and should have gain when he died; The joy which was set before him made him overlook the cross which was before him. So much of his request, now he tells us the consequence, or effect it would have upon him, in case it were granted. Vers. 10. Then should I yet have comfort, yet I would harden myself in sorrow; Let him, not spare, for I have not concealed the words of the holy One, Then should I yet have comfort. If I had but this suit granted, I were refreshed, notwithstanding all my sorrows, the very hope of death would revive me. Nothing doth so much refresh the soul, as the hearing of a Prayer, and the grant of a desire; when desire cometh it is as a tree of life (saith Solomon) therefore Job might well say, when my longing comes, I shall have comfort; and lest any should think, that as David would not drink the water he so longed for, when it was brought unto him: So when the cup of death should be brought to Job, he might put it off somewhat upon those terms which David did, and say, I will not drink it, for it is my blood, my death: therefore he adds, Yea, I would harden myself in sorrow. As if he had said, though some call hastily for death, and repent with as much haste, when death comes, yet not I, I would harden myself, etc. The Hebrew (to harden) hath a threefold signification among the Jewish writers, though it be used but this once only in all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat. 1. Solidare & roborare, 2. Calefarere, urere. 3 Orare, suppliciter praecari. Scripture. And hence there is a threefold interpretation of these words, I would harden myself in sorrow, It signifies, 1 To Pray or to beseech. 2 To heat or to Warm, yea to scorch and to burn. 3 To harden or to strengthen, strengthening is hardening in a metaphor. According to the first sense, the text is rendered thus, Then should I yet have comfort, yea, I would pray in my sorrow, that is, I would pray yet more, for an increase of my sorrow, that I might be cut off: If I had any hope, that my request should be granted, this hope would quicken my desire, and I would pray yet more, that I might obtain it. Secondly, as the word signifies to warm or to heat, the sense is given thus, Then should I have comfort, yea I would warm myself in my sorrow: And so it refers it to those refresh, which his languishing soul, his soul chilled, as it were, with sickness and sorrows, should receive, upon the news of his approaching death. This news (saith he) would be as warm to me, it Hac spe certissin â moriendi incalescerem, refocillarer. would fetch me again, out of my fainting, to heart of dying. But, besides a warming or a refreshing heat, the word also notes scorching, burning heat. Mr. Broughton takes that signification of the word; I shall touch that, and his sense upon it, by and by. We translate according to the third usage of the word. I would harden myself; and so the construction is very fair, I should yet have comfort, yea, I would harden myself in sorrow, that is, I would now set myself to endure the greatest sorrows and afflictions, which could come upon me, for the destroying and cutting off the thread of my life. And so, he seems in these words to prevent an objection before hinted; Why Job, dost thou desire to be cut off, and to be destroyed? thou hast more pain upon thee already, than thou art able to bear; thou criest out of what thou hast: thou must think, when death comes, thy wound will be deeper, and thy pain sharper? job seems to answer, I have considered that before, I know there will be a hard brunt at parting, I prepare for it, and am thus resolved I would harden myself in sorrow; that is, I would set myself to bear the pangs and agonies of death; if I had but this hope, that my misery were near expiring. The Apostle useth that phrase (2 Tim. 2. 3.) in his advices to young Timothy. Thou as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, endure hardness, or bear evil. As if he had said, thou dost not know, what hardship thou shalt be put unto in thy ministry, I who am a veterane, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an old beaten (though never conquered) soldier, in this warfare of Christ, have been put to much hardship in my time; and from my own experience, I advise thee, to inure thyself to hardship to lie hard, to far hard, to work hard, to hear hard words, and receive hard usage, A tender spirit and a delicate body, which must have warm, and soft, and fine, and sweet continually, is unfit for the warfare of the Gospel. Such a sense is here, I know I must endure more, than now I do, but I would harden myself against that time, and resolve to endure it, let come, what could come, I am resolved and have forethought the worst. Further, for the clearing of these words, it is considerable, that some learned Interpreters put the two middle expressions into a parenthesis, and read the whole thus, I should have comfort (though I should scorch with pain, and though God should not spare me) for I have not concealed the words of the holy One. One, thus, This yet is my comfort, even while I scorch with pain junius. and God doth not spare me, that I have not concealed the words of the holy One. Mr. Broughton (as I touched before) comes near this sense and translation. So I should yet find comfort: though I parch in pain: when he would not spare; For I kept not close the words of the most Holy. That is, when the long expected hour of my death shall come, though God, to take away my life, should heat the furnace of my affliction seven times hotter than hitherto, so that I must parch in pain, yet I should have comfort. Or, take it in Master broughton's own gloss, in all these pangs; if God would make an end of me, it should be my comfort, and I would take courage in my sickness to bear it, by my joy, that I should die, because I professed the Religion of God. So that the strength of Job, to bear the hand of God, was from the conscience of his former integrity, in doing the will, and maintaining the truth of God. Let him not spare. Job having taken up his hope, that he should have comfort, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pepercit clementia usus fuerit. and this resolution, that he would harden himself in sorrow, speaks now, as if he were at a point, let God do what he pleaseth, let him not spare; as if he had said, what course soever the Lord shall see good to take for the cutting me off, I am content he should go on with it, Let him not spare. The word signifies to indulge or show mercy to him, whom, by all right a man might justly destroy (Ezek. 5. 11.) Because thou hast done thus and thus, saith God therefore will I also diminish thee, neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity. Job seems to invite, what God threatens others, Let him not spare, let him not have any pity, let him take his full swing in destroying of me. In this sense it is said, Rom. 8. 32. That God spared not his own son: That is he abated not any thing, which justice could inflict. Christ therefore saves to the uttermost, because he suffered to the uttermost. He was not spared one blow, one drop, one sigh, one sorrow, one shame, one circumstance of all, or any one of these; which justice could demand, as a satisfaction for man's sin. Yea though (in a sense) he cried to his father, that he might be spared yet he was not. There is a threefold mercy in God. There is a preventing mercy, mercy that steps between us and trouble. And there is a delivering mercy, mercy that takes us out of the hand of trouble: There is a third kind of mercy, coming in the middle of these two, and that is called sparing mercy: and that is twofold; First; sparing for the time, when God delays and stays long ere he strike. Secondly, sparing for the degree, when the Lord moderates and mitigates, abates and qualifies our sufferings, not letting them fall so heavy upon us, as they might: This sparing mercy, stands (I say) in the middle of the two former; it is not so much as preventing mercy, stopping trouble that it come not; neither is it so much as delivering mercy, removing it, when it is come. Now Job did not only, not ask delivering mercy, that he asked not sparing mercy; Let him not spare me in the time, let him not delay or lose time, let him come as soon as he will. And let him not spare me in the degree and measure, let him strike me as hard, and lay his hand as heavily upon me, as he will. David (Psal. 39 13.) makes this his request, O spare me that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more; That is, abate and mitigate my sufferings that I die not, but Job desireth not to be spared at all. He rather saith, take away all my strength, that I may go hence, and be seen no more. Observe hence, That the hope troubles will end, comforteth, yea hardeneth in bearing present troubles. Then will I comfort myself then will I harden myself, let him not spare, if I may have my request, and die. The sharpest sting of trouble, is, that it is endless, and it is next to that, when we can not look to the end of it, nor see any issue or way out of it; That which discourages the damned, in bearing their sorrows, and softens both their flesh and spirits, to receive home to the head, every arrow of wrath, and dart of vengeance, is, they see no end, and are assured there will be none. They know, they cannot be cut off, and therefore they cannot harden themselves in sorrow; no, that very consideration, makes their hearts, which have been hardened to commit sin, tender to receive punishment, and exactly sensible of their pains; could they see, that at last they should be cut off, even they would be hardened to bear the torments of Hell, in the mean time, though that time should be very long, yea as long as time can be, only not endless. The pain itself, doth not afflict so much, as the thought that they shall be afflicted for ever: As the assurance, that the glory of Heaven shall never end, infinitely sweetness it; so the assurance that the pains of hell shall never end, infinitely sharpens them: And not to see the ending of worldly troubles near, puts us further off from comfort, than the bearing of those troubles. Therefore saith Job, if I might be assured, that God would cut me off I would harden myself in sorrow, and let not God spare; I would not desire him to hold his hand, to mitigate or abate my pains. * E● haec mihi merces esset ejus seu pro eo, quod n●n occultavi unquam, sed diligentis● simè observavi & quam commendatissima habui verba Domini, Opin. Nonnullorum Hebraeorum apud Merc. Yea I would account every blow an embrace, and every wound a reward. For not concealing the words of the holy One. In these words, Job gives the reason, or an account of his renewed prayer and request to die. As the desire of Job was strong and passionate, so likewise it was well grounded. He had a very high reason, an excellent ground, upon which he bottomed this request to die: His reason was spiritual, and therefore strong. He begs to be delivered from the troubles of his life, though by a painful death, because he was clear in himself, that he had led a blameless life. That which set him above the pains of bodily death was the tranquillity of his spirit in this testmony of his conscience, I have not concealed the words of the holy One; As if he had said, You may wonder why I should be so forward and ready to die, why I seem so greedy after the grave, why I am such an importunate suitor for my dissolution; The account I give you is this, I have the testimony of a good conscience within me, notwithstanding all the troubles which are upon me, notwithstanding all your harsh unfriendly accusations, jealousies and suspicions of me, yet my own breast is my friend, my heart speaks me fair, and gives me good words, even these, It tells me, that I have not concealed the words Mirum est ut mihi non parcat quum illius verba non celarim neque dissimulaverim. Aben Azr. of the holy One: That I have not smothered any light he hath sent me, that I have not refused any council he hath given me, that I have not wilfully departed from any rule he hath prescribed me, that I have been faithful to God, to his cause, and to his truth, that I have declared his will, and spoken his mind to others; that I have not hidden any thing he hath given me in charge to declare, or committed to my trust; the word of God hath appeared in my life and therefore I am not afraid, yea I have boldness to die, and to appear before God. I have not concealed] The word signifieth to hid a thing, so as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat, abscondere ne vidleatur vel audeatur, ne amplius appareat. it be neither heard of or seen. But may not we conceal the words of the most high? it is said of Mary, that she hide the words of Christ in her heart and of David, that he hide the commandments of God in his heart, Psal. 119. 11. Did not the wise merchant hid the treasure, namely Gospel truth (Math. 13. 44.) as soon as he had found it? It should seem all these concealed the word of God; how then is it that Job improves this, as a special point of comfort, that he had not concealed the words of the holy One? There is a double hiding, or concealment of the truth. There is first a hiding from danger; Secondly a hiding from use. There is a hiding to keep a thing safe, that others shall not take it from us; and there is a hiding to keep a thing close, that others may not take the benefit of it, with us. When it is said, that Mary, and David, and the wise Merchant hid the word of God, it was, lest they themselves should lose it, lest any should deprive them of it, they hide it from danger: They laid it up as a treasure in their hearts; but they did not hid it from the knowledge, or use of others; and that is it which Job affirms of himself, I have not concealed the words of the holy One. And there are four ways by which the word of God is sinfully hid or concealed, from all which Job seems to acquit himself. The first is, when we conceal the word of God by our own silence; when we know the word and truth of God, and yet we draw a veil over them, by not revealing them: The Apostle Paul (Acts 20. 27.) acquits himself in this, to the Church of Ephesus, I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God; and verse. 20. You know how I kept back nothing, that was profitable unto you▪ Silence to what is spoken, is consent: and silence when we should speak, is concealment. There is a second way of concealing the word of God, and that is by silencing others: Some conceal the words of the holy One themselves, and they cannot endure that others should publish them: The chief Priests and the Rulers (Acts 4 18.) charged Peter and John, that they should not speak at all, nor teach any more in the name of Jesus: They would stop the Apostles mouths from speaking the words of the holy One: These keep the truth locked up (as Christ charges the Lawyers, Luk. 11. 52.) by taking away the key of knowledge. Thirdly, There is a concealing of the word of God, under false glosses and misinterpretations, or a hiding of it under errors and misconstructions; This is a very dangerous way of concealing the words of the holy One: The Pharisees made the law of God of none effect, by their expositions, as well as by their traditions, by the sense they made of it, as well as by the additions they made unto it. Fourthly, The word of the holy One, may be concealed in our practice and conversations. The Apostle exhorts (Phil. 2. 16.) To hold forth the word of life in a pure conversation. The lives of Christians should publish the word of life. The best way of preaching the word, is by the praictses of the word. The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, that is, who, by their unrighteous practices and ungodly conversations, imprison, fetter, restrain and keep in the word: Man's holy life is the loudest Proclamation of the word of God. And a sinful life is the concealment of it. Job here acquits himself from all these concealments; I have not e●ncealed the words of the holy One, either by my own silence, or by imposing silence upon others, I have not concealed the word of the holy One, by my own corrupt glosses and interpretations, nor by a corrupt practice and conversation: I have desired and endeavoured, that the whole word of God might be visible in my actions, and audible in my speeches, that I might walk clothed, as it were, with the holy counsels and commandments of my God. There is a reading of the words, different from this. Whereas we Malo potentialiter exponi omnia: utinam, inquit, non parceret: Nequenim occultarem dicta sancti, sed ejus in me sententiam praedicarem & laudarem. Merc. say, I have not concealed the words of the holy One, that gives it thus, I would not conceal the words of the holy One, and so the word of the holy One, is taken, not for the truths of God in general, but for that special word of decree or sentence which God should pass out against him; A if he had said. Let not God spare me, let him write ●s bitter a sentence against me, as he pleaseth, for my part, I would not conceal the, word of the most High, but I would publish his judgement and sentence against me, yea I would praise him and extol him for it. The vulgar Latin to this sense, I would not contradict the word of the holy One; Let him not spare me, for as for my part, whatsoever God shall determine and resolve, whatsoever word God shall speak concerning me, I will never withstand or open my mouth against it. This is a truth, and carries in it a high frame of holiness, when we can bring our hearts to this, that let God write as bitter things against us, as he pleaseth, we will never contradict his word or decree, but our minds and spirits shall submit wholly and fully to his dispositions of us, and dispensations towards us: It is as clear an evidence of grace, to be passive under, as to be active in, the word of God. Not to contradict his writ, for our sufferings, as not to conceal what he speaks for our practice. But I rather stick to the former interpretation, Job giving this as a reason of his great confidence in pursuing his petition for death, because he had been so sincere, holding forth the word of God both in doctrine and in life. And so we may observe from it. First, That the testimony of a good conscience, is the best ground of our willingness to die. That man speaks enough for his willingness to die, who hath lived speaking and doing the will of God; and he is in a very miserable case, who hath no other reason why he desireth death, but only because he is in misery. This was one, but not the only reason, why Job desired death, he had a reason transcending this, I have not concealed the words of the holy One, and I know if, I have not concealed the word of God, God will not conceal his mercy and loving kindness from me. David bottoms his hopes of comfort in sad times, upon this, Psal. 40. 9, 10. I have preached righteousness in the great Congregation, I have not refrained my lips O Lord thou knowest (he was not actively or politicly silent) I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart (if lay there, but it was imprisoned or stifled there) I have declared thy faithfulness: and thy salvations I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth, from the great Congregation. Upon this he falls a praying with a mighty spirit of believing, vers. 11. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord, let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me: for innumerable evils have compassed me about. The remembrance of our active faithfulness to the truth of God, will bear up our hearts in hoping for the mercy of God. He that in david's, and in Jobs sense can say, I have not concealed the words of the most high, may triumph over innumerable evils, and shall be more than a conqueror over the last and worst of temporal evils, death. God cannot long conceal his love from them, who have not concealed his truth. Secondly observe, positively; That the counsels of God, his truths, must be revealed. God hath secrets which belong not to us, but then he puts them not forth in a word, nor writes them in his book; he keeps his secrets close in the cabinet of his decrees and counsels; but, what he reveals either in his word, or by his works, man ought to reveal too. It is as dangerous, if not more, to conceal what God hath made known, as to be inquisitive to know what God hath concealed. Yea, it is as dangerous to hid the word of God, as it is to hid our own sins. And we equally give glory to God, by the profession of the one, as by the confession of the other. Paul with much earnestness professes his integrity about this, as was even now touched, Act. 20. Fourthly observe; That the study of a godly man, is to make the word of God visible. I have not concealed, that is, I have made plain, I have revealed, or I have published the words of the holy One; Much of Jobs mind is concealed under that word, I have not concealed. For in this negative there is an affirmative; as if he had said, this hath been my labour and my business, my work in the world, to make known so much of the will of God, as I know. This was the work of Christ here below, Father I have glorified thee upon earth, I have finished the work, which thou gavest me to do, Joh. 17. 4. What this work was, he shows, vers. 6th, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Lasty observe; That it is a dangerous thing for any man to conceal the word of God, either in his opinion, or in his practice. For it is, as if Job had said if I had ever concealed the words of God, I had been but in an ill case, at this time; God might now justly reveal his wrath against me, if I had concealed his word from others; or God might justly hid his mercies from me, if I had hid his word from men▪ Smothered truths, will one time or other set the conscience in a flame, and that which Jeremiah spoke once, concerning his resolution to conceal the word of God, and the effect of it: will be a truth upon every one, who shall set himself under a resolution to do, what he under a temptation did; Jer. 20. 9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name: what follows? Then his word was in my breast, as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing. If a gracious heart hath taken up such a sudden resolution to conceal the word of God, he quickly reputes of it, or smarts under it: He finds that word, as a burning fire in his bones, he is not able to bear it. I was weary with forbearing (saith the prophet) Nothing in the world will burden the conscience, so much as concealed truth: and they who have taken a meditated resolution, that they will not reveal the word of God, may be sure, that word will one time or other reveal itself to them, in the Light and heat of a burning fire, seeding upon their consciences. I have not concealed the words; whose words? The words of the Holy One. Who is that? The Holy One, is a periphrasis, for God, When you hear that Title, The holy One, you may know who is meant. This is a Title too big for any but a God; All holiness is in God, and God is so holy, that properly he only is Holy; Hence the Scripture sets God forth under this, as a peculiar attribute; The Holy One; The Prophets often use this addition or stile, The Holy One of Israel. The Holy One; Is One separate or set apart from all filthiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seperatus. and uncleanness; No evil dwells with God, none comes near him. Therefore he is The Holy One, He is so separated from evil, that he cannot behold evil, or look on iniquity (Hab. 1. 13.) except with a vindictive eye. Sin never got a good look from God, or ever shall. Further, God is called The Holy One, in three respects. First, Deus vocatur Sanctus Israel vel Sanctus simpliciter, vel quod sancté a nobis colendus est, vel quod ipse solus vere▪ sanctus est. Because he is all holy in himself; Secondly, Because we receive all holiness from him: Thirdly, Because we are to serve him in holiness and righteousness all our days. A Holy God must have a holy Service. God is The Holy One; First, In his Nature; his essence is purity. Or, he is essential purity. Secondly, he is holy in his Word; those are frequent adjuncts of the word of God; holy, pure and clean. Thirdly, He is holy in his works: There is not the least imaginable stain or defilement upon any thing he hath done. These three put together, lift up the glory of God in this title The Holy One. He that is holy throughout in his nature, holy in his word, holy in his works, is the Holy One; Yea, he is, as Moses styleth him in his triumphant song, Exod. 15. Glorious in holiness, A glorious holy One. Or again, We may consider God The holy One; First, Radically and fundamentally, because the Divine nature is the root and original, the spring of all holiness and purity; All holiness is in God, and there is no holiness to be had, but in God alone. Secondly, God is The holy One, by way of example and pattern, or in regard of the rule and measure of holiness: (1 Pet. 1. 16.) Be ye holy, as I am holy; the Holiness of God, it is the exemplar and pattern of all the holiness, that is in the creature. Thirdly, God is The holy One, by way of motive; He is, as the rule of holiness, so likewise the reason of our holiness; therefore another Scripture saith, Be ye holy, for I am holy, I am The holy One, and that is the reason, why you must be holy too. Fourthly, God is, The holy one, effectively, because he works, conveys and propagates all holiness, to, and in the creature. Nothing can frame a heart to holiness, but the finger of God. Man can no more make himself, or another holy, than he can redeem another or himself. Fiftly, He is called, The holy One, by way of eminency or super-excellency; because his holiness is infinitely beyond all the holiness of men and Angels. Angels are holy, and God is pleased to say of men, that they are holy, but not man, nor Angel, can be called, The holy One. His supereminency in holiness shines forth in such beams and rays, as these. First, Holiness in God it is not a quality, but, his essence. Holiness in Angels is a quality, the essence of many Angels continues, though their holiness be lost and vanished; the lapsed Angels, who are now devils, keep their nature, but their holiness is gone; therefore holiness was but a quality or accidental to them; So, in the Saints, holiness is an infusion, a quality, a grace; most men never had any holiness, and the man would remain, though his holiness should be lost. But in God, his essence and his holiness are the same; The holiness of God, It is the holy God, as the wisdom of God, it is the wise God: and the power of God, it is the powerful God. The attributes of God, for our learning, are distinguished from his nature, but, in him they are the same. Secondly, God is The holy One eminently, above men and Angels, because he is absolutely perfect in holiness. Absolutely perfect: first, because he is holy, extensively (if we may so speak of God) in all parts, he is holy throughout; and then, he is holy intensively, as he is holy in all parts, so he is altogether holy in every part. Holy men have holiness in every part, yet they are holy but in part; and though Angels be holy in every part extensively, and have also a perfection of holiness, yet they have not an absolute perfection of holiness; therefore Angels themselves are chargeable with folly, compared with God, Chap. 4. 18. God is so light, that in him there is no darkness at all, he is so holy, in him, that, there is no unholiness at all. But men, the best of men, all the saints upon earth, have darkness with their light, and unholiness mixed with their holiness. Therefore in the third place, the eminency of God in holiness appeareth in this, that, God is ever equally holy, ever in the same degree and frame of holiness: Angels are so too, because they are confirmed; and though at the present, the Saints are not, yet, when Christ shall set them up, in that glorious estate, they shall keep the same frame for ever. But the Saints upon earth are unequally holy; For, first, they are growing, their estate here is an increasing estate, they are more holy one year than another, as they grow more in knowledge, so in every grace: And then, in regard of the exercise, they are more holy at one time, than at another; which of the Saints hath not found, or doth not find much variety in his spirit. Now a heart enlarged in prayer, and anon straightened, now a heart believing, and anon doubting; now humble, anon lifted up with pride, etc. But as the holy One, is, perfectly and absolutely holy, so, he is ever equally in the same degree, and tenor of holiness, not the least variety or shadow of turning in him. Put all these together, and the title is clear, How God by an excellency is called, The holy One. As he is so strong, that all the power of the creature, compared with his, is weakness, and so wise, that all the wisdom of the creature compared with his, is folly: So he is so holy, that, compared with him, all holiness, is unholy, and he alone, The holy One. Observe, hence, First, That the holiness of man consists in his conformity unto God. Holiness is our likeness to God, or the application of our minds and actions to God, as the Scholles define it. God, the holy One, Sanctitas dicitur per quam mens seipsum & suos actus applicat Deo, is, (if we may so speak) the standard, the pattern, and the object of all holiness. There is a twofold conformity to God in holiness. First, a conformity to the nature of God. Secondly, a conformity to the will of God, or to that which God wills. These make up the total holiness of the creature. First, Holiness is our conformity to the nature of God. And therefore believers are said to be partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1. 4.) This participation, is our analogical resemblance unto the divine nature: First, in his attributes. Secondly, in his affections. In his attributes, when we are patiented, merciful, just, faithful, true-loving, as God is. These are the image of God in us, and by these God becomes (as it were) visible in man. As those invisible things of God, even his eternal power and Godhead are seen in the things which are created, so those, other invisible things of God, even his eternal holiness and purity, are seen in those, who are sanctified. And in the same sense that God speaks of Magistrates in regard of his power deposited in their hands. I have said ye are gods, we also may say of all the faithful, in regard of his holiness infused into their hearts, ye are gods; and as to live, or do sinfully, is (as the Apostle phraseth it) to walk (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) as men, so to live and do holily is in our sphere to walk (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) as God. And as this holiness arises from a resemblance of God in his Attributes, so in his Affections; when we love what God loves, when we hate, what God hates; when, what, pleases God pleaseth us also; when, what provokes his Spirit, provokes ours. This is holiness. Secondly, Holiness is our conformity to the will of God. That is, to whatsoever God wils us, either to do, or not to do. The will of God is the rule of holiness, as his nature is the pattern of it. His internal will, called by the Schoolmen, The will of his good Voluntas benepla●iti. Voluntas signi. pleasure, is the firstly-first rule (as they speak) His external will, or his will expressed and signified by his word, is the secondly-first rule of holiness. Every action of man is holy or unholy according to its conformity with, or variation from this will. There is no more holiness in any work, than there is of the will of God in any work; to do holily and to do the will of God are the same David a holy man is described by both these, Act. 13. 22. I have found David, the son of Jesse, A man after mine own heart, there's conformity to the will of God: which shall fulfil all my will, there's conformity to the will of God, the result of both is holiness. Sicut impuritas nascitur ex nonactu inferiorum, ut cum facies aut vestis luto aspergitur vel cum anima per affectus inferioribus inordinatè inhaeret; I a puritas oritur ex contactu superiorum cum affectus ad sublimiora & nobilicra assurgit, & ijs inhaerit. Less the perfect. Diu. lib. 8. c. 8. unholiness and impurity arise from our conformity or adhesion to those things, which are unclean and unholy. In externals and corporals if a man's hand or his garment touch an unclean thing he hath the mark or impression of that uncleanness upon his hand or upon his garment; and this likeness to an unclean thing, makes his hand or garment unclean. So for inward uncleanness or defilment, when the soul inordinately cleaves, and the mind drenches itself in filthy things, or drinks in filthy objects, when our thoughts are steeped in puddle waters, this defiles the mind, and makes our thoughts unclean; Our thoughts are such, as the things they are familiar with: If they converse with filthy and unclean things, with worldly and base things, the image and impression of such things is sealed upon our thoughts, and the spring of them our spirits. On the other side, by our conversing and reverend familiarity with Christ; in holy Ordinances, we receive stamps and impressions of holiness from him. When our hearts and affections are raised up and pitched upon God, this makes them holy. Summa puritas consistit in adhaesione cum Deo; nam Deus est ratio objectiva & mensura sanctitatis Lesle. ubi ante. God is the Objective cause of holiness, looking upon him, we become holy (2 Cor. 3. 18.) We (saith the Apostle) all with open face, beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord (that is, we looking upon that glory, holiness and excellency, which is in the Lord) are changed into the same image: That is, we are made conformable unto him: we receive (as it were) the engravings of holiness upon our souls by beholding the Holy One. The eye of faith (as well, yea more, than the eye of sense) affects the hearts. Laban's sheep conceived according to the colour of the rods, which lay before them in the water troughes. Vision assimilates both in nature and in grace, yea and in glory too. In heaven we shall be perfectly holy, because we shall perfectly (in Christ, who is the express image of his person) see God, and so be like him, that's the Apostles argument, 1 Joh. 3 1. We shall he like him, for we shall see him as he is, And proportionably here, such as our visions of God are, such is our likeness unto God. Secondly, observe. They who want holiness, must go to God for it; for he is the holy One. Are any of your hearts unholy? Whither will you go? To what Coast will you trade for holiness? Or where shall you find the merchandise of it? Go whither you will, go to what holy Ordinance, to what holy duty, to what holy Minister you will, your vessels will return unfraight and empty of holiness, if you tread not to the holy God. We must deal with Ordinances and by Ordinances; but, if we only have to do with them, neglecting to meet with God, we shall make nothing of them, we shall not traffic in them to any spiritual enriching or advantage. Ordinances have a relative holiness or a holiness passing through them; but they have no inherent holiness, or holiness passed by them; They are Conduit-pipes, not springs, or the wellhead. Therefore as when you would have mercy, you go to the merciful God; As, when you would have pardon of sin, you go to the sin pardoning God; As when you would have wisdom and light to direct your way, you go to the wise God and the Father of lights. So when you would have holiness, and be made pure, whither will ye go, but to the pure and holy God? Be diligent in holy duties, and holy Ordinances, but stay not in them, pass through them, and never rest till you come to God in Christ, who is, The holy One, and he only can, and he hath said he will make you holy. Observe; thirdly, All sin and unholiness are contrary to the very name and nature of God. Contrary to the name of God, He is called holy; and contrary to the nature of God, He is the holy One. And in this, we see the reason, why God hates sin with a perfect hatred; man hates that, which is contrary to his nature, and contrary to his name. And in this also we see the reason, why God is such a severe avenger of sin, He is the holy One: Can he (think you) take part with, or spare that which is contrary to himself? Sin, as much as in it lieth, puts God out of the world, therefore sin is called God-murther, as being that, which would murder God: Deicidium. Sin would not allow him a being in the world, who gave the world its being. Sin (in the nature of it) is, The unholy thing, and God is, The holy One; These two must contend for ever: so far as things or persons are unholy, they directly strike at the Being of God; Sin would put down all rule and all dominion, but it's own. Observe, Fourthly, They who despise holiness despise God himself. They who despise holiness, despise the very glory of God, God is glorious in holiness, and this is his glorious Name, THE HOLY ONE. Some of the Profane wretched Jews, derided and blasphemed God, under this title; the Prophet had long threatened judgement, and had told them, that the holy God would be avenged of them for their filthiness and profaneness for their hypocrisy and idolatry. But when these wretches saw God delaying to come out, and bring forth the treasures of his wrath against them, they fall a jeering, and they jeer at God, under this title (Isa. 5, 19) Let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it; as if they had said, God is too slow let him make more haste, and let the counsel of the holy One of Israel draw nigh, and come that we may know it; him, that you have so often told us of, The holy One, let him make haste and bring on his work. Without question God came speedily upon those, and he will come speedily upon all those unclean spirits and tongues who blaspheme that holy Name, The holy One. Lastly, Hence we learn, Why none can see God, why none have any fitness for communion with God, but holy Ones, holy persons; the reason is, because God is the holy One. That great Law is gone out from the mouth of God, Levit. 10. 3. I will be sanctified in those that come near me; why sanctified? Because God is the holy one; Unless we sanctify God, we cannot draw nigh to God. As holiness is a separation from evil, so i● is an approximation to the chiefest good. But some may demand, how can man sanctify God? God sanctifies us, but can we sanctify him? We cannot sanctify God, as he sanctifies us. We do not sanctify God by adding or communicating any holiness unto him; but we sanctify God by acknowledging his holiness, or by acknowledging that he is, The Holy One; drawing nigh unto God with a holy heart, with holy affections is the sanctfying of God. For this is the language of such preparation, I have a holy God to go unto, therefore I must have a holy heart to come unto him with; this is sanctifying God; And that's the reason why none can see God, but they, that are holy, Heb. 12. 14. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord; because God himself is holy, therefore they cannot see God, who are unholy. There must be an inward holiness, holiness in the Organ: to take in the holiness of the object; God first works holiness in us, and then we behold him, the holy God: And that was the reason, why the Prophet (Isa. chap. 6. when the voice proclaimed that thrice holy Name of God, Holy, Holy, Holy,) cried out, I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, I have an unclean heart, and how shall I stand before this holy, holy, holy God; This made his spirit recoil, though he was a holy Prophet: If the remainders of unholiness in him, made his spirit faint, when there was an appearance of the holy God: How will they that are nothing but corruption, or a lump of uncleanness, lying still in the dregs of nature, be able to stand before God, The holy One, the holy, holy, holy One! This is the sum of the first reason, upon which Job grounds his request to die, it was not the misery he suffered, but the integrity in which he had lived. He had not concealed the words of the holy One, therefore as his affliction made his life troublesome to him, so the goodness of his cause and conscience, made death welcome to him. JOB Chap. 6. Vers. 11, 12, 13, 14. What is my strength, that I should hope? And what is mine end that I should prolong my life? Is my strength, the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass? Is not my help in me? And is wisdom driven quite from me? To him that is afflicted, pity should be showed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. JOB (as hath been showed) in this context from the 8th verse, renews his former request and desire of death, confirming it by divers arguments, some of which were opened in the 10th verse, especially, that, from the clearness, and integrity of his own conscience, in that, he had not concealed the words of the the holy One: He had dealt faithfully in the cause of God, and therefore he was not afraid to appear before God. And his desire did not hang about his lips, as if it would return and deny itself: therefore in this 11th verse he puts forth two reasons further, why he moves or re-enforces his motion to die. The first is grounded upon the small hope, he had to live long, if he should desire it, What is my strength, that I should hope? The second is grounded upon the strong hope, yea, assurance which he had, that it should be well with him in death, or that death, could be no damage to him. And what is my end, that I should prolong my life? Put these two together: And then consider, is it any wonder, that a man in much misery desires to die speedily, when he hath no hope, no ground of hope, that he can live long, and when he hath no fear, no ground, no nor shadow of fear, that it shall be ill with him, when he dies? This I conceive is the sum and strength of his reasoning, contained in the 11th verse. I shall now open the words distinctly. What is my strength, that I should hope? Some render it, What is my strength, that I should bear? that I should be able to sustain this weighty burden, this mighty load of affliction, pressing my wounded soul, and wearied body. Thus it refers to his present sufferings, to the enduring and standing under which, he found his own strength altogether insufficient. And so the [My] in the text, What is [my] strength, seems to be His sustinendis impar sum, haec mea vita miseriis obnoxia sustentatur, non meis viribus, sed divina gratia, fide, dilectione in filium Dei. Pined. opposed to some other strength; As if Job had said, Eliphaz you advised me (in the former Chapter, verse. 8.) to seek unto God, and to commit my cause unto him, to seek help at his hands. Why do you think, I have not done that, all this while? Do you believe that I have stood out these assault in My own strength? What is My strength, that I should bear? That I should bear this burden so long, as I have born it? Surely I have been held up by the power of God and prayer all this while: God hath put his everlasting arms under me, otherwise I had fallen before this day, hide I not prayed in aid from heaven, I had not lived thus long upon the earth; for what is my strength compared to these burdens, which are upon me? This is a good sense; For, as the Apostle speaks (Gall 2. 10.) The life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, So Job seems to say, the life which I have lived, ever since these afflictions have encompassed me, I have lived by the power of God, and the strength of faith in him. What i● my strength, that I should bear? We have this treasure (saith the Apostle, 2 Cor. 4. 7.) in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power, may be from God, and not from us; As he speaks there, respecting the burden of the Ministry: So we may, in respect of any burden of trouble, or weight of affliction. We have these afflictions laid upon our earthen vessels (and one would wonder, that an earthen vessel should not crack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moratus, praestolatus. Vel significat anxia spe potiendi voto rem aliquam expectare, & aegrè ferre protractionem rei expectatae. Chemnit. Spes, est, cum praeparatio ad boni futuri & promissi susceptionem, tum patientia morae ex intuitu illius boni. Coc. and shatter to pieccs under them) but it is, that the excellency of the power might be from God, and not from us; when we are weak, than we are strong, strong in God, and in the power of his might. God loves to show the world, what his strength can do in a weak creature, as well, as what his grace and mercy can do for a sinful creature. This (I say) is a good sense, but the word rather signifies to hope; and yet these two are not at any great odds: for hope is the strength, the bearing-strength of the soul: What is my strength, that I should hope? That I should wait and tarry, that I should expect or stay for such and such changes, as thou hast promised? Psalm. 130 5. we have these words put together, I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait; and in his word do I hope. The soul which is in a hoping condition, is also in a waiting condition; waiting and hoping ever attend the same thing. No man will wait at all for that of which, he hath no hope, and he who hath hope, will wait always He gives not over waiting, till he gives over hoping. The object of hope is some future good, but the act of hoping is a present good, and that is present pay to bear our charges in waiting. So then the word implies both a patiented writing, and a hopeful trusting. So Christ expounds it, Mat. 12. 21. rendering that of the prophet, Isa. 42. 4. The isles shall wait for his Law, thus, In his name shall the Gentiles trust. Noah (after the strength of the deluge was spent) Gen 8. 10, 12. opened the window of the Ark, and sent forth the Dove, and she returned; then saith the text, He waited seven days, and again he waited, yet other seven days, hoping at last the flood would be dried up, and the waters return into their ancient channels. Now (saith Job) what is my strength, that I should hope or expect deliverance, and therefore, why should I wait for it. The waters of my afflictions are so deep, and swollen so high that I have no hope to see dry ground again. And in this passage he seems to answer, what Eliphaz speak in the 5th Chapter, vers. 16. and 25. (for doubtless Job applies himself exactly to what Eliphaz had spoken, and the truest interpretation of his answer will be in finding out and suiting the references to what the other Propounded) Eliphaz in the 16. verse of the fifth Chapter (where he makes a report of the wonderful works of God) had said, So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth: And at the 25, verse, he tells Job that a godly man (notwithstanding all his afflictions) may know that his tabernacle shall be in peace, and that his seed shall be very great. Job in answer to those words, replies, What is my strength that I should hope. As if he had said, Eliphaz you speak of great hopes that the poor may have, and you speak of a peaceable Tabernacle, of a flourishing offspring; Alas my condition is such, I am so worn out with pain, with sicknesses, with diseases, with distempers with griefs that I have no hope left in regard of any strength in me, ever to enjoy such promises. What is my strength, Quae fortitudo mea, ut sperem liberos. Vatab. Quid in longiorem spem me adducitis quum sperando non fim, jam propè●. mortuus videat Hoc à lobo dicitur, ut consil●j importunitatem, expresso sensitivae partis affectu retunderet, non quod de divina potentia diffideret. that I should hope? What is my strength that I should expect to live to see such good days, as you speak of, that my Tabernacle should be in peace, that I should have plenty, that I should have a numerous issue? Alas my strength is gone; what is my strength that I should look after these things. Not that Job measured all his hope by his own strength; but here he expresses the grief and pain, which was in his sensitive part, or upon his outward man, thereby to answer the sour reproofs and sweet promises of Eliphaz: For we find Job himself in the thirteenth Chapter, vers. 13. resolving thus: Though he kill me, yet will I trust (or hope) in him; he would trust and hope in God though he died, therefore he did hope, while he lived. And it is the property of that grace (and where it is in strength, it shows as much) to hope against hope: Rom. 4. 18. Who against hope believed in hope; When there was no strength in Abraham, no possibility in nature, yet against hope, he believed in hope: So at this time there was such a grace in Job, he had a hope, by which he could hope against hope; but when he looked into his own stock of strength, What is my strength, that I should hope? I know the strength of God, is a rock sure enough for my hope to anchor in: Abraham, said in effect, what is my strength, that I should hope to have a child? for he looked upon himself as a dead man, but, saith he, there is power in God; he knew his own weakness, but he considered it not, waxing strong in faith, and giving glory to God. So here, while Job saith, What is my strength that I should hope? my strength is dried up and withered, and so is my hope in my own strength: The strength of God is vigorous and green, and in him my hope also is green and vigorous: Though all the earth about us, be like a dry heath and barren wilderness, yet our hope buds and blossoms like a plant, while it is rooted by the springs of heavenly promises, And what is mine end, that I should prolong my life; The letter of the Hebrew is: That I should prolong or lengthen out my soul, that my soul should inhabit longer in the tabernacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of my body: The word prolong, is differently joined to life, or days, Deut. 5. 16. Honour thy father and thy mother as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that, thy days may be prolonged, &c Ezek. 12 22. Son of man, what is that proverb that you have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth? To prolong days, and prolong life, are the same. Yet hear the word (Nephesh) soul, which we translate, life, may be taken for, desire, which is a vehement act of the soul. The soul expresses itself, so much in desires, that the same word may express both. And so we may render Jobs sense, thus, What is my end that I should lengthen out, or extend my desires any further after the things of this world: or that I should defer, and put off my desires after the things of the world to come: Is there any thing in this life worth my staying for it, or any thing so worthless in the next, that I should not wish presently to enjoy it? In this sense the word (Nephesh) is often used, as Gen. 23. 8. Abraham speaks to the children of Heth, If it be your soul or your desire, we translate, if it be your mind, that I should bury my dead. So Prev. 23 2. If thou be a man given to thy appetite, or whose desires are thy Lord and master, as the elegancy of that place bears. And again, Psal. 27. 12. Psal. 41. 2. Eccls 6. 9 The word is applied, to signify the will or desire. So here, What is mine end, that I should prolong my life, or my desire of life? His [End] may be considered two ways. First, His end, may be taken for the latter part of his life, which Eliphaz promised would be very comfortable, Thou shalt come to thy grave in a good old age, as a shock of corn cometh into the flore; As if Job should say, you are promising me good days, and a happy old age, but, what is mine end? what's the latter part of a man's life, that he should desire to prolong his days, to take it out? why should I desire to prolong my life, I am now well stricken in years, and as for the end, the latter part of a man's life, it is nothing (for the most part) but trouble and sorrow? As old Barzillai (2 Sam. 19 35.) when David offered him the pleasures of the Court) answers, I am thus old, and can I taste my meat, and taste my drink, or hear music? What is the Fag-end of man's life, that one should hunger after it? The sweetest comforts of this life are in the forepart of life, in the spring of youth, in the strength and flower of age. As for the winter of life, what is that but wet and cold, but clouds and darkness? What is my end (of old age) that I should desire my life to be prolonged or eeked out to that. But rather, we may take this End; First, For the end of his troubles; As if he had said, What end so gainful or comfortable can I have of these evils, that should recompense my pains in bearing them, till I receive it? No worldly comforts can answer my sorrows; and therefore why should I desire to prolong my life for them? Secondly, Take End, for the very last term of life, not that latter part or condition of a man's life, troublesome old age, as before; or a renewed estate as here. But take End, for the ending▪ the termination, the period of life; What is my end, that I should prolong my life? and so, End is as much as death, what is my death that I should desire to live? I know no evil in death, that should make me afraid of the end of my life; I know no such trouble in dying, that I should be desirous to spin out this troublesome life longer, surely the trouble and pain of death, is not so much as the present trouble and pain of my life, and as for any other trouble, I fear none: then, What is my end, that I should prolong my life, that I should not desire death, or that you should be so angry with me for desiring it? Hence observe, first, There is no strength in man, that may give him assured hope of long life; What is my strength that I should hope? No, though man be in the flourish of his age, the greenness of his years: yet what is youth, or strength, or beauty? what all those fair leaves and fruits, which hang upon and adorn this goodly tree, that he should hope to hand long? Man in his best estate, is altogether vanity, Psal. 39 5. He that hopes to live upon any of these things, hopes in a vain thing, & trusts, but in a shadow. Our hopes to live this natural life as well as the spiritual, and eternal, must be in the living God. The Image of death sits upon the best of our strength and beauty; while we grow, we decline, and while we flourish, we whither. The lengthening of our days, is the shortening of them, and all the time we live, is but a passage unto (and should be but a preparation for) death. We are most miserable, if in this life only we have hope; and we are most foolish, if our hopes of this life, be in our own strength. And because there is no strength in nature, which may give us hope to live long; It is our greatest wisdom, to consider what provision we have in grace, to maintain our hopes, that we shall live for ever. They are in an ill case, who when they cannot hope to live long, care not to settle their hopes of living eternally. It is a most sad spectacle, to see a languishing body, and a languishing hope meet in one man. Some have a Calendar in their bones, showing them, they have but few days here, and many distempers upon the whole body, crying in their ears with a loud voice, what is your strength, that you should hope to live? who yet prepare not at all to die. They are both unready and unwilling to be dissolved, when they see no hope to keep up their tabernacle from dissolution. Secondly, (taking the word in the last sense, which I conceive rather to be the mind of the holy Ghost in this place) observe, That there is no evil in the death of a godly man, which should make him unwilling to die, or which should make him linger after this life. What is the end of a godly man, that he should prolong his life? All the bitterness of death is removed, or sweetened by Christ. Death the King of terrors, is made a servant, to let us in, to our comforts, by the power of Christ, that prince of life who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel. A believer buries all his fears of death in the grave of Christ. He looks upon death as the funeral of his so rows, and the resurrection of his joys. When the Psalmist had described the troubles and stormy conflicts of a godly man, together with the flourishing outward pomp of the wicked, he concludes with this advice, Mark the righteous man (observe him well, take special notice of him) the latter and of that man is peace; if his end be peace, there is nothing in his end, which can make him afraid of it, or put it off. All desire peace, they especially, Pacem te poscimus omnes. who are wearied out with war. The life of the holiest man is a warfare, and his end is peace. Then what is his end, that he should prolong his life. When a worldly man looks upon his end, he saith, O what is my end, that I should desire to die? His end is such, as makes him justly afraid to die. There is nothing in the end of a wicked man, but matter to feed the fear of death, and the desire of prolonging life, as long as he can. This is the reason, why, when God calls him to die, he is deaf at the call; yea, that call is death to him, before he dies. Lot had a mind to prolong his time in Sodom, it was a goodly City, and he was not well assured, whether to go, or how he should be lodged next night. This caused him to linger so long, till the Angels came and thrust him out: Natural men have all their portion and estates in the Sodom of this world. And if they hear a message of departing or going out, they linger and make excuses, they run behind the door or hang about the posts, till God thrusts them out of the world, and pulls from them their pleasures, by head and shoulders, as we say. They would never leave the world, if they might enjoy it, because they have nothing to enjoy beyond it. A worlding groans, because he must be unclothed of his house of earth, and the Saints groan earnestly, that they may be clothed upon with their house from heaven; Who would not be willing to exchange a suit of flesh, a suit of sackcloth, and sorrow, for a suit of glory, for a clothing of immortality and garments of everlasting praise. Ver. 12. Is my strength, the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass? These words may refer to the former part of the eleventh verse, What is my strength, that I should hope? What is it? Let us seriously Deficio, Saxeus aut Calibe us non sum. Lapides corpora sunt, non solum gravia, sed robusta & dura quae non facilè cedunt aliis corporibus, undè robur lapidum pro duritie. examine and consider what my strength is, Is my strength, the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass? Am I made of such hard mettle, think you, that I am able to endure any thing? Only a body of brass and sinews of Iron, are strong enough to endure this trial. Stones and brass are hard bodies and heavy bodies, they can bear blows and knocks without breaking; They yield not easily to the hammer; It is hard to make an impression upon them, with many, and those violent strokes. To say a man is as strong as stones, or that, he hath a body of brass, is to give him strength, which is not man's, and to set him two degrees below himself. Beasts are stronger, and can endure more hardship then man. Trees are stronger, and can endure more than Beasts. Stones are yet stronger, and can endure more than Trees. Therefore, while he asks, whether his strength be not only, like that of beasts, who have no reason, or like that of trees, which have no sense; but like that of stones and brass, which have no vegetation or growth, he puts it to the utmost, as if he had said, If a man had as much strength as a Beast, or a Tree, he must needs fall at these strokes and troubles, but it seems, ye put me lower than senseless beasts or trees, and that I can stand it out against all storms and batteries, like a stony rock, or a brazen wall. I confess, though the ox loweth, when he wants fodder, and the wild Ass brayeth, when he hath no grass, yet the stone complains not, when you give it no food, nor doth brass cry out, when you melt it in a Furnace: unless you can find, that I am in nature, like stones or brass, you have no reason to find fault with me. Allow me to be either man or beast, and you must allow me to be sensible of my sorrows, and destroyable by them. Only stones can be thus trampled on, and brass thus hammered without pain and dying. As when man (in his spiritual capacity) is said in Scripture to have a heart of stone, a iron sinew, a brow of Brass. It notes him resolved, against all threats, and strong, against all oppositions of the word, to commit the evil of sin. So in his natural capacity, to say his strength is the strength of stones, notes him a man able to bear all the evils of trouble, and to stand against all the storms of tribulation. Such kind of speaking is frequent among the ancient Writers, Homines Adamantini, ferrei, saxei, nati è scopulis. ●li robur & aes trip ex circa pectus. Hor. Graeci vocant. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. who when they would express a man of undaunted courage, a man whose strength would not easily be broken, or his spirit be taken down; A man insuperable, whom no difficulties could overcome. Of such an one they say, he hath, An heart of brass and a back of steel, he is a man made up of stones, born of a rock; He is a man of Adamant, he hath Triple brass about his breast; as he was described, who first ventured in his ship to sea. The common use of the word hath made it proverbial in all languages; for a man of more strength than is commonly found in man, or for a Master of dangers and extremities. Jobs question denies, Is my strength, the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass? No, it is not: As if he had said, I am made of flesh and blood, as well as others, I must shortly yield to these strokes, I am not able to hold out and to contend everlastingly with afflictions, I cannot stand against these assaults and batteries for ever, I am made of the same mould, whereof yourselves are, I am sensible how it is with me. I feel what I endure, and I cannot long endure what I feel, My strength is not the strength of stones. Note hence, First, Man's natural constitution makes him sensible of affliction, and subavable by it. Man's body is no impregnable Castle. We are not made of stones and brass, but of flesh and blood; I will not contend for ever (saith God, Isa. 57 16.) neither will I be always wrath. For the spirit should fail before me; etc. The spirit of a man (that is his courage and resolution) are fare stronger than his flesh (namely his natural temper and constitution) and yet that cannot hold cut for ever. The Spirit will come down, whether we will or no, if God contend long with us: how then must the flesh whither like a leaf before him? And therefore, the bodies, the flesh and blood of the damned, who are to bear the wrath and contendings of God for ever, their flesh and blood (I say) are (in a sense) made spiritual, that is, they have more strength given them, than flesh and blood yield naturally, otherwise it were impossible for them to hold out for ever under the wrath of God, and the torment of their accursed condition. Their strength is made the strength of stones, and their flesh as brass, they are made immalliable: their sense of pain shall be admirably quicked, and yet they shall continue, as if they had no sense at all: they shall be for ever wounded, and never die of their wounds. As it is in reference to that everlasting misery, so in proportion to these temporal miseries; There is no strength of man, no flesh and blood, able to endure and hold out, if God lets out his hand, to afflict, and puts not under his hand to support. Vers. 13, Is not my help in me? And is wisdom driven quite from me? This and the verse following, are of a very difficult construction and understanding, which caused a learned Interpreter to say, If Locus difficilis siquis a lives in hoc libro, & quem ego adhuc non intelligo. Drus. there be any hard text in the whole book, this is one; and after all his thoughts about it, he concludes with this ingenuous acknowledgement, I do not yet understand the meaning of it. First, as we read it, The text seems to carry a harsh connexion with the words foregoing. There Job queries, Is my strength, the strength of stones? And yet immediately to say, Is not my help in me? sounds incongruous. For if he had help in him, he had strength in him, and such as might well be called, the strength of stones, extraordinary strength. So then, job having said with his last breath, that he had no such strength, how is it, that here he should say and more, strongly affirm, that he had such strength, so much this question implies, Is not my help in me? As if he had said, do not I know which way to help myself? How to extricate myself out of this condition? Besides, how is this a truth? For there is no man, that hath his help in himself, not help enough in himself for any natural work, much less for any spiritual work, and most of all, less for the holy carriage of the heart under affliction, or to deliver himself from it. Man hath no help in himself. The voice of the Church is, Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord; and the voice of David, was, The Lord is my helper; how then doth job say, Is not my help in me? Man's ruin is in himself, but how unlike is this to the voice of truth, to say, My help is in myself? We can undo ourselves fast enough, but we cannot repair and make ourselves up again. Nor can any creature be our help, no man, no Angel can be our help. God reproveth the Jews, Isa. 31. For going down to Egypt for help, though they were a strong people: Certainly it is as bad, for a man, to make himself his help, as to make another man his help. How then shall we give a wholesome understanding of these words, Is not my help in me? And is wisdom driven quite from me? For the clearing of it consider the divers readings. Some thus, Was not my help in me? And so they make the meaning to Nun auxilium meum in me? sc. fuit. Vatabl. Nun quoad potui me juvi? minimè fui pusillanimus, me quoad fieri potest & erigo & fussento. be this; Did not I help myself, as much as I could? Was I faint-hearted and cowardly? Did I sink as a man of a poor spirit under the burden? Did not I put myself forth to the uttermost, that I could, to stand under these troubles and afflictions? There is much in that, for some men do not help themselves, as they might, but their own spirits sink, and their hearts fail, yea, their hearts fail before their strength fails. Job disclaims this, I did not so, I helped myself while I was able, I put out the utmost of my power, to bear and set a good face on't, as long as ever I could, Was not my help in me? The Septuagint, with the Greeks in general refer these words to God, making Job speak thus, Did not I trust in him? But Nun in ipso considebam, sed adjutorium à me recessit, negavit me misery ordia & visitatio Domini despexit. Sept. my help is departed from me, and the mercy of the most High hath with-drawn itself from me: As if he had said, I never put my trust in myself, nor did I promise myself great matters, as from myself, for, alas! What is my strength? I am acquainted well enough with mine own frailty, but that which I only trusted to, hath left me; I trusted unto God, and unto his help; now he seems to forsake and withdraw his assistance from me; But I leave this with the Authors, it hath little authority with me, or sutableness to the course and tenor of Jobs spirit under these afflictions. The Vulgar translates the whole verse negatively, and so it makes a plain and a good sense. Whereas we read it interrogatively, Is not my help in me? etc. He reads it thus, Behold my Ecce non est a uxilium mihi ●●n me & necessarii quoque mei recesserunt à me? Vulg. help is not in me, and my friends who should help me, are departed from me; That which we translate wisdom: Is wisdom departed from me? He translates, friends: my friends, who should be my helpers, are departed from me. And so the meaning of all is, as if Job had said, I cannot help myself, and they who should, have deserted me: And so connects or joins it with that, which went before; What is my strength that I should hope? my strength is not the strength of stones; there is no help in me, and they who should help me, are departed from me; I was once an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame (Chap. 29. 15.) When a man hath no help in himself, he may have it in another; If a man want an eye, he may have an eye of his neighbour, and if he want a hand, his friend may be a hand to him; but (saith Job) they that should be eyes and hands, helpers unto me, are gone and departed from me. There is yet another rendering, which makes a very clear sense; What though I have no help in me, is wisdom driven quite from me? Though I have no strength, and so no help in myself, wisdom is not therefore driven quite from me. As if he had said, will you conclude that I am a wicked man, an hypocrite and a fool, because I am not able to help and deliver myself out of these troubles? Fifthly, consider the words as we translate them, with which most of the Rabbins and Jewish writers concur, only they usually express the text affirmatively, we interrogatively, yet both equivalent, and meet in the same meaning. Our Question, Is not my help in me? is to be resolved into this affirmation, my help is in me; and the latter branch, Is wisdom departed from me? into this negation, wisdom is not departed from me: my help is in me, and my An non auxilium meum in me, quo me tueri possum ac defendere? innuit innocentiam suam ac vitae integritatem qua nunquam destitutus fuit: aut rectam ratienem & sapientiam quam postea Tusiah Appellat, Drus. An judicio & ratione destituor ut dignoscere nequeam recta ab insulsis, qualia sunt verba vestra, non sum mentis inops. wisdom is not departed from me: Jobs sense may be taken thus; Have I not that in me, which is, and will be a help unto me, notwithstanding all the objections and assaults which you make against me? Have not I that in me, which may furnish me with wisdom to answer all the exceptions which you have taken at my complaints? Master Broughtons' translation favours this sense very much, have not I my defence? and is judgement driven away from me? Though I thus complain and desire death, yea renew my desire? Have not I my defence? have I nothing to say, why I made that request? have I no argument to help myself and bear up my spirit under the weight of these calamities? Is wisdom quite departed from me? Do you take me for a man deserted of God, deserted of his spirit, and deserted of my own wisdom and understanding too, because I am deserted of the world, and destitute of outward comforts? And so the help which Job knew he had in store, was the Innoceney and integrity of his heart, Is not my help in me? I have no help, no strength, no comfort in my flesh, what is my flesh; my flesh is not of brass, but have I no help in me neither? my outward man is destroyed, my house of clay is almost battered down, tottering, failing it is, but have I nothing within, to help at a dead lift? have I no grace, no hope, no testimony of a good conscience, no witness in myself? Do you think me clean disrobed and stripped, and emptied of all wisdom and comfort? Hath the Devil, think you, rob me of my grace? have the Sabeans plundered and spoiled me of my understanding? Is not my help within me, notwithstanding all the troubles that are upon me? Thus the interpretation is fair and clear, that, when all his outward comforts were gone, when the strength of his flesh could hold no longer; yet than he had help within him; & his spirit could bear, though his flesh could not Grace can hold out beyond nature; and when bodily strength can do no more, wisdom comes in with her Auxiliaries. Is not my help in me, and is wisdom departed from me? The word [wisdom] in the Hebrew, is of various significations, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat ●egem, sapientiam, subsistentiam Et lex ●epulsa est á me? Pagn, N●nquid officium impulsum fuit à me? Vatab. Num subsistentia impulsa est a me? Regia. Quid facult as subsistendi me destituit? Tygyr. as was touched, Chap. 5. 12. Here one renders it, The law is not departed from me. As if his meaning were; I never forsook the law of God. Another thus; Was my duty driven from me? As if his meaning were, I ever kept close to the rule of my place and calling. A third; Is my subsistence driven from me? So a fourth; Is my ability of subsisting gone from me? As if he had said, cannot I live, because I have not the world to live upon? To which sense, those words of Christ are appliable, Luke. 12. 15. The life of man consists not, in the abundance of the things which he possesseth; All which interpretations meet to make up a complete Apology of Jobs piety, constancy, patience and flourishing resolutions, in his dying, withering condition. The Sabeans drove away his , but they could not drive away his understanding; They offered violence to his substance, but his reason and his graces were untouched. Hence observe, first, That when all outward helps depart from a godly man, he hath somewhat abiding in him, to help and stay up his heart. As when the outward glory and strength of the Church is utterly decayed, Yet (the Prophet tells us, Isa. 6. 13.) in it shall be a Tenth, as a Teyle▪ tree, and as an Oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves, so the Holy seed shall be the strength thereof. Thus also, when the outward glory and strength of any true member of the Church is utterly decayed, even then, he shall be as an Oak, his substance shall be in him, the seed of Holiness shall be his substance. Is not my help in me? I know my estate is gone, my beauty is gone, my strength is gone, the strength (I mean) of my flesh, yet I have invisible supports, somewhat unseen to trust unto. It is the comfort of believers, that they have an estate, riches and possessions, lying as far beyond the reach of men's power, as their eye; and as far beyond the reach of Satan's malice, as either. When they feel nothing but pain in the flesh, when nothing but weakness inhabits the house of clay, the outward man, than the inward man is renewed with sweet refresh, and strong consolations day by day. The spirit of a man (of a godly man) will bear his infirmities, when his body cannot. The strength of nature is not as the strength of stones, nor is the flesh of brass, but the strength of grace, is stronger than the strength of stones, and the spirit is more durable than brass: Grace wears not out by using, nor doth it spend by employing: Afflictions are but the higher services and employments of grace: A stock of grace, is an inexhaustible treasure, and a good heart, assures us better than the bars of a Castle. Faith and a good conscience, are (under Christ) our best helps in trouble; they are friends that will never forsake us: They are to us as their Author, who, hath promised that he, will not. Grace is our participation with the Divine Nature, and grace participates with the divine nature in this, it is an unchangeable good, an everlasting comfort. And yet we must take this warily, grace and holiness, faith and a good conscience, are not to be trusted upon, no more than riches or any outward means. We may make an Idol of our faith, and a vain thing of a good conscience: The meaning than is, faith and a good conscience are our best helds and friends, because faith carries us unto Christ who is our best help. Faith pitches upon Christ and a good conscience, feasts us in the favour of God. Faith alone is no help, but faith is our help, because it is not alone: Grace left alone would be our strength but little more than nature is, and our spirit little more than the flesh. And therefore our comforts are not to be resolved into this, That we have grace in our hearts, but into this, That we and our graces are in the hand of Christ. Faith can live no where but upon Christ; That which faith respects as our help, is Christ in whom we believe, not the act of believing, We are helped by the grace within us, but the grace within us, is not our help. Secondly Observe; A godly man in the darkest affliction or night of sorrow, finds a light of holy wisdom to answer all the objections of his enemies, and the suspicions of his friends; Is wisdom departed quite from me? Do you think I have nothing to say? nothing to reply by way of apology for what I have done or spoken? Though Job had many afflictions upon him and his friends against him, yet see how he recollects himself, Is not my help in me? he makes out the goodness of his cause, in the midst of a thousand evils, and can plead his own integrity, in the throng of many jealousies and contradictions. Is not my help in me? Do you think, you have so daunted me, that I am not able to make out my own estate? or that I know not what I am? The truth is, sometimes God leaves his servants in so much darkness, for their trial and exercise, that they cannot see their own estates, but cry out, they are lost and undone; Many a good soul cannot reflect upon his graces, or get his heart into any communion with Christ in promises. This is walking in darkness, and seeing no light. As our sins are sometimes secrets to us, so also our graces may. But let a man be encompassed with never so many outward afflictions, yet if his spirit be free, he is able to judge of his own interests, through all the black clouds which hang over him, through all the distractions and confusions that are about him. The eye of faith is usually quickest, in a dark night. And while trouble is near at hand, beholds Christ, near at hand. He can never be without help, who carries his help about him, or within him. Nor can he utterly want counsel to direct him, whose heart is as a council Table, where Christ (the wisdom of God) is ever Precedent and in the Chair. My worldly comforts are quite driven from me, but wisdom is not: I am afflicted, and therefore should not be thus suspected, but pitied. Vers. 14. To him that is afflicted, pity should be showed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. This verse gins the third Section of the chapter wherein Job draws up a strong charge against his friends, for their uncharitableness. See the progress and links of his Discourse. First, he refuted and answered their objections against him, from the first to the 8 verse. Secondly, he renewed his complaint, which was the ground of all their objections from the 8th verse unto the end of the 13th. Here at verse 14. he gins a charge against his friends of unkindness, indiscretion, yea of cruelty in managing of this dispute against him. He giveth it first in general, or by way of Preface, To him that is afflicted, pity should be showed from his friend; But he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty; As if he had said; You should have dealt otherwise with me, than you have, in this case; though (blessed be God) I find help within me, God hath given me the light of his spirit and wisdom to discern my own condition, yet it is no thank to you: I have found no help in my friends, you have dealt unfriendly with me; you should have pitied me, but you have opposed me, and so forsaken that duty which the fear of the Almighty teaches. He proceeds to illustrate this more particularly, by way of similitude, comparing his friends to a brook, whose waters fail when we are athirst, or when there is most need of water. To him that is afflicted. The word signifies, Him that is melted: and the reason is, because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Solvit, dissolvit, liquidum & fluidum reddidit. Sic mea perpetuis liquescant pectora curis, Ovid. de Pont, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Tributum sic dictum, quia paulatim liquescere facit facultates, maximo si nimium imponatur, Buxtorf. b Quidam Pontificii▪ volunt suam Missam hac voce hebraica fuisse appellatam. Recte quidem, per eam scilicet pietas omnis liquefacta est & d●ssoluta, Rivet. affliction dissolves the spirit of a man, and (as it were) melts his heart: therefore it is called the fire of affliction; To be dissolved or melted, and to be afflicted, are the same. And that effect is ascribed to fear and trouble of spirit, arising from affliction, Psalm 22 15. My heart (saith David, a type of Christ) in the midst of my belly, is like melting wax: By reason of the heat and greatness of his trouble, and the anguish of his spirit, he was as metal melted in a furnace. At the defeat of the Israelites before Ai, it is said, the hearts of the people melted, and became as water, Josh. 7. 5. And in the sixth Psalm, verse 6. David cries up the exuberance of his sorrows, by this word: I melted or watered my couch with tears. Thus the Prophet threatening a day of great fear against Jerusalem, tells them, They shall be, as when a Standard-bearer fainteth, Isa. 10. 18. When the Battle waxes hot, and a vanquished army is running and crying for quarter, the standard bearer is in greatest danger, all make up to him, and then he fainteth, or melteth away with fear. (a) Tributes and taxes, are expressed in the Hebrew, by a word coming from this root, because if heavily imposed, they melt away the estates of a people. (b) It is a witty observation, that whereas some of the Papists conceive their word [Mass] was derived from this Hebrew word [Massas] which signifieth to melt; One of ours answers, let it be so: It suits this sense of the word exactly, and the effect o● that abominable Idolatry; for the Mass hath dissolved and melted away truth and pity out of the Popish Territories. To him that is offlicted, pity should be showed. That word pity, in the Hebrew, signifies a sacred sweet affection of mercy, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pietas, bonitas, benignitas & per Antiphrasin impletas, crudetitas, ex Cal●aicae linguae usu. benignity, goodness and piety: And by Contraries (in which sense words are often used in that language) it notes, First, Reproach; Prov. 14. 34 Sin is (chesed) a reproach to any people; Secondly, Impiety and cruelty, harshness and severity; Thirdly, It signifies any abominable wickedness, (Levit. 20. 17.) where Moses speaking of incest, incest between brother and sister, calls that abomination, by this word (Chesod) A wicked thing. That may have a good name, the nature whereof is so ill, that it is not to be named. Further, The word, as we translate, imports more than a bare act of pity or commiseration; as suppose a man see his brother in misery, compassionates him, but relieves him not, this is not pity. Such the Apostle James describes, in his first Chapter, vers. 15. If a brother or a sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and you say unto them, be filled, be warmed, be clothed; poor creatures, ye are hungry, yea are naked, I pity you, I am sorry to see you thus; be filled, be clothed; I wish it were otherwise with you; and yet in the mean time he gives them nothing wherewith either to or feed them; Is this fulfilling the law of love? Is this charity? Nothing less. The pity here spoken of, is not a verbal piety; Our saying to a brother in trouble, be comforted, or I would, course were taken for you, I wish you well with all my heart, and so we bestow a mouth-ful of good words, but not so much as a morsel of bread, or a cup of cold water. Good words alone are cheap charity to man's expense, and they are so cheap in God's esteem, that they will not be found of any value at all in the day of reckoning: good words, not realized, if they be found any where, will be found in the treasures of wrath. This is not the pity which (Job teacheth us) should be showed to him that is afflicted: The Apostles quesion shakes such out of all claim to this grace, 1 John. 3. 17. whosoever (saith he) hath this world's goods, and seethe his brother in need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how doth the love of God dwell in him? Though a man's mouth be open with good words, yet if he shut his bowels from good deeds, there is no love to God or man housed in that man's heart. It is no Pity (to speak of) only to speak pity; and therefore the Apostle adds, verse 18 My little children, let us not love in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth; that's the true meaning of this word, to him that is afflicted, pity should be showed; But you (my friends) have not given me so much as the sound of pity, you have not bemoaned me, much less have you relieved me, which is the substance of pity, real pity: You have not loved me in tongue, giving me good words, much less in deed and in truth. Deed-pitty, is both the duty and the disposition of a godly man: therefore this word (Chasid) in the concrete, is often used in Scripture, to signify a godly man: He is one that hath obtained much grace and pity from the Lord, and he is kind, gracious and pitiful unto men. The holy Proverb assures us, That a good man is merciful, pitiful to his beast, much more to a man, and most of all to a godly man, who is his brother in the nearest bond. And it is considerable how this word was used by way of distinction among the Jews: who cast their whole people or nation into three ranks, (and it is grounded upon Rom. 5 6, 7. where the Apostle alludes to those three sorts.) First, There were (Reshagnim) ungodlymen, the profane rabble. Secondly, there were the (Tsadikmi) righteous men: And thirdly, there were (Chasidim) good men, or pitiful m●n; scarcely (saith the Apostle) will one die for a righteous man, for a man fair and just in his deal; peradventure (for one of the Chasidim▪) for a good man, some one may chance to die; He that had been pitiful, might (haply) find pity; and having done so much good in his life, all would desire he should live still But herein God commended his love to us, that while we were ●et sinners (Reshagnim, in the worst ra●ke of men) Christ died for us. No man had either love or pity enough to die for them, who had so much impiety. The farthest that the natural line o● man's pity can reach, is to do good to those who do him good, or are good. Pity, notes out such a sort of men, and such a sort of actions, as Antiqui vocant Cicon●am, pietatis cultricem. Ciconiis pietas eximia est, So●. are fullest of love, of bowels of brotherly kindness, and compassion: Hence the Stork, which by divers of the ancients, was put for the Emblem of love and benignity, is expressed in the Hebrew by this word, Levit. 11. 19 The Stork is very tender towards her young ones, and her young ones are as tender of her, when she is old, as naturalists have observed. So then, this word imports the height of all offices and affections of love from man to man, especially from Christian to Christian, in times of trouble, and cases of extremity: This Pity you should have showed me, saith Job. But he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. That is, he forsakes all godliness, goodness and religion; Fear takes in all that's good; and so it is conceived, that Job retorts the words of Eliphaz in the fourth chap. Is this thy fear? or where is thy fear, thy Religion? Now Job saith, Is this your fear? You have forsaken the fear of the Almighty. Is this your Religion, to deal so harshly with a distressed friend, or to give him such cold comfort? Surely you have forsaken that fear of the Almighty, which you charged me with. Have not I reason to ask, Is this thy fear? or to conclude, You have forsaken the fear of the Almighty. These words are diversely rendered. Some thus, He that takes away pity from his friend, hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty. And Qui tollit ab ●mico suo misericordiam, timorem Domini derelinquit, Vulg. that's a truth, and a good sense, though not so clear to the letter of the Text. Mr. Broughton joins this with the former verse, By him whose mercy is melted toward his friend, and who leaveth the fear of the Almighty. So referring this (melting) to mercy, and not to the man; joining it with the former, thus, Have not I my defence, and is judgement driven away from me, by him, whose mercy is melted away toward his neighbour, and who leaveth the fear of the Almighty? As if Job had said, Eliphaz dost thou think thou haste driven away all wisdom from me by thy dispute? Dost thou think that I have lost my reason, as thou hast lost thy pity? Thou thinkest wisdom and understanding have forsaken me, but it appears by thy deal, that thou hast forsaken the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom. Thirdly, it is rendered in the contrary sense. The word Chesid) An dissoluto à sodali suo convitium, et quod timorem omnipotentis deseruerit? An hac amicitiae jus? etc. ut nunc ego à vobis audio, Merc. being taken for reproach and harsh dealing, and so the meaning is made out with a kind of admiration, thus, Should reproaches be cast upon a man that is afflicted from his friend! should he be told that he hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty! and that wisdom is driven from him! Do you think I am not able to discover your deal? should you go about to reproach me in this condition? should you tell me thus harshly, that I am departed from the fear of God? Is this think you a fair carriage towards me: when you saw me melted and afflicted, you should have given me sweet and comfortable words, not reproachful words? Job (according to this sense) sound his friends, dealing with him, as the Jews with Christ, to whom being a thirst, they gave vinegar to drink: Or as David in the type speaks, they gave me gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink; here seems to be a like meaning. You have given me reproaches in stead of comforts, slandered me, instead of refreshing me, and is this the course you should take? As Absalon said to Hushai, 2 Sam. 16. 17. Is this thy kindness to thy friend? when he seemed to fall away from David unto him. So job might speak to Eliphaz, Is this thy kindnesle to thy friend, to load him with reproaches, when you see him over-laden with afflictions? A fourth thus; Shall he that consumes by the reproaches of his friend, forsake the fear of the Almighty? The meaning whereof is this. Do Qui tabescit ab amico suo pro●ro, etiam timorem omnipotentis retinquet? Foelices soli videntur sapere, miseri desipere. you think that all men whose riches and comforts are lost, have lost their reason and judgement? And do you think that they who are reproached by men; do not fear God? The world commonly judges none wise, but they that are rich; And that they fear God most, who rejoice most. But my practice and example (I doubt not) shall confute that opinion, and give all the world to know, that a man consumed and spent by the reproaches of men, and the strokes of God, may yet fear God and keep up his stock to the full, in holiness, and in wisdom. Contabescens charitatem non tam dicitur. erga guem socij charitas contabescit, quam quum per soci● charitatem preposter ram (fcilicet) & sine scientia exercitam contabescit. Cocc. Fifthly, This melting is referred, not to the pity of his friends, but to Job melting or consuming, by that, which they called pity. Thus. Shall he be charged to have forsaken the fear of the Almighty, who consumes by the charity of his friends? that is, who is more afflicted by the counsels, which his friends (in love) give him, then by all his other afflictions. As the mercies of the wicked are always cruel, (Prov. 12. 10.) So sometime the mercies of the godly are; especially, when they give preposterous and indiscreet counsel; and this interpretation suits well, with the title, which job gave his friends, Miserable comforters are ye all. Chap. 16. 2. That is, you have done your good will to comfort me, but God hath not showed you the way, nor given you the tongue of the learned, that ye might know how to minister a word in season to him that is weary; and so notwithstanding all your good intentions, ye have added to my miseries. A sixth thus, * (Hunc) dissolutum (prae doloribus) ab amico ejus (exhibenda) misericordia (dereliquit) & eundem dissolutum) timor Saddai dear inquit. Horum duorum versiculorum terminos ita digerimus ut in posteriori, v●x, dissolutus sit mascu ini generis, & accusativi casus ●egaturque à verbo dere inquit, cujus duo nominativi sint misericordia & timor Saddai ille verò dissolut●s sit Job loquente de seipso in tertia persona. Apparet ex hoc. expl●atione? ●um nominativo, ut, in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa. 31. 1. & Ezr. 1. 5, Coc. Dissoluto à socio ejus benignitas est sc. impendenda alioqui timorem Omnipotentis deserit. Drus. Vau apud Hebraeos varie sumitur, & interdum pro a ioqui. That pity, which friends should show this man melted with afflictions, hath forsaken him; but hath the fear of the Almighty forsaken him also? The meaning whereof may be made out to this effect. As if Job had said thus. You plainly see, that there is no help in me, for my pains and uncessant troubles, have quite bereft me of all that strength, upon which I should naturally subsist; And as for you (my friends) that pity and compassion, which you should afford a man thus melted with sorrows, is quite fled and gone from your hearts and lips. But what then? Is the fear of God departed also from this sorrowful soul? It is confessed, strength is gone from my body, and I see pity towards me, is gone from your souls. O, how miserable then were I, if I should go from my God, and forsake his fear! You shall see, that though the pity of men hath forsaken me, a melted man, yet (as you object) the fear of God hath not. A seventh reading, varying from ours only in a word, gives the sense very fair and easy * to him that is afflicted or melted, pity should be showed by his friend, otherwise he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. Whereas we say, [but he forsaketh] this translation saith [Otherwise he forsaketh] the fear of the Almighty, that is, if a man do not show pity to his friend in affliction, that man showeth that he hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty. Thus as I hinted at the entrance of this passage, Interpreters are much divided about the Grammatical construction of these words; There is a truth in every sense given, and their variety may teach us to adore the fullness of the holy language, which leads our thoughts so many ways, as also to be humbled for our own blindness of mind, and narrowness of heart, to see or comprehend the mind of God fairly written to us. But I take the last to be the clearest meaning of Job in this passage, and that, to which most of the former are reducible, and therefore staying upon this sense, I shall give two or three observations from it. First, It is the common duty of friends, and the special duty of godly friends, to pity and help one another in affliction. I say, to pity and to help (for that is the compass of the word) we have not done our duty in pitying the distressed, unless we come to real assisting them. We satisfy not our obligation to the bond and Law of love by giving comfortable words. As that faith, which is alone without works, doth not justify us, so that pity which is alone without works, doth not justify our faith; such empty pity will go for little better than cruelty, and not to help, will be interpreted oppression. Word-pitty is but the leaf of love, Deed-pity is the fruit of it. As we should labour to be filled with all the fruits of righteousness, which are by Christ, so with all the fruits of love, of compassion, and of tenderness, for these also are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God, Phil. 1. 11. Observe secondly, That the fear of God is ever joined with love to our brethren. True religion (that we mean by fear) hath a double bond in it, a bond of obedience to God, and a bond of love to men. The Apostle puts so much of religion in the latter, that in one place he makes it, all religion, the very definition of religion, Jam 1. 17. Pure religion and undefiled before God (what is it?) It is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction. This is religion and pure religion, that is, this is a great branch of religion, and a special fruit, which springs from that goodly tree, religion. To visit the fatherless, is more than to lock upon them, and ask them, how they do: To visit them is to help them: It is like that visit (in its proportion) which Christ made into the distressed world. He visited and redeemed his people, or he visited his people, to redeem them. And, the fatherless, to whose visit religion lead us, are not only poor children or Orphans, whose parents are lately dead, and they not able to shift for themselves, but the fatherless are all the afflicted, who want our help, or patronage. Every helpless and comfortless soul is as an Orphan without parents, as a widow without a husband, To relieve such is pure religion. In the 1 John. 4. 20. the Apostle makes that an everlasting conviction against any man, that he loves not God, if he loves not his brother; If a man say he loveth God, and hateth his brother, (there is no medium in this point, between hating and not loving, or between hating and not helping, it it be in our power) he is a liar, for he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen? Job puts it so here, you should show pity to your friend in affliction, but you forsake the fear of the Almighty, and where fear of God is not, the love of God is not. Love to God is visible in love to man. And in affliction, the love of man to man, is made most visible. A true friend can hardly be discovered in prosperity, and a false friend can hardly be hid in adversity. Lastly, observe, It is not enough, not to be cruel to, or not to grieve the afflicted. We must show them favour and do them good. The light of nature condemns the oppressor, and the light of religion condemns them who show no pity. JOB Chap. 6. Vers. 15-22. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away; Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid. What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish. The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them. They were confounded, because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed. For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down and are afraid. JOB having in the former verse begun to charge his friends with unkindness, proceeds in this Context to illustrate his charge by a similitude; To make their unkindness, yet more notorious and visible, he sets it out by things, which are visible: that so their own eyes or experiences might convince them, as well as his Discourse. The whole similitude is extended from the 15th to the 21th verse. The sum of all is this, That Job had found his friends like those brooks, which hold least water, when there is most need, and greatest enquiry for water; they gave him no comfort, when he was nothing (to the eye) but sorrow. He was parched and scorched in those hot regions and fiery climates of affliction; and they gave him not (to his taste) so much as a drop of water to cool his tongue, to ease his complaints. That in general. For the better understanding of this elegant similitude, we may observe the parts of it. We have here 1. The Protasis or proposal. 2. The Exegesis or explication 3. The Apodosis or application of this similitude Or more plainly, we have four things considerable in it. The similitude is 1. Proposed. 2. Explained. 3. Confirmed. 4. Applied. It is, 1. Proposed, vers. 15. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, etc. 2. Explained, vers. 16, 17, 18. Which are blackish by reason of ice, and wherein the snow is hid, what time they wax warm, they vanish, &c: 3. Confirmed vers. 19 20. The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them, they were confounded, because they had bope, etc. 4. Applied to them, vers. 21. For now ye are nothing, ye see my casting down, and are afraid. So much for the parts, now to the opening of the words. Vers. 15. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook etc. My bretbrens] The word signifies, first a brother of the same bowels (so brother is taken in the strictest sense) a natural brother. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Frater, propinquus, vel qui eadem professione gente, moribus vel amicitia frater est. Etiam tribuitur inanimatis, quae similitudinem quandam invicem; habent: Chemnit. in Harm. Evang. Veraamicit ia est quaedam fraternitas & animorum aequalitas. Secondly, a brother of the same blood, any kinsman. Thirdly, it signifies any one that is knit to us in affection, or like us in manners and disposition. Fourthly, it notes all those, who are bounded with us in the same Nation, or associated in the same profession, though scattered all the world over. As in Scripture, that relative word, Father is taken, not only for a natural Father, but for any Leader, Guide or director of others in spiritual, or civil respects; so, they who are near one to another in civil or spiritual respects, are called brethren, though they be never so far distant in blood or place. And it is observable, that this word likewise is attributed to things inanimate, or without life, when they have a similitude or likeness one to another. So Exodus 25. 20. The faces of the Cherubims shall took one to another. The Hebrew is, each man to his brother. And Exodus 26. 3. 5. The curtains of the Tabernacle, the loops, and (vers. 17.) the Tennous, are all called woman and sister, because they were all to be of the same materials and dimensions. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Frater cognationem habet, cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unus, vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pariter, quoniam qui similes sunt, vel in uno conveniunt, fratres dicuntur. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some Critics observe, that the Hebrew word, for a brother, is of near brotherhood or alliance, with two other words, whereof the first signifies, One, and the other Alike or Together, to show that brethren ought to be as One, and Alike or Together, which latter is by an elegant Paranomatia, joined with it Psal. 133. 1. Behold how good and pleasant is it for brethren to dwell together in unity, or as we put in the Margin, To dwell even together. So then, the very word, whereby brethren are expressed, notes that there ought to be a nearness, a similitude, yea an Oneness (if I may so speak) between them in their affections and actions. Yet (saith Job) these men, whose relation thus obliges them, have laid themselves out to my greatest disadvantage. My brethren have dealt deceitfully with me: The word imports dealing perfidiously or treacherously in any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Persidus fuit, perfide egit, violavit sidem, vel foedus. kind, Isa. 21. 3. The treacherous dealer, dealeth treacherously. And it is applied to that treachery or prefidiousnesse, which is the highest in civil relations, the treachery of the wife to the husband, Jer. 3. 20. Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so you have departed from me; Idolatry is the violation of our faith to Christ, And therefore often called adultery. This word (to note that by the way) as it signifies to deal perfidiously, in the Verb, and perfidiousness and treachery, in the Noun; so also a garment or vesture made up of any kind of matter Forte quod vestimentum sit primae hominis contra Deum perfidiae tegumentum & testimonium, cum antea homo nudui fuerit, Bux. or stuff And the reason is thus given by the learned Hebrician, Because a garment is both the cover and the witness of man's first perfidiousness and treachery against God. Our first parents in innocency had no garment, but innocency: they were without clothing, and wanted no clothing; they were naked, and did not perceive their nakedness; but assoon as they departed from God treacherously, their sin told them, that is, made them feel that they were naked: therefore they put themselves on Aprons of leaves, but God clothed them with the skins, and clothing he vested in a word of that language, which should ever mind man of the reason, why were first put upon him, namely, his perfidious and treacherous dealing with God. That (take it in passage) which now so many make a matter of their pride, is a witness of their shame, their shameful rebellion, and falling away from God. Put these together, My brethren have dealt deceitfully with me. Job meaneth it of his three visiting friends, these, (if not bethrens of his blood, yet) were of great familiarity and correspondency with him; therefore, he at once titles and reproves them thus, My brethren have dealt deceitfully with me. Hence observe, First, That there is no obligation so near, but an evil heart will break, through it. My brethren have dealt deceitfully. Though I suppose, Job here charged his brethren too deeply, if so deep as their hearts, who, notwithstanding they failed in the business they came about, yet I believe, had no intention to wrong or to deceive him: Yet many have been intentionally deceived by brethren; and it is a truth in position, That brethren will deceive. Secondly, whereas he puts such an Emphasis upon it, My brethren have dealt deceitfully with me. As if he had said, you are not enemies, you are not strangers that speak these things, but my brethren. Note from it. That, as it is ill for any to deal deceitfully, so worst of all for brethren. It is a trouble to be deceived by any, and a sin, for any to deceive, but it is worse to be deceived by those we trust. And when a brother deceives, the sin of the deceit is doubled, whether he be a brother in the flesh, or a brother in friendship, or a brother in the profesion of the faith. Deceit from a brother is exceeding bad in all, but worst of all in the last. Deceit from a brother in the faith is more than double unfaithfulness. David complains (Psal. 55. 12.) of the wrong he had received from such a brother, It was not an enemy that reproached me, for than I could have born it (the reproach had not been half so heavy or grievous unto me, if an enemy had reproached me, the wound had not been half so wounding, if an enemy had smitten me.) But it was thou a man, mine equal, my guide and my acquaintance, we took sweet counsel together, and we walked to the house of God in company; to be reproached and wronged by thee, this is the thing that lies heavy upon my spirit. God himself complains most, when they deal perfidiously with him, who are near him, his own people; He cannot expect any other of Heathens and strangers; but when his children deal deceitfully with him, he complains of this, as much, with admiration as with anger. I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me, Isa. 1. 2. He calls Heaven and Earth to bear witness of this unfaithfulness. Men are wicked beyond all reason (not that there is reason in any wickedness, but so we speak of all excesses) men (I say) are wicked beyond all reason, when God appeals against them, to things without all sense. David satisfied himself in the evil measure he received from a stranger, because he had received evil from a Son; As greater benefits and favours, swallow up the thought of lesser, so do greater afflictions, and unkindnesses. A man hath no leisure to think of his discourtesy, who gives him ill language, when another assaults him to cut his throat: When Shimei railed on David, (2 Sam. 16. 10, 11.) Abishai▪ heats his spirit to revenge; What saith David? My son which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life, how much more now may this Benjamite do it? This stranger, one of another Tribe and Family: As if he had said, I have no reason to be much troubled, to hear a stranger speak hard words against me, when my son is up in arms against me; to hear the one curse me, when the other would kill me. Moses uses this argument, to umpire between the two Hebrews, Sirs, ye are brethren, why do ye wrong one to another, Acts 7. 26. It will be a mighty aggravation of sin, when God shall say, My children have dealt deceitfully with me: or man, my bowels, my brethren have dealt deceitfully with me. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook. Here is the shadow of their deceit, Job explains himself by a similitude; They have dealt deceitfully, but how? I will tell you how, they have dealt deceitfully, as a brook, and as the stream of a brook they pass away; I can go to the streams, and to the brooks, and show my friends the face of their hearts (to me I am sure of their deal with me) in those waters. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat haereditatem, deinde fluvium, & quoniam torrens plerumque in valle labitur, accipitur aliquando provale, Mere They are as a brook.] The word signifies both a brook and a valley; because brooks usually run in valleys, therefore one word expresseth both. The same word signifies also to inherit, and an inheritance; Hence some join all the three senses together in this one word, A brook, a valley, and an inheritance; because valleys inherit the brooks, which descend to them from the maintains; valleys are the heirs or inheritresses of the streams which issue from the hills, Psa. 104. 10. The holy Ghost describes a spring or a brook, thus, He sendeth springs into the Valleys, which run among the hills, hills are the original of Rivers, and they run among the hills; hills send them down as a portion to the valleys. But the brook here spoken of, is not such a brook, as hath a spring in a hill, mountain or rock; but a brook or torrent, caused by rain, or melted snow; The text clears that meaning; My friends have dealt deceitfully as a brook; A brook springing from a hill, will not deceive, such a brook being fed with continual supplies of water, will give us drink continually; but a brook falling from a hill, fails quickly: such a brook, the next words express more clearly, and as the stream of brooks they pass away. As a stream of brooks. That is, as those torrents and overflowings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aqua impetuosa & violenta quae fluit cum vi & impetu. of brooks; A brook hath a constant channel, and it hath an accidental channel: We see many streams running into a brook in a time of rain, and that brook swollen above its banks, sending out many streams: So that to say, they are like the stream of brooks, is to say, they are like brooks, when they stream forth, or to those streams of brooks, which by waters from the clouds, are suddenly increased; These streams of brooks, usually called Land-flouds, having their spring or fountain in the clouds; which sometimes distil in soft, soaking dewey showers, and often pour out in strong, violent stormy reins, whence these streams (which in the Hebrew, are denominated from their impetuous violent strength) run violently, and spend their strength as quickly. That which is violent, cannot be permanent, much less perpetual. Nullum viol●ntum perpetuum. We have the word, Psal 126. 4. Where the Church prays, Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the South; which some render, As the mighty waters in the South. Why Tanquam aquas validissimas, Jun. would they have their captivity turned like those mighty floods in the south? The reason is this, because the South is a dry country, where there are few springs, scarce a fountain ●o be found in a whole desert. What then are the waters, they have in the South? in those parched Countries? They are these mighty strong torrents, which are caused by the showers of Heaven: So the meaning of that prayer in the Psalm, is, that God would suddenly turn their captivity. Rivers come suddenly in the South: where no spring appears, nor any sign of a River, yet in an hour the water is up, and the streams overflow. As when Eliah sent his servant toward the Sea (in the time of Ahab) he went and looked, and said, There is nothing. That is, no show of rain, not the least cloud to be seen, yet presently the heavens grew black and there was a great rain, 1 Kings 18. 44. Thus, let our captivity be turned, thus speedily and suddenly, though there be no appearance of salvation, no more than there is of fountain in the sandy desert; or of rain in the clearest heavens, yet bring salvation for us: We use to say of things beyond our supply, have we a spring of them? or can we fetch them out of the clouds? so though no ground appears, whence such Rivers should flow, yet let our salvation be as Rivers in the South, as Rivers fetched out of the clouds, and dropped in an instant immediately from the Heavens. Job compares his brethren and friends to those streams of brooks, they came suddenly, but they are quickly down again. The Comparison in the Psalm, is made only with respect to the sudden appearance of those Rivers; but Job applieth it, to the sudden passing away of those Rivers; as the stream of Brooks they pass away. Their coming so suddenly, is a great refreshing, but their sudden departure is as great a disappointment The word notes two things; First, motion: and secondly, consumption. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est praeterire & perire, evanescere, quia quae praeterierunt non amplius existunt. In both senses, violent torrents pass away: First, they pass away with a strong motion; and then they pass away with a sudden consumption, they run so fast, that they run themselves off their legs, they come to nothing; their motion spends them, whereas the motion of a River doth not. So the word is used, Psal 37. 36 He passed away, and lo, he was not, yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. Those things that pass away, are many times said to lose their being and their use; he passed away, and lo, he was not. So Job meaneth here, these streams pass away, and lo, they are not. Having thus proposed this similitude, that his friends dealt deceitfully as a brock, and shown what kind of brook he meant, those violent torrents, which pass away: now he gives a further description of those brooks. Vers. 16. Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid. The Vulgar Latin puts a strange sense upon this passage, rendering it thus. He who fears the frost, shall be overwhelmed by Qui timet pruinam irruet super eum nix, Vulg. snow. Which seems to be a proverbial speech, to set troth those, who shifting from one danger or extreme, run into another more dangerous, like that of the Prophet Amos, ch. 5. 19 As if a man did flee from a Lion, and a Bear met him; or went into his house, Elegans dictum in socios jobi, sed minus concordat cum Ebraica veritate, Drus. * Tinebam peccata minima, nunc punior quasi pro magnis sceleribus, Glos. and leaned his hand on a wall, and a Serpent bitten him. But as their translation is a corruption of the Text, so their ordinary gloss corrupts their translation. * I feared smallest sins, but now I am punished after the rate of great sins. Whereas indeed job was ready to acknowledge, that the least sin he ever committed, deserved a greater punishment, than the greatest pain he felt; and yet never looked upon any of his pains, as the punishment of his sins. But to pass that. Take the mind of Job, as pursuing his similitude in more words to this effect. These mighty streams are but for a while, they pass away; or if at any time they continue, it is not from any quality or fitness they have in themselves to continue; but as their coming is extrinsical (not out of the ground, but from the air) so is their continuance: I grant, these great Land-flouds, sometimes stay with us a while, not because they have any ordinary natural supply or stay, they are only blackish by reason of the ice: after a great Rain in winter, a great frost comes, and then your watercourses, or brooks swelling above their channels, are surprised by cold, and cannot get away, the cold condenceth the waters, and freezeth them up, and the snow is kept close from melting; then these torrents or streams, seem to be lasting fountains, and treasures of water. Or take it thus, He compares those friends, who administer no comfort in trouble, to brooks, which in time of rain, when we have no need, overflow with water; but in cold winter weather are locked up with frosts, or in hot summer-weather, are exhaled and dried up by the Sun. As it follows; Vers. 17. What time they wax warm, they vanish, when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. These streams, you might think, living, lasting streams, or standing, fixed waters, when you saw them frozen into great mountains of ice and snow compact together: but stay a while, and you shall see what becomes of them; at the next thaw, they are consumed out of their place, Such friends have I, and such is the friendship of mankind, unless God renew the heart, or restrain it, from its natural baseness. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diffluere, diffundi, Buxt. The word which we translate to wax warm, is used but this once in Scripture: it signifies also, scattered or dissipated. And the reason is, because heat or warmth, dissipates and separates those Dissipati. Vulg. things which were united or congealed. The Sun warms the streams, and then the waters, which stood on a heap, scatter and disperse. The sum of all is: These streams in winter have nothing to stay their consuming, but their hardening; and as soon as heat comes, they dissolve, and are gone, in Summer these brooks are dry. This is yet further illustrated in the 18. verse. The paths of their way are turned aside, they go to nothing and perish. What he had said before in those words, They vanish and are consumed out of their place, he saith again in these, The paths of their way are turned aside, they go to nothing and perish; That is, these streams are, as if they had never been, you cannot find them in their former channels; these waters are quite spent, the Sun at a few draughts, empties these vessels, and draws them dry; so that there is not a drop lest, either for man or beast. The word which we render, Turned aside, signifies, To gather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inclinavit percelluit. up a contract into a narrow compass, as when a man of courage, gathers or shrinks up himself, or, as we say, buckles to a business, that he may put out the uttermost of his strength. S● Judg. 16. 29. When Samson came to the pillars, on which the house stood, the text saith, He turned himself with all his might; (It is the word of the text) as if Samson would collect all the power he had into one place, to pull the pillars out of theirs. He that would do a great service, will have all his outward strength about him, or near at hand. And at such a time, a man will have all his inward strength close together, and therefore puts his body into less room, if he can that all his members may act as one. We shrink up the body also in sudden fear. The word is so used, Ruth 3. 8. When Boaz, that good man, awakening, found Ruth at his feet, and perceived there was a woman on the floor, he gathered or shrunk up himself, as a man that is afraid in his bed, will gather up his limbs nearer together, and lies in less room. In such a manner, the heat gathers or shrinks up the waters. Thus the paths of these waters (saith Job) are shrunk up or gathered together, as it were, into one channel, or they creep under the banks, to shelter themselves from that great Drinker and river-drier the Sun, but all their subterfuges are in vain; the Sun dries up all, nothing remains; so it follows in the next words. They go to nothing and perish. It is the word used, Gen. 1. 2. The earth was without form and void; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vacuitas, There was a nothingness upon that confused heap before a second creation stamped a form upon it, that which is useless, is but as good as nothing. The Jews express an Idol by this word, 1 Sam. 12. 21. which suits excellently with that of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 8. An Idol is nothing in the world. So these streams, these rivers which seemed such goodly pleasant streams, such as might have relieved the thirsty traveller at all seasons, come to them in summer, they are gone to nothing, that are like that rude mass, when the world lay undigested into parts, void and without form. Before I come to the general Observations from the whole similitude, observe, from this description of passing streams, That, Things or persons cannot hold long, which are not supplied from aninward principle. Job describes streams, having no spring to maintain them, the rain filled them, the cold froze them, and the warmth of the Sun emptied them. As it is in things, so in persons, no man can hold out either in gracious and spiritual, or just and honourable civil acts, unless he have a principle within, answerable to Metapbora insignis & Hieroglyphicum clarissime exprimens, vanitatem magnae speciei pietati● & charitatis quae non ex vera fide provenit, Coc. what he undertakes. (job. 27. 10.) Will the hypocrite always call von God? Not always, why? because he hath not a spirit (or spring) of prayer; Therefore hypocrites are well compared to such brooks, as Job here describes. A failing brook, is a clear Emblem of a false heart, both to God and man. And that is the reason why regeneration is set forth by the gift of a new principle; of a new heart, or of a new nature. It is to no purpose to work a man by some extrinsical motive, by hopes, or by fears, by threaten or by promises, by rewards or punishments, to do, or forbear good or evil: unless he have a new heart, all vanishes and comes to nothing. A regenerate person, hath a new heart, a new spirit, is a new creature, a new man; all which notes, a lasting principle, an everlasting frame of holiness in the main, though it may sometime decline and need repairs. It is fare better to be a rivulet, a little spring, then to be a great torrent; It is better to have a little spring of grace, than a great loud stream of profession. It is reported by Geographers, in their descriptions of America, that in Peru, there is a river called the Diurnal river, or the day river, because it falls with a mighty current in the day, but in the night is dry. This may seem to be a fabulous report, but the reason given (which is direct to the point in hand) makes it not only probable, but very plain; For they tell us, that this river is not feed by a fountain or a spring, but is caused merely by the melting of the snow, which lies on the mountains thereabouts: in the day time, when the sun is up and warm, the snow melts, but when night comes, and the Sun goes down, the snow freezes, and so the channel dries. Thus it is with those, who have not an inward principle of holiness, they may have a great flood of profession, when the snow melts down into their bosoms, by the shine of outward prosperity; but when night, and cold, when troubles & dangers come, their waters frieze up, or pass away, and go to nothing. So much of the causes, why these streams, these water brooks vanish, they have no spring to maintain and feed them: Rain, and frost, and snow (uncertain all) are all they have to trust to. Job having thus explained his similitude, and shown, what he means by brooks, and what kind of brooks he means. He now confirms all by an experiment, You shall see it is thus, these brooks will yield nothing at a time of need, Many have tried them; who are they? The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them. The troops of Tema. That is, the travellers who came in great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Semita, semitae Thema cetus hominum sive turmae viatorum. companies from Tema, and passed through those desert Countries, where they had observed in the winter, streams and floods of water frozen, and full of snow; now in their summer travails, being parched with heat, and distressed for want of water, they expected relief from those brooks, which they had marked out for themselves, and of which they had, said, These will be watering Hos torrentes designaverunt sive pro statione ad refocil ationem, Coc. places for us, and refresh in extremest heat. We read often in the old Testament of such travellers, Gen. 37. 25. Behold a company of Ishmaelites, came from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh, going down into Egypt. Such are now called, a Caravan. The letter of the Hebrews is, The paths of Tema; the path or road, in which they traveled, is put for the travellers. Itinera, homines inter se facientes. So Isa. 21. 13. O ye travelling companies of Dedanim; the Hebrew is, O ye paths of Dedanim, that is, O ye who travel in the paths of Dedanim: Thus here, The ways of Tema, or the Troops of Tema; and the companies of Sheba, waited and looked in these places for water, and (as it followeth) they found none. The troops of Tema looked. Why did they look? why did they wait for those streams? They had seen plenty of water there, and therefore being thirsty they looked and waited for water. Note hence; first, That the sense of want carries us out to look for a remedy. The troops of Tema looked; After what? after the streams of brooks; why? because they were parched with thirst. They that are thirsty, will be looking for a stream, for a river; they that are hungry, will be enquiring after bread. As it is in natural, so in spiritual things; when once the soul is parched and thirsty, oh how it ●ongs for the rivers of mercy, for the streams of consolation! it looks and waits for them t●o. As the hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soul ●fter thee O God, my soul thirsteth for God, for the living God, Psalm. 2. 1, 2. That's the reason, why Job instances in Tema and Sheba, because they were o●ten distressed in their travel for want of Water. Secondly observe, That probability of speeding, is ground enough for seeking and endeavouring. Th●s● Troops of Tema looked, and as they looked they searched for waters; they waited, because it was probable that they should find water, where they had observed water. As (Mat 21. 19▪) Christ himself when he was an hungry, saw a figtree afar off (saith the text) having leaves upon it; A figtree having leaves, in probability had fruit also: because the figtree (as Naturalists observe) p●ts forth her fruit assoon as her leaf; therefore when Christ saw leaves upon the figtree, it was an argument that there was fruit too; And whereas Mark saith, For the time of figs was not yet, he means the time of in-gathering figs: So that, the Tree having leaves, shown it night have fruit growing, and the time of gathering figs not being past, both these were ground enough for the Lord Christ to go and seek fruit upon it: For in this he acted according to rule of humane reason, not of Divine omniscience. Many object against seeking God, and humbling themselves before him; It is a thing doubt full, whether ever they shall speed, whether ever they shall find, or no; they know not whether God will be merciful unto them or no; He will be merciful to some (they know) but whether they be the men, is very doubtful. I may answer such from the point, A probability of speeding, is ground enough for seeking. If Christ sought for fruit when he saw leaves, because it was a thing probable to find it; and if these of Tema and Sheba would seek for water, because they had observed water in those places; surely then, there is ground enough of seeking unto God for mercy, though we suppose there is but a probability of having mercy. The Prophet persuades that afflicted people, to fast and humble themselves, upon this ground, Who knoweth if he will return and repent (loel 2.) that is, it is very probable he will return and repent. Heathen Niniveh, is carried by the same argument, Jona 39 Who can tell if God will return, etc. No man is sure he will not, and though we are not sure he will, yet let us venture. A peradventure from God, is better than a promise; or an assurance from the creature. And if probability be ground enough, what ground is there in assurance and certainty? and that is the ground we have of seeking God; if we seek to him, and wait upon him in faith, we shall be sure to find, Psalm 9 18. The expectation of the poor shall not perish, The companies of Tema found no water, but God is a living Fountain, whose waters fail not, his banks are alike filled, summer and winter; Christ is not a water brook, but a spring of waters: We shall never miss water of life, if we seek to, and wait upon him for it: And if we believe on him, out of our bellies shall flow rivers of living waters, Joh. 7. 38. We have seen the endeavour of these troops of Tema, Now see how they speed. Vers. 20. They were confounded, because they had hoped; they came thither and were ashamed. The sum is this, they hoped to have found water there, and it grieved and repent them, that ever they had hope to find water there, because there was none to be found. They were confounded. The word signifies indifferently to be ashamed or to be confounded, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Puduit rei vel facti. and to be confounded in regard of events, or actions. The word is very near in sound to our English Abashed; It notes also a waxing pale and wan, when the colour fails and withers, comes and goes. If a man be failed much in what he much hoped, his countenance fails too, his visage changes, as his thoughts change, and he waxeth pale: Therefore we translate it well, confounded. And it is expressed by confounding; for two reasons. First, because the complexion is confounded at such a time, shame and blushing make a kind of confusion upon nature. Secondly, the Spirits are confounded, the heart is troubled; Disappointments of our hope perplex a man, both within and without. He is disordered quite through. And because long delays cause shame, therefore by a Metonymy of the cause for the effect, this word signifies to delay time (Exod. 32. 1.) And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down, etc. that is, when Ainsworth on Exod. the people saw, that Moses made them ashamed, by his long delay, they gathered themselves together, etc. They waited for Moses 40. days, and now Moses had stayed so long, that they were ashamed of his stay, that is, they expected, but he came not, as they expected, this troubled them. We read the word in the same sense (Judg. 5. 28.) The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the wheels of his chariots? Why is his chariot ashamed? that is, why doth his chariot stay so long, as to make us ashamed of our stay? We have long looked what trophies Sisera would bring home, why doth his chariot by delays make us ashamed? Thus in the text, these travellers are said to be confounded, because they had great hope to find water, but were disappointed, They were confounded; because they had hoped, the latter clause carries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fodit, effodit-per Metaphoram traductam a fodientibus, erubuit, Nam qui rubore perfus● sunt ex peccato, ca●ut in terram dimittunt, instar eorum qui terram defodiunt. Cart●▪ the same sense, They came thither and were ashamed. Yet there is a special elegancy in the word, ashamed; which signifies to dig; to dig that we may hid a thing: At it is said of the evil servant, who received but one talon, that he went and digged, and hid his Lord's money, Mat. 25. 18. And so by a Metaphor this word is translated to signify being ashamed, because a man that is ashamed, would hid his head in a hole (as we say) if he could, he would run his head into the ground, and rather be at the pains to dig a hole in the earth, to hid himself, then to endure the shame of showing himself. No man loves that should appear, or to appear in that, which is his shame. These two things, to be ashamed and confounded are often owned by the Saints in their repentance. It is best not to do any thing whereof to be ashamed, but when we have done evil, i● is good to be ashamed. To hid our sins for shame, and not to be ashamed of them, when they are not hid, are equal aggravations of sin. Hence when the holy Ghost would set ●orth m●n impudent or shameless in sinning, who sinned and cared not, who saw them, he saith (Jer. 2. 34.) Also upon thy skirts is found the blood of innocents', I have not found i● by secret search, so we translate it; the Hebrew is, I have not found it by digging; As if he had said, some men are so ashamed of their sins, that when God comes to find them out, he must dig for them, because they have digged into the earth, as it were, to hid their sins; but others are so impudent in sinning, that God needs not dig to find out their sins, they are so shameless, that they let their sins lie above ground, or as the Prophet speaks (Isa. 3. 9) They declare their sins like Sodom, that is, openly. Truth and holiness never seek corners, and sometimes sin and wickedness do not. And as the doing of evil forbidden, causeth or should cause shame; so doth the not receiving of good expected; Hence when the Lord would assure his people, that they should undoubtedly receive all the good he had promised, and which they on that ground could expect, he concludes with them, thus, And my people shall never be ashamed. Why? The reason is plain in the Text, Ye shall ea● in plenty and be satisfied, Joel 2 26. which is directly opposite to this in Job. The Temanites were ashamed, because being thirsty, they were not satisfied. And because Jesus Christ shall so abundantly satisfy all the hunger and thirst, and supply all ●h● wants and weaknesses of every believing soul, therefore it is expressed under this word and notion, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, Rom. 9 33. Such a meaning the word bears in this text, [They were ashamed] Foderunt putees, sc. ad aquam inveniendam. That is, when they saw there was no water to be had, they would have hid themselves in the earth, or digged holes, to hid themselves in, for grief and shame. And some render this word here (though to another sense,) They digged. That is, when they saw that there was no water in the streams, than they fell a digging to see; if they could find any springs. That's a good sense. But rather take digging as before. To show what shame would have us do, when we have done amiss, or when we Miss what we would find, than we seek covert and hid ourselves. Hence these two are often joined in Scripture, Shame and hiding, with the disappointment of hope. Read a text of near compliance with this in the letter (Jer. 14. 3.) Their Nobles have sent their little ones to the waters, they came to the pits and found no water (it was in a time of drought) they returned with their vessels empty; What followeth? they were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads. Again, verse. 4. Because the ground is chapped, for there was no rain in the earth, the ploughmen were ashamed, they covered their heads. And Joel. 1. 10. 11. The corn is wasted, the new wine is dried up; What followeth? Be ashamed O ye husbandmen; howl O ye Vinedressers, because the harvest of the field is perished. So that in the common language and current of the Scripture, shame is an effect of disappointment, and hiding the face, or covering the head an effect of both. Observe hence, First, That deceived hopes trouble us as much, if not more than present wants. A present want is a present smart; but deceived hopes are a perpetual smart; And that's the reason why the burden of sorrow is so heavy, and the drought of the damned (who, as Dives in the Parable, shall never have a drop of water) so intolerable. They (to allude to the text) hoped to come to the over flowing streams of their former earthly delights; But alas, the paths of the way of those brooks are turned aside for ever, they are gone to nothing and perished. All the while they travel (and that will be an eternity) through that howling wilderness and fiery desert, they shall not meet with one rivulet, nor taste one drop of comfort to cool their parched tongues, or refresh their inflamed bowels. Hopes delayed trouble, but hopes deceived, confound. Secondly, observe from this passage, That deceived hopes fill with shame. Deceived hopes make a man hid his head. Shame arises two ways, either from doing a thing against common principles. Or from losing a thing against common expectation. The Lord threatens the idolatrous Israelites, That they shall be ashamed of the Oaks, which they have desired and confounded for the gardens which they had chosen, Isa. 1. 29. Why ashamed of Oaks and gardens? because in gardens, and under shady Oaks, they set up and worshipped Idols, in which they trusted for deliverance and protection; therefore when destruction should over take them, they must needs be ashamed of Oaks and gardens, because their hopes were so fowlly deceived by them. In the same sense the Lord soretels them by the same Prophet, that they shall be ashamed of Ethiopia, their expectation, and of Egypt their glory, Chap. 20. 5. because they had hoped for so much help, from confederacies with these Nations, who in the issue would delude their hopes, and give them no help at all. Thus also he speaks historically, Chap. 30, 5. They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be a help. All they who hope in any thing, save the Lord, shall (as these troops of Tema) be ashamed, because they have hoped, for they shall be deceived of their hopes. And this is the reason, why hypocrites at the last day, when Christ comes to judge them, shall be filled with shame. The reason (I say) is, because they have been so full of deluding hopes. It appears they had great hopes, because they speak great words, and make great boasts. They presume if any are to be saved, they are the men; They show fair for heaven, Mat. 7. 22. Many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name? And in thy Name cast out devils, etc. They shall say, Lord we have done thus and thus; what doth this repetition of their great works intimate, but the greatness of their hopes? Now when Christ shall say, I know you not, How will shame cover their faces for ever; And how will they cover their faces for shame, wishing they might never be either seen or known. When Jacob had served a full apprenticeship in order to his marriage with beautiful Rachel, and at last, through the guile of Laban was put off with blear-eyed Leah; the holy Ghost expresseth him in a kind of passionate amazement, And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold it was Leah. And he said unto Laban, what is this thou hast done unto me? As if Jacob had been in such a distraction, that he could not tell how to express himself: And therefore saith, What is this thou hast done unto me? I know not by what name to call such a usage or disappointment as this. O, in what a case will they be at the last day, who have served out (as it were) an apprenticeship in hopes of Rachel, the beauty of heaven and salvation: And yet when they awake at the resurrection, Behold it will be (infinitely worse than Leah) Hell and Damnation; How will shame and confusion of face, take hold of such for ever? So much for the Letter of this similitude; The failing of those streams, exemplified in the sad experiences of the troops of Tema and the companies of Sheba, as often deceived and ashamed, as they came to them for water. Now follows the application of the similitude; as if Job had said, I have spoken in the clouds, and told you stories of foreign concernment. I tell you friends, I must even apply all this to you, and leave it at your doors. As Nathan, when he had told David, the Parable of the poor man and his little ew-lamb, which his rich neighbour took away to dress for the way-saringman, that was come unto him; He (I say) brings it home to David in the close, saying, Thou art the man. So after Job had told a story in the general or in a third person, about deceitful brooks, and travellers deceived by them, now he applies it to his friends, Ye my friends are the men I mean by these brooks. Ye are they I have all this while delineated and set forth by these unfaithful and unconstant streams of water. Ver. 21. For now ye are nothing, ye see my casting down, and are afraid. For now ye are nothing.] What, nothing? Ye are nothing at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fuistis non, Estis mihi nihili & vanissimi ut torientes descripti. Merc. Ex nihilo nihil fit: Ex quo nihil fit nihil est. all unto me: Ye are no more to me in any way of refreshing, than those streams of the brook, which I even now described, were to the troops of Tema, for now ye are nothing. As out of nothing comes nothing, so that is as nothing unto us, out of which nothing comes. If we render it word for word according to the Hebrew, it is, Ye were not; ye are unto me, as if you had never been, or ye have deceived me, in what I took you to be; I hoped for floods of comfort, for rivers of joy and streams of consolation from you, but now I cannot find a drop, Ye are not unto me. That man is, indeed, who doth that, for which he is, or that, which is expected. The Chaldee translates, Ye have been, as if ye were not. And there is a difference in the Hebrew word, for some read it with Vos suistis, quasi non essetis. Chald. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & est idem quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In textu Hebraeo scribitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed in Margin notatur legendum esse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ei q. d. fuistis ei similes, sc. Torrenti. Drus. the Pronoun, Them; most with the Adverb, Not; But though the translation differ, yet it comes to the same sense, ye are them, that is, like to them, like to those streams, or ye are not; that is, ye are nothing to me. As those streams were nothing, or were not, to the Travellers. The phrase, ye are not, imports the deceivableness of those men; job thought they would be something to him, yea he thought they would be very much to him, even as much as water-brooks to a thirsty man; but they proved nothing at all to him. For as the word [Yea] in Scripture notes assurance, constancy, fidelity and faithfulness; so the word [Not or Nay] both in the Hebrew and in the Greek, signifies unconstancy and unsettleness, especially, when these two are joined together. And so it hath a clear sense, with that (2 Cor. 1. 20.) where the Apostle speaking of Christ, and of his faithfulness, saith, The Son of Qui respondet expectationi etiam dicitur, Etiam & non, qui varius & inconstans. God was not yea and nay, but in him was yea; That is, he was not various, inconstant and uncertain, but he was the very same; look what you have found Christ at one time, you shall find him a second and a third time, yea, the same for ever. He will not start from you an inch: So vers. 17. of the same Chapter; When I was minded to come, did I use lightness? Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose after the flesh, that with me there should be yea, yea, and nay, nay? That is, that with me there should be I and No, something and nothing. It is of a near importance with the words of Job, Ye are no to me; you promised to be, I, to me, to be yea, yea, but now it comes to the trial, ye are No, No to me, that is, ye are nothing to me, ye are no such thing, as I expected you would be. For ye see my casting down, and are afraid Ye see my casting down] That is, my affliction; To be cast down, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dejectus, Metaphorice territus fuit, ment jacuic. and to be afflicted are the same. The word signifies dejection, and consternation of spirit, to be heart-fallen; the falling of a man's mind, as well as of his estate, Deut. 1. 21. Fear not, neither be discouraged, let not your spirit or courage fall. Jobs casting down was in his body and goods, his spirit and courage stood upright upon their feet; Ye (saith Job) see my outward casting down, the casting down of my estate abroad, ye see how all is broken and lost; and now what is the help ye give me? Do ye stand to me, or lift me up, now I am thus cast down? Do ye supply me with comfort? and prop me up with counsel? no, ye are afraid yourselves; ye are so far from removing my trouble, that you yourselves are troubled. Ye are afraid] Their fear may be referred to his person, or to his condition, ye are afraid to come nigh me, ye are afraid I will infect you: or ye are afraid, some such evil will fall upon yourselves, I thought ye had come as friends to deliver me from my fears, and now ye are fallen into fears yourselves: Thus, Ye are not; ye are no such thing as ye promised me, ye promised to comfort, at least Vos me visistis nulla miserecordia moti. Sept. to pity me, but ye do not. So the Septuagint, Ye visit me, but ye are not moved with any compassion towards me. I had been as well without your companion. Or, if no such men had ever been in the world. Observe first, from these words, For now ye are nothing. He that is not, what he ought to be, or what he promised to be is nothing. To be useless is (in a sense) to be essence-lesse. To be useless in the world, is to be, as out of the world; A man who lives only to eat, and drink, and sleep, may be said not to live at all. What we say in our English proverb, is true, both of persons and of actions, As good never a white, as never the better; as good not to be, as do no good. The Apostle Judge speaking of unprofitable persons (ver. 12,) calls them Trees without fruit; And what then? Twice dead, plucked up by the roots; As if the Apostle had said, I look upon fruitless persons, as dead persons, yea as doubly dead, that is, dead sure enough. As a man can be borne but once, in one kind (Nicodemus argued from a truth, though not to a truth, because he could not distinguish natural from Spiritual, John. 3, 4.) So a man can die but once, in one kind. These men of whom the Apostle speaks, were alive naturally, though dead spiritually, how then is it said, that they were twice dead? They were judged twice-dead, either, because a spiritual death is so great a death, that it may well go for two, yea one spiritual death, is worse than a thousand natutal deaths Or secondly, they are said to be twice-dead, because they were dead, both in regard of the truth of grace, and in regard of any outward actings of grace; For some hypocrites, who are indeed dead in sin, yet act grace in many outward fruits, as if they were alive. But of these persons it is said, their fruit withereth, and they are without fruit. They were not so much as externally active; they had no life of union with Christ, and they did no good, with the life of their profession in Christ, and therefore are justly said to be twice-dead. They who have leaves and look fresh and lively, as if they had more than one life in them, yet, if Useless, are called liveless, and they who do nothing in the world, are to be reckoned nobodies in the world. In the Parable of the Prodigal, the conclusion is, This my son was dead, and is alive; Why dead? Because he was unanswerable to those purposes, to those ends for which he received life. He was a prodigal, and had deserted his father's service, therefore his father looked upon him, as if (all that while) he had not been, at all. That's the description of the dead, as Jacob said of Joseph (when he concluded him torn by a wild beast) Joseph is not; and Rachel would not be comforted for her children, because they were not; so saith the Father of the Prodigal, This my son was dead, or he was not; he was no help nor comfort to me. We no longer deserve the name or reputation of Any thing, than we do those things for which we are. If we leave our duty (upon the matter) we lose our nature, and are as if we had no being, while we reach not (at least while we reach not after) the end of our being. A Heathen concludes of such a man, He hath only been, he hath not lived. But Fuit, non vixit. we may from the warrant of Jobes Rhetoric, go a degree further, and deny that he hath been, For he is, as if he had never been, a mere nothing. From those words [Ye see my casting down, and are afraid.] Note. That some man is able to bear more than another is able to behold. The sight of fearful things causeth fear. Further observe from it, A fearful man will never be a helpful man. Courage in a day of trouble, either of our own or others, is a great cure of trouble, yea a victory over it. There is one fear very good, when we see the casting down of our friends; To be afraid of provoking God, to cast us down (Deut. 17. 13.) they shall hear and fear, and do no more presumtuously; What shall they hear? They shall hear how God hath cast men down, or cast down a Nation by his judgements, they shall hear of this and fear. How shall they fear? they shall fear to do presumtuously, fear to provoke that God, who can thus cast down men and Kingdoms: It is good to be thus afraid, but there is a sinful fear, when fear disorders or unfits us to put our hands to the help of those, who are cast down, and to administer comfort to those, who are in sorrow; such was the casting down, and the fear here meant; They were so afraid that they could not lend Job a hand, or give him advised counsel to support his spirit. I shall add one Observation from the general scope of the similitude. That an unfaithful friend fails us most, when we have most need of him. That is the sum of all. In winter, when there is water in every ditch, those brooks abound with water, but in the summer, especially in a dry summer, when the rain of the land is dust (as Moses speaks,) these brooks are dust too, they vanish and are consumed out of their place, they afford no refreshing at all. When the man, that went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thiefs (Luke. 10 30.) lay in the way, stripped and wounded, even half dead, A certain Priest came that way (saith the text,) and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side; and likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side; but the Samaritan went to him (not from him) and had compassion on him. Job speaks very near this language, but fully this sense, of his friend. They, like the uncharitable Priest and Levite, passed by him, as the streams of brooks, they pass away. Whereas they should have been like the good Samaritan, a fountain, a river of settled springing comfort to him. This is the great difference between the love of God, and that of most men, God is the best friend to us at all times (he is best to us in the best times, if we had not him to friend, it would be very ill with us when we have most friends) But God is best of all to us in the worst times; a best friend to us when we have no friends: he is our spring, when the rain falls, but he is our surest, sweetest spring, when there is neither rain nor dew upon the face of the earth. Therefore he is compared (as Jer. 2. so in other places) unto a living fountain, where you may be sure to find water in the hottest season. This infinitely commends the love of God, beyond that of men, who at the best, are but broken cisterns, which leak out the comforts they are trusted with, and for the most part, are but like Jobs brooks, they turn aside and pass away, when we have most need of them. It is observed of the Samaritans in Josephus, that when ever the Jews affairs prospered, they would be their friends, and profess much kindness, but if the Jews were in trouble, and wanted their assistance, than they got them far enough off, they would not have to do with them, or own them. The rich man hath many friends (saith Solomon, Prov. 14. 20.) but the poor is hated even of his own neighbour. Vbi deficit pecunia, labascit & amicitia. Worldly friendship ends with riches, and he that wants money seldom abounds with friends. But consider how fare this is from the very nature of a brother, and from the law of friendship. Solomon (Prov. 17. 17.) describes a true friend, to be one who loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. As if he had said, this is the reason God hath raised up relations, and made men near one to another, because himself order there shall be times of adversity, when they shall have need of one another; Some render the place, A brother is born in adversity, as if the meaning were, That, when a man is in trouble, God raises up a brother to help him, Or as the Septuagint hath it, A brother is born, for this end and purpose, to help in adversity. Therefore a brother loses the very end and purpose why he was born, if he refuse to help those, who are in adversity. Ruth was a true pattern of a faithful friend and brother, though a daughter; I went out full (saith her mother in law) but the Lord hath brought me home empty; But though she was emptied of the world, yet ruth's heart was full of love to her, I will not leave thee; God do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. So saith faithfulness in friends, especially in Christian friends; It is one of the greatest duties and commendations of Christian profession, to stick to, and stand by one another; be it fowl weather, or be it fair, blow the winds high or low, let it be stormy or calm, ever to be the same. The Heathens wondered in the primitive times, at the great love of the Christians to one another. Let us take heed we do not put Heathens, natural, carnal men to wonder, O how little do Christians love one another! Let us not give them occasion to say, O how the Christians hate one another! how like are they at best to streams of brooks, who fail when their friends and brethren need the benefit of their assistance. Let me only give you this caution, God suffereth men to be thus unfaithful unto men, yea sometimes a Christian brother to Talia patitur Deus suis accidere, ne hominibus nimis fidunt, sed omne solatium, spem & fiduciam in ipso solo vivo & vero Deo, ponant. Lavat. fail a Christian brother (which is their sin, and aught to be their sorrow;) I say, God leaves them to this evil of their own hearts, that we may have a greater good out of it, then, the highest actings of their love and faithfulness, could estate us in: Namely, that we may learn to trust upon God alone, and may better know what creatures are, Trust not in a brother (Jer. 9, 4.) so, as to let out your hearts upon him: think not you are safe in the love of a brother, no, not of a godly brother: The Apostle (1 Tim. 6, 17.) to draw off rich men from trusting in their riches, useth this argument, Charge them that are rich, that they trust not in uncertain riches, but in the living God: Why should they not trust in riches? He giveth the reason in the Epithet, uncertain; They are uncertain riches, therefore trust them not. So we may say of men, trust not in men, no, not absolutely, in godly men, for the best of men are uncertain, possibly they may be as these streams of brooks, whose waters failed. Psal. 146. 3. Put not your trust in Princes, nor in the son of man in whom there is no help; why not? For his breath goeth forth (that's one reason, he must die, he must return to the earth) therefore trust him not. But besides that, we may say, trust not in Princes, etc. while their breath tarrieth in them, for it is possible their help and faithfulness may go forth, though their breath doth not. Therefore trust ●e●ly in the living God, he will never leave us, though men do; God only is unchangeable, he only hath preserved this honour without touch or slain, never to forsake those who trusted him, how forlorn and forsaken soever their condition was. JOB Chap. 6. Vers. 22, 23, 24, 25. Did I say, bring unto me? or give a reward for me of your substance? Or deliver me from the Enemy's hand, or redeem me from the hand of the mighty? Teach me and I will hold my tongue? and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. How forcible are right words? but what doth your arguing reprove? JOB Having shadowed out his friend's unfaithfulness, by an elegant similitude in the context foregoing; now aggravates their unfaithfulness to him, in his wants, by his own modesty, in seeking to them, for supplies. Did I say, bring unto me? or give a reward for me of your substance? As if he had said, I have not been burdensome or troublesome to you, I have not called for your contributions and benevolences, or sought to have my estate made up out of your purses. Why do ye charge me with impatience at my loss, as if that were it which pinches and presses me? did I ever charge you for my reparation, or redemption; That (in deed) might have been, either burdensome or dangerous to you; All that I expected from you, was your comfort, and your counsel; these would not have put you to much expense; or if you could not have reached so far as to comfort me, yet you might have forborn to contribute so largely to my sorrows, by overtaxing me with impatience, and charging me with hypocrisy. Did I say] I was not clamorous or importunate, no, I did not so much as open my mouth to move you in that point, I have been so far from begging, that ye have not heard me, saying, bring to me. Bring unto me?] The word is, Give unto me, Hos. 4. 18. Their Prince's love, Give ye, or bring ye, so saith Job, I did not say bring ye, or give ye, my spirit was not set upon money, or the repair of my losses out of your estates; I did not either write or send for your charity; you were not invited to visit me, that you might contribute to my necessity. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proprie munus quod datur ad corrumpendum judicem, a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uws quod unum facit, dantem scilicet & occipientem. The word here used for a reward, properly taken, signifies that which is given to a Judge, to corrupt or turn him aside in judgement. One of the Rabbins gives this reason, why it notes a bribing reward, because it is compounded of a word signifying, One; and a bribe makes the giver and the receiver, the Judge and party; One, or of one mind; A Judge should ever stand indifferent between both parties, till the cause be heard, but a bribe makes him One of them. Yet ordinarily, this word is put for any gift or help, subsidy or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Humour nativus in quo vigor corporis consistit, & opes, nam in opibus Consistit potentia hominum. supply of another's wants. Of your substance.] The word implies, the native, natural strength, which supplies the wants, or supports the weaknesses of the body; As also the strength of the earth, by which it puts forth fruit, Leu. 26. 20. And because riches are a man's civil strength, therefore the same word expresses both. Verse 23. Or did I say, deliver me from the enemy's hand? The enemies.] Or the hand of those that have brought me into straits; For the original imports, the shutting a man up in a narrow compass, so that he knows not how to get out; he that is in the hand of an enemy, is in a strait hand. Ahab commands (1 Kings 22. 29.) Go carry Micaiah back, and feed him with the bread of affliction, or with the bread of straits, such bread, as an enemy provides. The Greek word used by the Apostle, 1 Cor. 4. 8. reaches this fully, We are troubled, but not distressed, or straightened. Now saith Job, did I say, deliver me out of the hand or power of mine enemies, who have brought me into these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. straits? alluding, as is conceived, to those Chaldeans and Sabeans, who had spoiled his estate, and slain his servants. Or redeem me out of the hand of the mighty. Redeem me. That is, my goods which they have carried away captive. To redeem, signifies the fetching back of a thing by price or force. Christ is a Redeemer in both senses: he redeemed or fetched back captivated man, by compact and by price, in respect of God his father. We are bought with a price, 1 Cor. 6. 20. that is, bought with a full prize. Christ did not compound with the justice of his father, but satisfied it, to redeem us: and he redeemed us by force, out of the hands of Satan, Spoiling principalities and powers, and making a show of them openly, Col. 2. 15. As in Triumphs, the Romans used to do with their spoilt, captivated enemies. Job had not begged redemption of his friends, from the power of his enemies, either way: did I desire you, by compact, and by price, to ransom me? Or did I desire you to levy an Army, with power and force, to recover my estate out of the hands of those mighty oppressors. The word [Mighty] signifies also terrible; the hand of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Terribilis sua potentia formidabilis terrible one: It is often applied to God, when he shows himself in terror to wicked men. Psal. 89. 7. God is greatly to be feared, Isa. 2 19 He shakes terribly the earth. But most commonly, to cruel, powerful men, who make no other use of their strength, but to be a terror to innocents'. The Apostle, Phil. 1. 28. explains this word, while he saith, and in nothing be ye terrified by your adversities; that word in the Greek, answers this in the Hebrew, your adversities are terrible men, men who think to beat down all with their great looks, but, be not ye terrified by these terrible ones. So here, Did I call unto you, to redeem me out of the hand of the mighty, the terrible? out of the hand of those cruel plunderers, the Sabeans and Chaldeans? De manu Tribulationis, Vatab. Puto cum Allegoricè tam graves & vehementes calamitates intelligere, Merc. Further, Some understand by the hand of the mighty, not the persons afflicting him, but the affliction itself, which was upon him: Trouble is sometimes compared to a mighty enemy, Prov. 6. 11. So shall thy poverty come, as one that traveleth, and thy want as an armed man. Want strips us, but is itself, not only clothed, but armed, Evils have so much life and strength in them, that they are compared to the strongest, who live, armed men. Hence observe, first, It is an aggravation of unkindness, to those, who are in want, not to be kind to them, when they are modest in ask a supply of their wants. Love aught to prevent ask, and should be moved to give most to them (who being in need) complain least. Again, He speaks this to wipe off that aspersion, as if the loss of his estate were the thing which grieved and pinched him so sore. Did I say unto you, bring me a reward, etc. It is an argument that a man overloves that, which he hath lost, when he is over-importunate to have his losses repaired. If you had seen me call out unto you for an estate, than you had reason to think that the loss of my estate, was the loss of my patience. Thirdly, Observe the temper of a gracious heart under losses and afflictions. A gracious heart under losses, is not forward to complain to creatures, or to ask help of men. Did I say, bring unto me, or give me a reward of your substance? He complains to God, and showeth him his trouble, he openes his want to God, and asketh supplies of him, but he is very modest and slow in complaining to, or in suing for help at the hand of creatures. It is not unlawful for those, that are in want, to make their losses and wants known to men; It is a duty, rather, so to do; only it must be done with caution, lest, when we ask of creatures too importunately, we give an argument against ourselves, that we are too much in love with creatures. As it is reproved in those Rulers before spoken of, Hos. 4. 18. that they did love, give ye; It is a crime in the rich, to love, give ye; And certainly it is a sin, at least an infirmity in those that are poor and in want, to love, give ye, or to say as job here had not, bring to me. Solomon speaks of the daughters of the horseleech, that, they are always crying, give, give, noting their insatiable thirst after blood. Some poor are always crying, give, give, which notes a very inordinate desire after riches. job is very careful to take off the suspicion of such a blemish from himself, I did not say, bring ye, or give ye me of your substance. It is the duty of those that are full, to give to their empty brethren, it is their sin if they give not; and it is their shame, if they are not most free in giving to those, who are most modest in ask; But when God hath emptied us, we should not be eager in filling ourselves. When God takes creatures from us, we should take heed of pursuing them: we should not do any thing, which may argue our hearts glued to them, when the Lord hath loosened them out of our hands. It is an honour to a poor Christian, when in his greatest straits he can approve himself to God and men, and can say as the Apostle (Acts 20. 33.) I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. It is as sinful to covet in our wants, as it is in our abundance. And it is as bad (if not worse) to be greedy of the creature, when we are empty, as when we are full. A poor man oppressing the poor, Prov 28. 3. and covering from the rich, are sights of equal abomination. Vers. 24. Teach me and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred, etc. This and the next verse, contain the fourth branch of Jobs reply; and the general sense of them, is, a submission of himself to his friends, if yet, they should speak reason, or discover his error. Teach me and I will hold my peace; as if he had said, Though I have to the best of my understanding, thus far acquitted myself, and cleared mine own innocency; though, I have as I think, with truth and justice, laid this charge of uncharitableness and unfriendly dealing with me upon you; yet you shall see I am ready to hear you, I am teachable: if you can yet teach me, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jecit, projecit, per metaphoram 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rigavit quando transfertur ad pluviam quae lapidum & sagitarum instar ex coelo decidit in terram eamque ferit, rigat, & foecundat. Hinc per Metathoram significat etiam docere Quod doctrina veluti instiletur animis dicentium & ininutatim indatur, eosque impuat, I will keep silence, and if you cause me to understand wherein I have erred, I shall do so no more. Teach me.] The Original word notes in strict sense, to cast a thing forth, to throw a thing, as a dart or a stone is thrown, either downward or upward, or in a direct motion forward. Hence by a Metaphor, it signifies rain, because rain is (as it were) darted forth from the clouds, and cast down upon the earth▪ And from hence (yet one remove further) the Metaphor is carried, to signify teaching; Hence the holy Prophet is commanded to drop his word, Ezek. 20. 46. 21. 2. Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word towards the south. Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and droop thy word toward the holy places: And the reason is this, because Doctrines, Truths and wholesome Instructions, are instilled and cast down among the people, or dropped into their spirits, as rain is cast or dropped from heaven upon the earth. And so we may read the word● out of the metaphor thus, rain down upon me, do ye, O, my friends, like clouds full of water, dissolve, and shower down instructions upon me, and see if I do not receive and drink them in. And from this word, all doctrine and instruction, in the Hebrew, is called, Torah, Prov. 13. 1. and Psal. 1. 1. And the Jews, by way of eminency, call the five books of Moses (as also all the books of the old Testament) the Torah, that is, the Law, or rule of holy doctrine, which God reigned down from Heaven, and distilled graciously upon his people, for their growth in knowledge and in holiness: And so a Teacher, from the same root, is called Moreh; Job. 36. 22 Who teacheth like Him? who raineth like him? there is no man can distil truths, as God doth. Moses (Deut. 32. 2.) elegantly sets forth his preaching, by an allegory of rain and dew. My doctrine shall drop as the rain,; my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass. And the Apostle Paul, Heb. 6, 7, 8. compares a taught people, to ground that is well watered with rain; For the earth which drinketh in the rain, that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth fruit, is blessed; but that which beareth thorns and briers, is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned. A people well instructed, are like that ground which is under continual showers and dews. And doctrine is fitly compared to rain, and teaching to raining; First because all true & holy doctrine comes from God, as the rain doth. The rain is God's proper gift, (Jer. 14. 22.) Can any of the vanities of the Gentiles give rain? All the men in the world, are not able to make one drop of rain; So we may say of this figurative rain of truth and holy doctrine, Can any of the vanities of the Gentiles? yea, can any of the most learned among the sons of men, give this rain? Can any man make any one truth, which hath not first been made above? Truth like rain comes from Heaven, it drops from beyond the clouds. Art not thou He? O Lord our God? therefore we will wait upon Thee, say they of the natural rain, Jer. 14. 22. and so we must in regard of the spiritual. Hence the word which Moses uses (Deut. 32. 2) for Accipere est discipuli sicut dare praeceptoris. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doctrine, dropping as the rain, signifies a received learning: Holy Truths are so called in that language, because the doctrine of Religion, is received from God, not devised by men. So the Apostle phrases it (1 Cor. 11. 23.) I received of the Lord, that which I delivered unto you. And Christ himself, As my Father hath taught me, so I speak these things, John. 8. 28. That which Nicodemus said of Christ, is true of every one that teacheth truth, Joh. 3. 2. Thou art a Teacher come from God. As truth itself, so the teachers of it are from God; as a lie, and the tellers of it, are from the Devil, John. 1. 44. Secondly, Like rain (as in regard of the original whence it comes, so) in regard of the effect: rain refresheth the earth; when the earth is weary and faint, when the earth gasps and is parched, how doth a shower of rain revive it? When the Psalmist had spoken of the rain coming down upon the earth, he presently adds this effect, The little hills rejoice on every side, they shout for joy, they also sing. Thus also a people wearied, and languishing, and fainting in ignorance, when they receive truths, and holy instructions, how do their hearts rejoice, how do they laugh and sing? In the Parable, Mat 13. Some are said to receive the word with joy; Even they who are but formalists and hypocrites (for it is spoken of them) rejoice and are refreshed for a season with the word. Truth is such a gracious shower, that they sometimes receive it with joy, who have no grace. And if truth refresh men, who are but nature, or move in spiritual works, but, upon natural principles, how will it refresh those, who have grace, and spiritual principles suitable to it. Thou, O God (saith David, Psal. 68 9 10.) didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst refresh thine inheritance when it was weary. That is a truth in the letter, and some understand it of natural rain; but others interpret that plentiful rain, in a figure, for the rain of doctrine which God sent down upon his people, when he gave the Law and dropped those heavenly Oracles from Mount Sinai upon his people Israel: that shower of the Law came indeed in a storm, Thunder and lightning, and a terrible tempest accompanied it. But though the thunder terrified, yet the shower refreshed; and the Saints have ever delighted in the matter of those instructions and holy counsels given there, though Moses a chief amongst the Saints, seared and quaked exceedingly at the manner of giving them. Thirdly, as rain, so teaching makes fruitful. The Prophet Isaiah makes out this part of the similitude expressly, Chap. 55. 10, 11. As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not thither, but waters the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sour, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth, etc. Hence also the people of God are compared (Deut. 32. 2.) to grass and tender herbs, which grow and flourish, which are fed and bring forth fruit, when watered with the rain. It cannot be denied, though it be much to be lamented, that many souls upon whom much of this rain falls, are altogether barren and unfruitful. But, Oh! How barren are those souls, upon whom not a droop of this rain ever fell! They that are deprived of these showers are under a grievous curse, even such a curse, as David imprecates upon the mountains of Gilboa, 2 Sam. 1. 21. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, etc. When God saith unto a people, let there be no dew, no rain upon you, no Moses to drop doctrine upon you, no Paul to plant, not Apollo's to water you with the word, this is the saddest shower of curses that can fall upon a people; as without rain, so without the word, ordinarily, there can be no fruitfulness. You see at this time how upon a little withholding of the natural rain, we presently fear barrenness, and famine; the want of spiritual rain brings in a This was preached in a time of drought. worse barrenness, though there are not many who fear it, or are sensible of it. Fourthly, the word taught is like rain in regard of the dispensing of it. The rain comes not down alike, at all times; showers are very various; sometimes it raines softly, then, we call it a still soaking rain; sometimes we have a strong mighty rain; at another time rain is accompanied with thunder and lightning, while the showers descend, the great Ordnance of heaven discharge from the clouds, and fill the air with terror. Thus also it is, or should be in teaching: Many souls require a still, soft, quiet rain: Others must have stronger showers, mighty rain, you must pour down upon them. A third sort must have thunder joined with rain, they need a Boanerges, a son of thunder, a mixture of terror with instruction to boar their ears, and break their hearts. Those teachers mistake their work, who in stead of raining are always thundering and lightning. As if their pulpit were set upon Mount Sinai. And I believe, it is as great a mistake to think Teachers need never thunder. The word of God in all parts of it, and in all manner of dispensations of it, is exceeding useful. A Minister without teaching, is (as jude speaks) a cloud without water; And he shall do but little good upon some, if he have nothing but water in his cloud. Fire sometime must mingle with the rain, and a Tempest come after or before the dewing, distilling, still voice. The word of God is compared to fire, as well as unto water. Only it must be the wisdom, and it is the duty, of every Teacher, to know how to give every one his portion, or as the Apostle Judas counsels, ver. 22, 23. Of some to have compassion, making a difference, and others to save with fear, pulling them out of the fire: A difference must be made, some are to be dealt with compassionately, and gently reigned upon; others, must be saved with fear, that is, they must be made afraid with thunder and lightning, with stormy and tempestuous doctrine. Some spirits will not be kept out of the fire, but by casting them into the fire; so much that text in Judas imports. Others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, As if he had said, your terrifying them with the fire, will be as a pulling them out of the fire, A shower of spiritual brimstone (such as God reigned on Sodom in the letter) is best for them, if you spare them, you destroy them. Teach me, and I will be silent, or, I will hold my tongue. The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fedit terram, per metaphoram fodit cogitation, siluit. word properly taken, signifies to dig or to blow: And sometime improperly to meditate or think, and it implies much thoughtfulness, because a musing, meditating, thoughtful man is ever digging into matters, he rests not in the outside and face of things, but puts in his plough deep, turning them up to the very bottom. From whence, by one step further into the Metaphor, it is translated to signify silence, or to hold our peace, because they who have many thoughts, have fewest words; Musing men are no great talkers; when the mind is much at work, and very busy, the tongue usually doth little: Job promises silence, as if he meant to sit down and consider fully, what they should further say unto him. This promised silence or holding of his tongne, may have a threefold reference. First, in general to the duty of a learner, Teach ye me, and I will keep silence, I will learn. Or secondly, to his former complaints, Teach me, and I will be silent: That is, I will give over complaining, I confess I have made a bitter complaint in the 3d Chapter, but if you will teach me better, I will complain no more. Thirdly, it may have reference to that, which they should speak to him in their next advices. Teach me aright, and I will hold my tongue, that is, I will reply no more, I will not gainsay your counsels, but rather (if I have offended) acknowledge my error and sit down in silence, I will not wrangle, when I cannot answer, I can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. From hence we may observe; first, That a gracious spirit is a teachable spirit. A gracious heart calls for teaching. Teach me, and I will hold my tongue. As a gracious heart calls for strengthening from Christ, so it calls for teaching from Christ, and from any, who can teach the truth, as it is in Christ▪ A weak soul saith, Lord draw me, and I will run after thee; an ignorant soul saith, Lord instruct me, that I may understand thee. Give me the wisdom of the prudent, that I may understand my way, and I shall walk therein. A godly man loves not to be at his own disposing, nor at his own Tutor; He that will learn of none, but himself, hath (sure enough) a fool to his Master; And there is more hope of a fool, then of him, that is (thus) wise in his own conceit, Pro 26. 12. Secondly, Observe. A teachable spirit is an excellent spirit. A man that is willing to be taught, is in a better condition than many, who are able to teach. It argues a holier temper of the heart, to be willing to be taught, than to be able to teach. And it is far worse to be unwilling to learn, than not to be knowing; Vnteachablenesse is more dangerous than ignorance. It is sad to consider how unteachable many are, they will not be taught, or they think they have learned all, they have devoured all knowledge; they are full and need no more; some deceived souls (and they most) carry it, as if they had a spirit of infallibility, what, teach them? they are above teaching. It is a sweet frame of spirit, when a man sees he may be out of frame. He is in a fair way to truth, who acknowledges he may be in an error. And he who will not acknowledge that he may be in an error, is certainly out of the way of truth. The Apostle resolves it, 1 Cor. 8. 2. If any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing, yet, as he ought to know. Not as if the Apostles meaning were, that all knowledge must be sceptical or uncertain, all in queries, and nothing in conclusions, that we should halt between two opinions, and hang like meteors in the air. Nor doth he commend to us that proud modesty, which will not let us acknowledge, we know what we know; but his mind is, to meet with those, who think they know any thing so well, that they need not, or cannot know it better, and abound so in their own sense, that they have no room to admit the sense of others. As he, who thinks himself so good, that he cannot be better, was never so good, as he should; so, he that thinks he knows so much, that he can learn no more, knows nothing as he ought. It is best to be fixed in judgement, but it is very ill to be fixed in opinion. It is to be feared that man is much divorced from right reason, who is so married to his own, that he resolves, nothing but death shall part him and his opinion. What if this man have espoused a fancy of his own, not any truth of God? To be so fixed, that a man may be fixed in evil, it is as dangerous, as, to be so unfixed, that he may be unfixed in good. It was a high breathing of holiness, when David said, Psal. 57 7. My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: While we are upon a known duty, or have known truth on our side, our hearts cannot be too much fixed & set upon them. To be of an unfixed, movable, wavering spirit in goodness, is within one degree of falling into evil; but to say, I am fixed, I am fixed, I am resolved, resolved, when yet things are doubful and under difficult dispute, is actually to be in an error, though possibly, the thing we fix on, be a truth. The Apostle cautions his Ephesians, and us in them, Chap. 4. 14. That they and we, be not henceforth children tossed too and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, and yet they are under a rebuke, who will not be moved by any wind of doctrine; that is, let never so powerful and forcible a wind of truth, breath and blow upon them, they will not be carried or moved in judgement by it. Observe thirdly, Silence becometh learners. Yet not all silence. There is a speaking helpful to learning. To move doubts is the way to be resolved and to ask the question, the readiest means for instruction. But he that will have all the talk, shall have but little profit. The ear is the Organ of discipline: Hearing is the sense of learning, and the seasonable stopping of our own mouths, a ready means to open our understandings. To be, swift to hear, and flow to speak (James. 1. 19) is the speediest way to attain wisdom. Fourthly observe, He that is showed his error, should speak no more, but sit down convinced. Teach me (saith Job) and I will hold my tongue; That is, I will reply no more upon you, I will never stand up in maintaining an error; I will be no pattern of evil, though myself am in the fault. Error shall not be excused; or a mistake apologized for, by me. Some wits are able to make a fair cover for, and put a gloss upon the most deformed and grossest errors. There was never any opinion in the world, but some have seconded it, and undertaken its protection. When conscience hath never a word to say, wit will be very talkative, and when they have ended reasoning, some can wrangle everlastingly. When wit and learning undertake a cause, and leave conscience out of the Commission, there must either be a very ill end of it, or no end. A subtle Sophister will dispute any thing, and bring probable arguments (where reason alone sits judge) against the most undoubted truths. It is an ill office to be an Orator for our own or others errors, for our own or others sinful practices, Prov. 30. 32. If thou hast done evil in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil (or maintained evil) lay thine hand upon thy mouth; speak no more, never be an advocate in a bad cause, though it be thine own; when our faults are showed us, we should not open our mouths, unless it be to renounce and disclaim them. A sad account will be given of that time, and of those parts, which have been laid out in the patronage of our failings and mistakes. It is as sinful to few figg-leaves, or make fair pretexts to cover the nakedness of our opinions, as of our practices. And cause me to understand, wherein I have erred. As if Job had said, when once you bring me to see clearly, that I am in an error, and cast light into my conscience, you shall find me readily submitting to you. A question arises here in the general, whether Job doubted his Concessio est quam Quintilianus dicit esse, cum aliquid iniquum videmur causae fiducia pati. Apud eum dicitur, confessio nihil nocitura. Quin. lib. 3, cap. 2. Non submittit se errasse, sed humiliter se submittit amicorum censure. Bold. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Hiphil intelligentem secit, erudii●. cause, or whether or no, there were an hesitancy in his spirit, about what he had done or spoken? I answer, this speech implies not, that he had any doubt of himself, or an admission that he had erred. Job speaks like Orators or Disputants, who when they are sure of a point, will yet grant a little doubtfulness, or raise doubts about what they are able to maintain and confident to carry. It is ordinary to put things by way of supposition, of which we make no question. When Job saith, Cause me to understand, wherein I have erred; it is not an acknowledgement that he had a erred; but a submission in case he had, or a concession that he might; Job was not lifted up with an opinion of his own infallibility; he knew to err was common to man, and therefore he speaks of himself under the common notion of all men: Not from any consciousness of his own error. Cause me to understand. It is but one word in the Original, and it signifies to convince by reason or argument. Cause me to understand, that is, do not think to force my opinion, or to offer violence to my judgement, do not think to club me down with great words and clomorous threats, but do it by solid Arguments, by evident demonstration of reason; Do it by savoury advices and counsel, not by bitter reproaches and invectives. Deal with my understanding, not barely with my affections, Cause me to understand. My error] It signifies local, corporal wander and errors, and bodily erring or wand'ring; and sometimes it signifies the wander of the mind, judgement and affections, Prov. 5. 19, 20. Solomon bids the husband, Rejoice in the wife of his youth, let her be as a loving Hind and pleasant Roe, let her breasts satisfy thee at all times, and be thou ravished always with her love. The Hebrew (as our Translatours put in the margin) is, err thou always in her love; that is, let all thy wand'ring, erring thoughts and affections be reduced and brought home to the wife, whom God hath given thee, the next words seem to interpret so, for why (my son) wilt thou be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? That's dangerous erring in love: Therefore (saith he) let all thine errings and wander, all thy delights and ravishments be (chaste and conjugal) towards the wife of thy youth. Further it signifies erring or wand'ring out of mere ignorance. This word is often used in Leviticus for the sin of ignorance, Chap. 4. 2. and Chap. 5. 18. and Chap. 22. 14. If any man hath sinned through ignorance or committed an error, than he shall offer these and these sacrifices and oblations. So Psal. 19 12. who can understand his errors; That is, those sins, which he commits out of ignorance and inadvertency? Hence he concludes with this prayer, Cleanse thou me from secret faults. He doth not mean faults, which he committed privately, and so were secrets to others, but faults which he had committed ignorantly, and so were Secrets to himself: That is, they were sins of ignorance. And I conceive he means, not only such sins, as he had committed ignorantly, but then knew they were sins, but even such sins, as he was ignorant, whether ever he had committed them or no; That is, he prays for the pardon of all those sins, which possible he might have committed, though to him, as yet altogether unknown and undiscovered. The title of the 7th Psalm. is Shiggaion of David; it is the same Original word we have in the text, and some translate it, awandring song; And the reason for it, is either because of the Cantio erratica. variable and wand'ring poetry, or because of the variable or wand'ring tune in which that Psalm was sung, and to which it was set for greater delight; others makes the title (suitable to the translation of the word here) the Psalm of David's errors, because, sets forth his fears and dangers, which made him wonder in body, and sometime also, to go a little astray in mind; this Psalm was sung to the Lord, concerning the words or the business of Cush the Benjamite, that is, of Saul, who was of Kish and of Jemini (1 Sam. 9 1.) called here Cush, that is, Ethiopian or Blackmore (figuratively) from his black and ill conditions, his heart not being changed, as the Blackmore changeth not his skin. Saul was a bitter enemy to David, and made him fly and wander, and sometime go astray in his speeches and actions, upon a sudden gust of temptation. And so a Psalm of that subject may well bear this stile, either from his corporal or spiritual errors. There is a third apprehension upon Siggaion, taking it for delight and ravishments of mind, and so the Psalm is superscribed, David's delight or solace; That is, the Psalm which he composed and sung to the Lord, to comfort himself in all his troubles with Saul; his soul wandered heaven-ward in holy ravishments and delights in God, while his body wandered about the earth in astonishment and sorrows, caused by a bloody-minded man. The very same title is given to the prayer of Habakkuk, chap. 3. 1. A prayer of Habakkuk upon Sigionoth, which some interpret to be so called because of the strange variety or variableness of the song and tune, the Prophet being in a holy rapture, ravished in spirit, and swallowed up in the contemplation of God's power and majesty soars up and wanders (like Paul in another case) he knows not whither or how. But the vulgar renders it, a prayer for ignorance, or a prayer for Oratio pro ignorantijs. error; which translation is surely an error, if not an ignorance, as to the scope of that prayer: Though the letter of the Original word (as in the former instances, and in the text before us) bears that sense. When Job saith, Cause me to understand my error, his meaning is, that his errors (whatsoever they were) in that business were secret to him, he had not gone against the light of his own conscience, nor as yet, had they brought any light to convince his conscience; he had been charged with errors, extravagancies and wander; But he understood not what they were, and therefore desires them to cause him to understand his error. Observe hence, first, Man is subject to error. To error in speech, to error in practice, to error in judgement. Man by nature, can do nothing else but err, all his go are go astray, and all his knowledge is bottomed upon a heap of false principles. All his works (by nature) are erratas, and the whole edition of his life, a continued mistake. Secondly observe; That man is in a fair way to truth, who acknowledgeth he may err. Cause me to understand wherein I have erred, saith Job; He thought he had not erred, but he grants it was possible for him to err. That which hath fastened so many errors to the Pope's chair, and from thence scattered them over all the world, is an opinion, that he, in his chair cannot err; his supposed spirit of infallibility, hath made him the great Deceiver, and deceived him. He that thinks he cannot err, errs in thinking so, and seldom thinks, or speaks, or doth any thing, but it is an error. He is most secured from error, who suspects he hath erred, and humbly acknowledges that he may. Thirdly, We may here observe what an error is. An error strictly and properly taken, is that which we hold or do, out of bare ignorance of the Truth. It is an error in practice, when we are ignorant of what is better to be done. An error in opinion is, when we are ignorant of what is better for us to believe or hold; Heresy is an error and more, for heresy hath these three things in it. 1. In regard of the matter, it must be in some great and fundamental truths; The word Heresy, is by some derived from choosing, by others, from taking away, because it takes us off from Christ, or from the foundations of saving knowledge. 2. Heresy is accompanied with pertinacy and obstinacy, after clear light offered; It is possible, one may have an error about things which are fundamental, and yet be no heretic: An heretic is condemned of himself, Tit. 3. 10. But he will not be convinced by another. Not that he doth formally and in terms give sentence against, or condemn himself, but equivalently he doth, as the Apostle, Acts. 13. 46. speaks to the unbelieving Jews, seeing ye put the word from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, etc. These men did not judge themselves such formally, they came not to the Apostle and said, we willingly submit ourselves to hell and wrath; No, they thought very well of themselves, and judged themselves worthy of eternal life. But their practice judged them, and gave a real sentence against them, while they acquitted themselves: Thus also a heretic (who ever hath a very high opinion of himself and his opinions) is condemned of himself. 3. In heresy there, is taken of pleasure and delight, therefore heresy is numbered among the lusts of the flesh, adultery and fornication, etc. Gal. 5 20. Heretics desire to disperse and vend their opinions. A man only in an error, will weep over his opinions, and it grieves him that he dissents and goes contrary unto others. But he that stiffly maintains an error, insults over others, and delights to maintain his opposition: he triumphs and boasts of his war, though he can never obtain victory (Truth only is victorious.) And some learned Critics observe as much, from the form of the Haereticus est cui voluptas est falsas tueri opiniones; ea enim est nominum Graecorum in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 definentium proprietas ut ad qualitatem designandam non adhibeantur modo, sed etiam ad innuendam delectationem quam in ea capit, cui illa qualitas in est, Camer. Myroth, Evang. in cap. 3. Epist ad Titum. Greek word, Tit. 3. 11. So then, heresy is not only an error in judgement, but a pertinacy in the will, and it takes in delight at the affections. Fourthly observe from these words, Cause me understand wherein I have erred! That An erring brother or friend, must not be importuned barely to leave his error, but he must be made to understand his error. Error should not be left, nor truth received blindfold; a man may sin in leaving an error: they do (without question) who lay it down thinking it to be a truth; and there is little question, but they do, who leave it before they understand it to be an error. It is much alike to reject an opinion as an error, which we do not understand, and to practise an opinion for a truth, which we do not understand; If a man practice or believe a truth, not convinced that it is, or not conceiving it to be a truth, that truth is but as an error, to him; because he doth not believe or practise it under the notion of a truth: and so, if he leave an error, which he is not convinced to be an error, his leaving it is not much better (and in some cases it may be worse) then his holding it; because he leaves it not under the notion of an error. We must not dance after other men's pipes, or see with other men's eyes: Except we know it is good we do, and evil which we leave und on, our not doing evil, is not good to us, and our doing good is (to us) no better than evil. Verse 25. How forcible are right words? but what doth your arguing reprove? Job speaks by way of admiration; How forcible! I cannot In Haebreo Admirativum est elegans & patheticum, Bold. tell how forcible. It is an elegant way of expressing the highness of our thoughts. As Psal. 84. 1. How aimable are thy dwelling places O Lord of hosts! He admires in stead of speaking, they are so aimable, as I cannot tell how aimable they are: Put your thoughts to their utmost conceptions of beauty, and that beauty is in the dwellings of the Lord: So saith Job here, How forcible are right words! they are so forcible, as I cannot tell how forcible they are, I must admire and be silent. How forcible are right words! The Chaldee Paraphrase reads it, how sweet are right words! interpreting it by that, Psal. 119. 103. Oh how sweet are thy Commandments unto me! they are sweeter than the honey and the honey comb. But the Originals differ, though that be a good sense. We read, How forcible! The word signifies any thing that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acrimoniae notionem habet. strong, potent or mighty; It notes also acrimony, sharpness or smartness, and so it is often applied to words either good or bad, 1 King. 2. 8. when David lay upon his death▪ bead, giving his last advices to Solomon, Thou (saith he) haste Shimei with thee, who cursed me with a grievous curse. In the Hebrew it is this word, who cursed me with a sharp, strong, forcible curse, he cursed me with all his heart, with all his might, he laid load upon me. Evil words are strong, right words are strongest: Job had before at the 6th verse of this Chapter, called the discourses of Eliphaz unsavoury, in this he taxes them for flat or weak, right words have a pleasing acrimony upon the palate of the soul, and a power upon the judgement, to sway and carry it; but yours are dull and feeble. Some render it after the letter of the Hebrew, words of right or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eloquia rectitudinis, Mont. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Sept, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Aquil. truth: Others in the Concrete, how forcible are the words of a right, or upright man! But take it as we translate, How forcible are right words! Words are right three ways. 1. In the matter, when they are true. 2. In the manner, when they are plain direct and perspicuous. 3. In their use, when they are duly and properly applied, when the arrow is carried home to the white, than they are right words, or words of righteousness. When this threefold rightness meets in words, how forcible, how strong are such words? But what doth your arguing reprove? I confess there is great strength in right words, and in the words of the upright; but you have been long disputing the matter with me, and what have you got? where are your gains? The word signifies to rebuke with conviction and argument, to show what is right, and to refute that which is contrary Job. 13. 3. the word is so used, Surely I would speak to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arguit, redarguit, praeparavit verba contra aliquem disputando & ostendendo jus. the Almighty and I desire to reason with God, to reason it out as it were by force of Argument with God. The word is answerable in sense, to that in the Greek used by the Apostle, Heb. 11. 1. Faith is a conviction or the evidence of things not seen, that is, an evident conviction; faith gives a stronger evidence than any reason, yea then sense; therefore though faith be of things that fall not under sense, and are above reason, yet faith is an evidence or a conviction, fuller than any Logical conviction or demonstration. The Argument from such authority as faith grounds upon, is stronger and more convincing than any, or then all the reason in the world. What doth your arguing reprove? Word for ward, what doth Quid disceptando conficiet disceptatio vestra, q. d. quod vos re●●●guitis redarguendi verbo non est donandum. your disputation dispute? Or what do your arguments argue? as if he had said, your arguing is no arguing, your reasons are no reasons; that which you have been arguing all this while with me, doth not so much as deserve the name of an argument (in my case) it hath no power or strength in it: Job lays a charge upon his friends by this opposition; Right words are forcible, but your arguments are not right, or, you are not right who argue, therefore what force, what power is there in what you have spoken? I can blow it all off as easily as a man can blow off a feather. Mr. Broughtton varies somewhat from this sense. And what can your blame sound blame: that is, you shall find nothing blame: worthy or reprovable in me. Observe hence, first, Words rightly spoken, are very forcible; Take it in the general. What mighty things have words, words duly spoken done? Abigail a weak woman, by a few right words overcame the strength and wrath of mighty David, and turned his whole army back; David with all his men, were in the heat of resolution, and upon a hot march to destroy Nabal, yet she stops them; And that woman speaking to Johab, (when Sheba fled to the City) with a few right words, prevailed to save the City, and stay the fury of war. Take the point more strictly; The words of truth, are full of power, full of strength. Naked truth is too hard for armed error. Truth hath the strength of God in it, therefore that must needs prevail. The Apostle professes, 2 Cor. 1. 3. We can do nothing against the truth; He means it in regard of the bent of his spirit, his heart could not move against truth; but we may use it in another sense, We can do nothing against the truth, that is, let us put out the uttermost of our power, we can never prevail against the truth. Look upon truth in the promises, that will conquer all: Look upon truth in the threaten, that's forcible to overcome all. Jer. 1. 10. God gives the Prophet a commission, I have set thee over the Nations, and over the Kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build and to plant: Here is a strange commission for a Prophet; How could Jeremiah plant or root up, build or pull down Nations? He never drew sword, yet he performed this commission fully, by his word: he pulled them down, and rooted them up by the word of threatening, and he planted them and built them with the word of promise, Zech. 1. 10. Your fathers are dead, they are gone, but my words (saith the Lord) which I spoke by my servants the Prophets, did not they take hold of your fathers? Your fathers are dead, and the Prophets are dead, but my words live still, and did not they hold of your fathers? you esteemed my words as wind, but they were a strong wind, they blew down the power of your fathers. The Apostle gives this honour to all the word of God (which is all right) that it is mighty, or forcible, through God, to bring down strong holds, and to bring every thought into subjection unto Christ. And Heb. 4. 12. The word of God is mighty in operation. The energy of it is such, that nothing can stand before it, no lust can stand before it, no error can stand before it, it bears down all with fine force. Therefore take heed of standing in the way of right words. Truth comes with such a force, that no man is able to bear up against it. It is better to have all the men of the world against us, Than to have one word of God against us. One word of truth will do more against us, than all the Armies in the world, no force can stand against this force, the force of the word will destroy the force of the sword. Truth will be the great Conqueror at last. Thirdly, Take it in the Concrete, in reference to the speaker, How forcible is the word of an upright man! Then Observe. The words of one, that is upright hearted, carry great strength and power with them. Truth loses by the patronage and defence which some give it. Truth gets little by the tongues of those men, who have no grace in their hearts. Truth in the mouth of a wicked man, is weakened by the falseness of his heart, and filthiness of his life. Sometimes precious truths are spoken by vilest men, but what force have they? they are not received or owned. Christ could not abide to hear the Devil speak truth. A godly man speaks with Authority, as it is said of Christ, He spoke as one having authority, and not as the Scribes; the Scribes taught that which was truth, sometimes, and the Scribes had always authority to teach, the chair of Moses was theirs, they were not intruders upon an office they had no call to. When Christ saith, the Scribes and Pharises sit in Moses chair (Matt. 23. 2.) He speaks not only (de facto) of what they did, but (de jure) of what they had right to do; They were not usurpers, or actors beyond their line. But though the Scribes had the right of authority to teach, yet their teaching had no force of authority, it was but talk. And it appears plainly, that the words of that hypocritical generation, the Scribes and Pharisees bore no weight with the people, because Christ gives them a charge, to observe and do what the Scribes and Pharisees bid them: As intimating that the doctrine of those Scribes (though true) was low-prized and lay much unpractised, Mat. 23. 3. We must not shorten the hand of God, as if he might not use those who have no truth, to publish a truth; He may employ what instruments he pleases, and he can make those that are evil, instruments of good. But look upon it ordinarily, thus it is, the word of truth hath most power, strength and force from the lips of those, who are upright in heart, and holy in life. How forcible are their words? The words of the wise, are like goads, or like nails, fastened by the Masters of the Assembly, Eccl. 11. But the words of wicked masters in the assembly, are like nails without points, they will not drive, or take hold, there is no fastening of them; Or the words of wicked men are like weak nails, which break in the driving: What do you arguing, reproving, teaching, you that carry yourselves thus, what force have your words? Truth loses both strength and credit in your mouths: Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery, & c? are the Apostles chiding expostulations with the Jewish Doctors, Rom. 2. And upon this he charges them with dishonouring God, and causing his name to be blasphemed among the Gentiles, vers. 23, 24. But what was the blasphemy? Surely this, The Gentiles grew to have a low esteem of the word of God, his Law was of no force with them, because those teachers were so false to it, and unspoken with their lives, whatsoever their tongues had spoken. That which hath no force upon the speakers heart, hath seldom any upon the hearers. What do your teachings teach, or your comfort comfort? what do your arguings argue, or your reprovings reproove? Shall vice reprove sin? as we speak proverbially: or if it doth, sin is not much hurt with those reprofs. Words spoken from the heart, go to the heart, and words read in the life, are most forcible to reform the life; Then the word goes forth clothed with list and power when the preacher can read his Sermon in his own heart, and the people in his life. He that speaks only out of books, does much after his rate, who (as we say) speaks without book, And he that lives not what he speaks (what in him lies) kills what he speaks. And how shall such a dead letter ('tis almost a miracle if it doth) convey a quickening spirit? Such arguings, seldom reprove any but the arguer, and him they always reprove. JOB Chap. 6. vers. 26, 27, 28, 29, 30. Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind? Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and you dig a pit for your friend. Now therefore be content, look upon me, for it is evident unto you, if I lie. Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity, yea return again: my righteousness is in it. Is there iniquity in my tongue? Cannot my taste discern perverse things? IN the two former verses, Job made an humble submission of himself unto the better counsel and instruction of his friends, if they could yet show him wherein he had erred. In these five verses, he doth two things, further. First, he expostulates with his friends about their former speech and carriage toward him. Secondly, he admonishes them to be better advised, more moderate and considerate, in what they had yet to say unto him. The former of these is contained in the 26. and 27. verses. And there are two branches of it. 1. He taxes them for making so light of what he had said, Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind? ver. 26. 2. He taxeth them for laying such heavy load upon him, in what they had said, Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and you dig a pit for your friend, vers. 27. As if he had spoken plainly thus, You have carried the matter hitherto with me, as if I had spoken nothing but bare, empty words, words without any weight; yea, as if I were raging mad, distracted, desperate, not knowing, nor caring what I did, or what I speak; as if my whole discourse were no better, then mere vapouring, a puff of wind, a nothing; and ye yourselves rage against me with such violence, as a cruel hardhearted tyrant is enraged with, against a poor, helpless, innocent and forsaken friendless Orphan; or at best, ye deal with me, as cunning sophisters and subtle disputants, seeking to catch me in your intricate discourses and doubtful debates, you make a pit for your friend. This for the general sense of those two verses, containing an expostulation about his friends unfriendly dealing with him. Now to the particulars. Do ye imagine to reprove words? The word we translate [imagine] notes a very curious, exquisite and elaborate invention of any thing. The Vulgar refers imagining 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the words, with which they did reprove, not to the act of reproving. Ye make a neat frame of wards to reprove me; and Ad increpandum tantum verba concinnatis. Vulg. so the sense rises thus, you artificially imagine, mint and coin eloquent speeches and subtle arguments, to reprove and convince me with; As if you came hither to show yourselves Logicians and Orators, rather than loving friends. This is your dealing, You imagine Num verba nuda putatis arguere, q d. putatesne verba satis esse ad arguendum & disceptandum sine ratione. Planior fuerit sensus, si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ante 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subaudias, an cogitatis arguere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meris verbis. Merc. words, to reprove with. Others thus, Do you think that words reprove? That great words shall overcome me, without weight of reason? This sense refers also to the speech of jobs friends; as if he had said, Do you stand devising words against me, or wording it with me? Do you think that your sine phrases and elaborate polished language will carry the matter with me, will words repoove me? And so we may connect it with the sentence immediately foregoing, How forcible are right words? But what doth your arguing reprove? Your arguings, that are slight arguings? Your words, are mere words, a sound and a noise, * Verba nuda & sola. mulier mulier bona. Lana, lana alba, & si quae alia Gramaticis observata. Drus. words set alone, are often taken for words only, for naked words, words without any due clothing of comeliness and moderation, and without any ballast or weight of reason and discretion. And do you (my friends) imagine to gain me, by such a parcel of words as these? But according to the sense touched before, job rather refers to the opinion, which his friends had of his words; Do ye imagine to reprove words? That is, do you think that you have nothing to answer or reprove, but a company of empty syllables, have I not spoke reason or sense all this while? Do you think you dispute with some idle-headed fellow, who cares not what he saith, or saith he knows not what? Do you think, that your words are strong and full of reason, that yours are irrefragable arguments, and mine, but idle talk or a frothy discourse? That's a second interpretation, and that which I conceive more clear to this place. It followeth, And the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as winds. We must understand or repeat the first branch, And do ye imagine to reprove, the speeches of one that is desperate which are as wind? The speeches of one that is desperate. [The word signifies a person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diffidit, desperavit, spem omnem rei alicujus efficiendae aut consequ●nde abjecit seu amisit. that is quite without hope, who thinks his estate past remedy or redress, his wound incurable, his losses irreparable, and his breaches such, as can never be made up or healed. So Jer. 2. 25. where the Prophet counsels the Church, to return and repent, but, Thou sayest there is no hope; or as we read it in the margin, thy case is desperate; what do you talk of repentance and of returning now, all's lost, all is gone, I am undone, my estate can never be recovered, Do ye imagine to reprove the speeches of one, that is desperate? Some refer this also, to the friends of job, thus: Do ye think that bare words are answer enough for me, and that the speeches of a desperate mad man, which are nothing but wind and sound, are sufficient to refute me. And therefore you rise up against me in this storm and fury, speaking any thing, without study or premeditation. But we may rather understand it, of Job himself, and that, as before, he gave their sense of his words, that they were but wind; So here he gives us their apprehension of his person, that sure he was mad or desperate. Do ye imagine that I am desperate or distracted, because I have little or no hope to be restored? Because I have lost my estate, my strength, my children, do ye also think I have lost my wits, my reason and understanding. I confess I am even worn to pieces and brought to nothing, I am spent and consumed with sorrows, that's my condition, but am I therefore desperate, and regard not what I speak? It is an easy and a compendious way of refuting all a man can say, to say he is mad. His words must needs be but wind, without weight, who is himself without reason. Do ye think to reprove the words of one that is desperate, that are as wind? Or, as Haud sane ita convenit, ut pro futilibus, verba mea habeatis, eo quod afflictonibus attritus sum & tabefactus. Merc. Mr Broughton reads, Do ye hold the terms of the forlorn, a wind? That is, do ye think, because I am in such a sad condition, and in appearance in a desperate condition, that therefore my words are light and vain, such as are no more to be regarded or heeded, than a puff of wind? And so it is, as if he had said, ye ought not to slight what I speak, because I am in such a low forlorn condition. That of Solomon comes to this sense, Eccl. 9 16. The poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. It is common in Scripture to put light, vain and unprofitable words under this expression, they are but wind. In the 15th of this book, verse. 3. Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches wherewith he can do no good? Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the East-wind? That is, should a man talk nothing, but that which is vain and unprofitable? And so, Jer. 5. 13. The Prophet shall become wind; That is, their prophecies shall become wind; whatsoever they speak (said that unbelieving people) shall be put as a vain thing, it shall be as nothing, it shall pass away, and the place of it shall be known no more; Thus they undervalved the Prophets in those times, when they spoke the truth of God, and brought them immediate messages from heaven. Hence observe; First, That words without reason, mere vain words, are no words, they are but wind. Hence those profane ones in Jeremy, who said the true Prophets had belied the Lord, and were but wind, add presently, And the word is not in them: That is, the words of these Prophets are no words. Indeed the Lord answers for his Prophets, at the 14th verse, telling the people, because they had thus dishonoured his messengers, that they should find those words, which they accounted wind, to be a fire, Thus, saith the Lord, because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. Whosoever esteems the word of God to be wind, shall find it to be a fire: and they who will not be taught by it, shall be consumed by it. But to the point in hand, we see in that Scripture vain words are windy words, and windy words as are no words: The Prophets (as they supposed) were wind, and thence they infer, the word is not in them: That is, their words have no substance, strength or power at all in them. So, Hos. 12. 1. Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the East-wind; What was the wind that Ephraim fed upon? Some vain words, some promises, he had from the creature to be delivered, some hopes raised by the word of man, who is a wind; therefore his feeding upon those hopes, was but a feeding upon wind, there was no ground or strength to make those words good. So the next words interpret, He daily increaseth lies. Such words are (by the learned) called bubbles; And why Bullatus nugas. Pers Sat 5. utpo●e similia bullis vento plenis. bubbles? Because a bubble upon the water is only filled with wind, touched it, and it is nothing. These words have nothing in them, but the breath of the speaker. Unless the spirit of reason fills our mouths, we speak nothing but our breath, or as we phrase it in our language, we do but vapour. The Apostle Peter describes such (2 Epist. 2. 18.) They speak great swelling words of vanity; And the Apostle Judas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, uses the same expression, in the 16th verse of his Epistle. Their mouth speaketh great swelling words; that is, words greatly swelled with vanity. Or swelled, as the flesh swells, by the gathering of corruption, and ill humours. The greatness of these words was their disease, and not their nature: Wise men speak great things, and fools speak great words. Secondly, Observe, That windy, empty words, will never either convince, or convert. Such words do no work: they are wind, and they pass away like wind without any impression, upon the hearers. They trouble the ear, but touch not the heart. When the noise of them is passed, all is past. They are a sound, and besides that, a nothing. Windy meats are not nourishing for the body, neither are windy words for the soul. Some knowledge doth not build up, but puff up, 1 Cor. 8. 1. and that's all the knowledge, which such words can breed, when they breed any. Thirdly, observe, We are apt to judge the words of those that are greatly afflicted, to be but vain windy words. And we are ready to conclude, they complain more than they need. When the Israelites groaning under the pressures of that bondage, sent to Pharaoh for some abatement of their burdens: we will not diminish the tale of the bricks, only let straw be given us, no saith Pharaoh, Exod. 5. 17. They are idle, let more work be laid upon the people, that they may labour therein, and let them not regard vain words. He resolved to deal wisely with them, and therefore must count them mad: their persons were near Jobs condition, and their words were fully under the same censure. Fourthly, hence note, That it is very sinful to esteem the words of the afflicted to be but wind. It was great uncharitableness in Jobs friends, thus to expound and gloss the text of his complaints. We should hear a man in affliction; as if every word were drenched and steeped in the sorrows of his heart; and take every sentence, as coming bloody from his wounded spirit. Lastly, observe, how Job describes his own estate, he was, as a man desperate (not utterly desperate, for in another place he professes in highest confidence, that though God kill him, yet he will trust in him) yet desperate he was in regard of outward help, or temporal succour. A godly man in affliction may sometime think his case desperate and remediless. Wicked men resolve in the Psalm, There is no help for him in his God; and a good man under a cloud of temptation may say, Surely, there is no help for me in my God; that is, I see not which way I shall be helped, I have no assurance, no evidence that God will help me: Not that he doubts the power of God to help him: But the providence of God seems to speak that he will not, I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul, saith holy David. Heman looked upon himself, as a man that had no strength, free among the dead, Psal. 88 5. As if he had got a discharge from the service of this world, and was enfranchised a Citizen of the grave, where all are free. As (to note that only in passage) It is said of Azariah, being smitten with leprosy, and so put from the exercise of the government, which was a civil death; that he dwelled in a several house, or in a house of freedom, 2 Kin. 15. 5. Verse 27. Yea, you overwhelm the fatherless, and you dig a pit for your friend. After he had convinced them of their uncharitableness in accounting his words light and windy, he shows them how they dealt with him, what kind of words theirs were towards him: their words were as swords, their words were blows, every expression of theirs to his ear, was an oppression upon his spirit; Yea overwhelm the fatherless; He sets forth their (as he conceived) cruelty against him, by two things, very odious both; First, the undoing of a fatherless child. Secondly, the digging of a pit (not for an enemy, but) for a friend. First, Ye overwhelm the fatherless. The Original is full of Emphasis, word for word, it may be translated thus, You throw yourselves upon the fatherless; and so it is an allusion to hunters, either to men, when they hunt wild beasts; or to wild beasts, when they hunt their prey; as soon as the hunter can reach the game, he overwhelmes it, he casts himself down, or lays all his strength upon it. A dog having caught the hare, falls upon it, and keeps it under. Some conceive that expression, Gen. 49 9 concerning Judah▪ compared to a lion, reaches this sense, Judah is a Lion's whelp, from the prey my son, thou art gone up, he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old Lion, who shall rouse him up? As if that that crouching and lying down, were when he hath taken his prey; who dares to stir up a Lion, when he hath his prey under him, if any dare, the Lion will make them a prey too. We see in daily experience, how angry a dog will be, if you stir him up, when he hath but a bone under him. Such a violence is noted in this expression, you throw yourselves down upon a poor fatherless one, a man in a low condition, as if you would tear him to pieces, and eat him up at a morsel. Our translation comes near this signification of the word, Ye overwhelm the fatherless. The word signifies to run upon one with violence, and hence Giants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ruit, irruit. are called Nephilim in the Hebrew, which is as much as to say, Oppressors, because they overwhelm the weaker with force and violence. Mr. Broughton translates the word to another sense, as noting, not an open violent way of oppressing, but a secret subtle way of circumventing, Ye lay a snare for the Orphan: the word may bear that sense, namely, to set a trap, or to lay a snare: And he parallels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Scandatum est impedimentum in via, ut quis vel collabatur & ruat, vel ab instituto cursu impediatur. it, with that word used often in the new Testament To scandalise or offend a brother, which properly signifies to lay a trap or a snare, to set somewhat whereby to entangle or catch a man, that he may be stopped and hindered in his way. Thus Job of his friends, you set a trap to ensnare, and make a pit for me to fall into, or you lay a block to cause me to stumble, in, or turn out of, the ways of holiness, while you would persuade me, that he who walks uprightly in that way, shall never meet with any rub of outward trouble. What is this but to discourage me in the way I walk, because therein I have met so many troubles. Thus you lay a snare for, The fatherless.] The word strictly taken, notes a child, whose parents are dead. Some of the Ancients say, the word Pupil, which is from the latin, signifies one without sight, or wanting the apple or Pupil of his eyes, because being deprived of his parents, he wants the light of counsel and direction, to carry him Pupillus juxta Augustinum & I●idorum ita dicitur, quasi sine oculis, quae pupillae dicuntur, i. e. parentibus orbus. on, in his course through the world. What Moses spoke to Hobab his father in law, is a truth of all good parents to their children, They are to them in stead of eyes, Numb. 10. 31. But here by fatherless, we may rather understand any one, that is destitute of help, though himself be a father. He that hath many children may (in this sense) be an Orphan, that is, friendless and comfortless. So Psal. 10. 14. Thou art the helper of the fatherless; that is, Thou art the helper of all those, who want help. That's the meaning of Christ's promise to his Disciples, I will not leave you comfortless; the Greek is, I will not leave you Orphans or fatherless; Orphans and fatherless are usually full of sorrows, therefore to be left fatherless, and to be left comfortless are the same. In this larger sense take Jobs mind, You overwhelm the fatherless; that is, you overwhelm me, who am a poor, destitute, helpless man, who have no friend, succour or support. And you dig a pit for your friend. Word for word, thus, You dig for your friend. And this is on all Velut laqueum & decipulam struitis ad eum capiendum. i, e. captionibus & cavilis eum nitamini circumvenire. Merc. sides agreed on, to intimate the secret circumvention or subtle practice (as Job apprehended) of his friends. For in Scripture, to dig a pit is a proverbial speech, and imports the laying of some secret plot to circumvent another, either in word or deed. So Psal. 7. 15. He made apit and digged it, and is fallen into it himself; that is, he devised some mischievous device to entrap his brother, and the mischief is fallen upon his own head, Psal. 64. 5. They commune of laying snares privily; And Isa. 29. 21. the Prophet describes evil workers, thus, They dig deep to hid their counsel from the Lord; wicked Politicians are diggers and underminers; sometimes this is true literally (as in our powder-plotters) but mystically and mysteriously every one that lays a plot (though he never breaks ground) is said to dig a pit for his neighbour, In the old law (Exod, 21. 33.) A provision was made, that whosoever digged a pit, should cover it, because pits were dangerous, both for men and To dig a pit for a friend, is to endanger a friend. In this sense, the latter part of the verses agrees with Mr broughton's translation of the first, Ye lay a snare for the Orphan, and ye dig a pit for your friend; False and fallacious arguments are traps and pits, in which the innocent are entangled. And Job supposes, his friends intended to cast him down into the pit of despair by charging him with hypocrisy and rottenness of heart in his profession. There is a further apprehension concerning this word, You have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sgnificat fodere & convivium instruere. Epulamini super socium vestrum. digged a pit. Some of the Hebrew Doctors translate thus, You make a feast upon your friend. The word signifies not only to dig a pit, but to feast and banquet, and it notes a sumptuous exquisite banquet, 2 King. 6. 23. And he prepared great provision for them, in this book, Chap. 41. 6. The word is used in that sense, where Leviathan is described too big for a banquet, Shall thy companions make a banquet of him? that is, are the fishermen able to catch and eat Leviathan? As if Leviathan scorned the fisher-men's engines, their nets and hooks. Taking the word so, the meaning of the clause may be thus conceived, You overwhelm the fatherless, yea you are not contented with that, but you feast upon your poor friend, that is, you rejoice in his misery, and make yourselves merry with his sorrows; as the Philistines dealt with Samson, when they had put out his eyes, Come let us bring him out and make sport with him; So saith Job, you deal with me, you oppress me, and then make yourselves merry with my sorrows. The tears of an oppressed poor man, are as wine to the oppressor, he drinks them down; the groans of a poor man are as music to a wicked oppressor, and his flesh is as meat to him. Hence observe; First, To be fatherless is to be in a sad condition. They who are fatherless, are friendless and so most subject to oppression. They who have least help in themselves, have usually lest help from others, and often receive most hurt from others. Hence we find (Ps. 10. 18) the oppressed and the fatherless put together; as if the fatherless were to expect oppression for their portion, and they who needed most protection, should be sure to find most vexation. We use to say, where the hedge is lowest, there men go over; it is so in every day's experience. The mighty Nimrods' ride over the backs of the poor. And where the hedge is low, they make lower gaps, to pass over more easily to their own designs. This spirit of oppression is described raging against those, who are under heaviest pressures, Psal. 69. 26. They persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded: When wicked men see a man afflicted by the hand of God, they afflict him more; when they see God hath wounded him, they will kill him. The trouble he is in, makes their victory more easy; As when the Philistines fell before Jonathan (1 Sam. 14.) his Armour-bearer slew after him; so do these, they slay those who are fallen before the afflicting hand of God. Observe secondly; That it is a great aggravation of the sinfulness of oppression and wrong doing, to oppress or do wrong to the fatherless. Commonly the poor are most oppressed, but always there is more sin in oppressing the poor, though to oppress or wrong the rich be a sin, and a very great one. What a stock of wickedness do they gather, who take from these to whom they are bound to give, who make them naked and hungry, whom they should and feed: who are straitened in justice towards them, to whom they ought to be enlarged in charity. It is a sin to deny them justice, who need not your charity, but to be unjust where we should be charitable, how sinful is that! It is a great sin to take away from him, who hath abundance, but to take away from him, who is in want, is an abounding sin. Therefore we find that given, not only as a rule, but as a charge, Prov. 22 22. Rob not the poor because he is poor, make not poverty your advantage for robbery. There is much baseness in it (besides the sinfulness) to trample upon those who cannot resist, and perhaps dare not complain. God is most resisted in wronging those who cannot resist others, or right themselves. When we help a poor man (especially a godly poor man) God himself gains, and (in a sense) is enriched by it; because God receives glory, and is paid (which is his greatest revenue from man) in honour and in praise, for all the help we give such poor. In our alms, we perform Gods promises for him; and they who receive premises, cannot but return praise. On the other side, when we wrong the poor (especially the godly poor) God himself loses, and (in a sense) is impoverished; because not only his praise (as much as we can do) is withheld, but his truth and faithfulness are questioned. Man's uncharitableness, would make void, the promises of God; and when promises lie unfulfilled, praise lies unreturned. Hence that threatening prohibition, Prov. 23. 10, 11. Enter not into the fields of the fatherless; that is, make not a forcible or violent entry. Why, is it more dangerous to enter into his field, than into another's? Or is there any licence here to enter into the field of a rich man, or to trespass upon him? No, there is no licence to trespass upon a rich man, or to enter upon his field, but take heed you enter not into the fields of the fatherless; why? For their Redeemer is mighty, he shall plead their cause with thee; Though poor orphans and fatherless have no might, no help, they cannot plead themselves, and they have no friend to help or plead for them, they cannot get an Advocate or Counsellor speak in their cause, Yet their redeemer is strong, he will plead with thee; He will plead with thee, for the wrong done the fatherless, as for a wrong done himself, because thou hast oppressed one, whom he undertook to protect, and so (as much as thou canst) hast brought up an ill report upon the Lord, as if he were either forgetful of his word, or unable to accomplish it. We vex and tear the promises of God, every time we vex and tear the poor of God. How sinful then is this sin; by which at once we break the command, which God gives us, to relieve the poor, and weaken the promise, which God hath given the poor, that they shall be relieved. Observe further from that expression of their cunning dealing with him, You dig a pit for your friend; deceitful words are as pits and snares to catch men in: The tongue is a great insnarer. The tongue teacheth to lay a snare, Balaam taught Balak to lay a stumbling block before the children of Israel, Revel. 2. 14. He taught him how to dig a pit, and set such a snare, as catcht the people into adultery and Idolatry: The tongue is a great Engineer, a trap-setter to catch and entangle both the estates and souls of men. And we may note another point, from the relation of the person for whom this pit was digged, You dig a pit for your friend. It is a great aggravation of unkindness, to endeavour their hurt, to whom we are bound by many names and obligations to do good, or to whom we have made profession of our readiness to do them good. The more duty or respect we own any man, the more is our sin when we neglect him. The three remaining verses of this Chapter, contain Jobs admonition to his friends, wherein he advises them, to deal better, or more moderately with him, and so he makes a trnsiation to the latter part of his speech, in the seventh Chapter, wherein he returns to the old matter, the justification of that complaint made against his life, and the equity of his desire to die. Verse 28. Now therefore be content, look upon me, for it is evident unto you, if I lie. Now therefore be content, etc.] Some read it, Now therefore begin to look upon me, or to look more favourably upon me; as if he had said, all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acquicscere in re quapiam eamque tota voluntate amplecti. Significat etiam inchoare, Deut. 1. 5. Gen. 18. 17. this while ye had hardened your faces, and clouded your brows against me, therefore now begin to be more benign in your aspects towards me. The word signifies, to begin, or take a thing in hand willingly; as also to be well pleased, content or satisfied, the sense of all comes to one point. We translate in the latter, Now therefore be content, do this thing freely, be satisfied and acquiesce in it: as we use to cool and calm an angry friend, who disputing or speaking to a business, grows hot and passionate, I pray, sir, be satisfied, let us go on meekly and moderately. Look upon me. Which notes either his desire of their friendly compliance with, and respect to him, as Mr. Broughton reads, Now therefore be content, regard me; or it notes the strength and firmness of Jobes resolution, in this contest with his friends, I am not afraid to look you in the face, or to speak face to face, look upon me, you shall not read either fear or falseness written in my forehead; the lines and characters of my countenance, shall show you nothing but the soundness and integrity of my conscience. For it is evident unto you, if I lie, you will anon read the lie in my face, if there be a lie in my heart; therefore break not off with me, turn not away in discontent, let us discourse a little more about this business, and the truth will appear. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉▪ It is evident unto you, if I lie. The Hebrew is, it is before your face if I lie, that is (as we translate) it will quickly be evident, and appear unto you by a little sober debate of this business, whether I am right or no. Et in faciem vestrum si mentior; sc. despeream vel moriar, vel non sit mihi propitius Deus, vel tale quippiam, Mer. Some think, there is a kind of secret imprecation in this speech, It will be evident unto you, if I lie: As if he had said, Let not the Lord be merciful or gracious unto me, let not the Lord pity or spare me, If I am false hearted and lie unto you. It is frequent and familiar in the Hebrew, to give such expressions of an oath; As in that oath of God, Psalm. 95. 11. quoted Heb. 3. 11. Unto whom I swore in my wrath, If they shall enter into my rest; which we translate by a plain negative in both places: They shall not enter into my rest. And Psal 89 39 Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David, or, if I lie unto David; then, let not my word be taken any more; So, Job here, it will he evident to you, if I lie, and if I do, let me not have help, or strength, or support from God any more. To lie, may be taken two ways; either strictly, as to lie, is to Mentire est contramentem ite. speak that which is false, with an intent to deceive. To speak against clear knowledge, is the proper, strict sense of a lie: Or to lie, signifies to fail, or to come short in that which is expected from us by others; To frustrate any of their hopes, is to lie to them; and so it is applied often times to the fruits of the earth, (Hab. 3. 17.) Though the labour of the Olive shall fail, the word is, though the labour of the Olive should lie, that is, though you coming to find fruit of the Olive, should find none there. The Olive whose fair leaves promise and speak you fair, as if you should have fruit, if when you come, it yields none, this Olive lies to you; So (Hos. 9 2.) The new wine shall lie, we translate it The new wine shall fail, that is, the vines which speak thus much, that you shall have new wine shortly if when you come, there is none, the vines lie. In either of these senses we may understand it; Spem mentita seges. Hor. If I lie; that is, if I speak any thing against my mind, wittingly or willingly; or if I fail in this business, if I am like the vine or like the olive, when they give no fruit according to expectation; it will be evident unto you, you shall see if we discuss this controversy a little further the truth will out, whether I shall fail or belie your expectation, or no. That place (Chap. 24. 25) will expound it so, who will make me a liar, (saith Job) and make my speech nothing worth? as if he had said, my words shall be made good, and I will not fail in that which I have undertaken, or taken upon me. There is a further apprehension about these words, Look upon Totus hic versus eleganter insinuat rem sorensem, nempe judic is strict issimum examen cosentes & testes interrogat, non solum verbis, sed etiam nutibus oculorum & intuitu. Bold. me, it is evident unto you, if I lie, as i● they were an allusion to the carriage of Judges and Magistrates towards offenders, in public judiciary trials: when an offender or one accused for any offence, is brought before a judge, and stands at the bar to be arraigned; the judge looks upon him, turns him, sets his eye upon him, and he bids the offender look up in his face, look upon me (saith the judge) and speak up; guiltiness usually clouds the forehead, and the br●w; The weight of guilt holds down the head, The evil doer hath an ill look; or dares not look up; how glad is he, if the judge look off him. We have such an expression, Psal. 11. 4. speaking of the Lord, the great Judge of Heaven and earth, His eyelids try the children of men, as a Judge tries a guilty person with his eye, and reads the characters of his wickedness printed in his face; Hence, we have a common speech in our language, such an one looks suspiciously, or he hath a guilty look. At that great Goal-delivery, described (Rev. 6. 16.) all the prisoners cry out to be hid from the face of him that sat upon the throne, They could not look upon Christ, and they could not endure Christ should look on them; The eyelids of Christ try the children of men. That of Solomon may help this sense, Pro. 20. 8. A King that sitteth in the throne of judgement, scattereth away all evil with his eyes. Wickedness cannot endure to be under the observation of any eye, much less of the eye of Justice. Hence the actors of it, say, Who seethe us. It is very hard, not to show Heu quam difficile est, crimen non prodere vultu, Ovid. secund. Metam. the guilt of the heart in the face, and it is as hard, to have it seen there. Job seems to offer himself to the view of the severest Judge, Be content look upon me, if I am guilty, it will quickly appear unto you, my hypocrisy will break out in my face, and you may read my conscience, in my countenance. It is noted of Paul, Acts 13. 59 that when he had to deal witb Elymas the Sorcerer, he set his eyes upon him, and said, O full of all subtlety. The Apostle beat him down, as it were, with a cast of his eye; Job bids his friends look upon him as long, and as critically as they pleased, he was not afraid of there looks. Lastly, thus, look to me, that is, attend well what I say, for I will explain my mind so fully and clearly to you, that it will quickly be evident to you, whether I am right or wrong. We may observe from this passage, first, That uprightness hath much boldness. He that hath a good cause and a good conscience, is not afraid to be searched to the bottom; he cares not who looks upon him, or who looks into him. David in regard of the uprightness of his heart, calls unto God himself, Search me, and try me, it there be any way of wickedness in me, Psal. 139. 23. David was so assured at his own integrity, that he was not afraid to put himself upon the highest trial, in that point: A holy heart is willing, that God and men should search it; even search it with candles, as God threatens he would, the corrupt and falsehearted Jews. Secondly note this from it; Where a lie is, it will not long he hid. A lie will break forth one time or other; you may cover and hid a lie, you may keep it, close, and sit upon it, as Rachel upon her father's Images, but at last it will be evident, a lie will out. We say, Truth is the daughter of time, and so is a lie too: a little time will bring that work of darkness to light. Take the word in the other sense, for failing, and it yields us this Instruction. That. He who hath uprightness of heart, is steadfast for ever. Truth is uniform: Which way soever the wind and the world turn, his posture is the same, Christ will not fail him, and therefore he cannot. Such a man is as Mount Zion, that shall never be removed; when the heart is sound, the actions are steady; and he that moves upon a right principle, moves regularly; and in all changes of events, changes not his way: try him, and try him again, it will be evident unto you, he will not lie. Grace is ever the same, and renders them who have it, like him (in their degree) from whom they have it, without variableness or shadow of turning. He that is not (for the substance) what he was, was never what he ought to be, sincere. He that is upon a good ground, and knows his ground, will stand to it; trust him (as a creature may be trusted) and he will not fail. Verse 29. Return; I pray you, let it not be iniquity, yea, return again; my righteousness is in it. He goes on to bespeak his friends to hear him better. Return] The word signifies. First, A Local return, or returning from a place. Secondly, It is used Metaphorically, to return from anger, or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Redire significat, sed saepe transfertur ad animum, estque a proposito ab sistere, institutum vita mutare, & paenitentiam agere. to turn anger away; Isa. 5. 25. His anger is not turned away, the Lord did not turn from his fierce wrath. Some understand it so here, Return I pray you, that is, I beseech you be not so angry, be not so hasty and choleric with me. Thirdly, To turn or return, notes desisting from our purpose, or the change of our resolutions. And thus it is the same with repentance, the Scripture abounds with the word in the sense, I shall not need to quote texts: Thus, most understand it here, Return, that is, repent of your former hard dealing with me, persist not in it, persevere not in your uncharitableness. Vbi redierit is, & tursum redieritis id est. ubi iterum, atque iterum omnia d●iigenter discusseritis, codem subinde redeuntes, & cadem accuratius reputantes, meani cognoscetis justitiam. Or lastly, Return, that is, weigh the matter better, Return, look it over again, let it have your second and more settled thoughts; consider, whether I speak not, as one constrained to this seeming impatience, from real sorrow, rather than from a professed hypocrisy. So, he bespeaks his friends again, Chap. 17. 10. But as for you all, do you return and come now (that is, be better advised, as the next words expound his meaning) for I cannot find one wise man among you. As if he had said, you have not showed any great treasures of wisdom, in all your disputations against me hitherto; And therefore he tells them (Chap. 19 28.) what counsels became them to take. Ye should say, why persecute we him? let us give over such hard censures and wounding language. Say to yourselves, let us return, as here he saith to them, return I pray you. Let it not be iniquity.] Some understand it thus, let not the thing which is objected against me be iniquity, object not unrighteously against me: Or thus, Secondly, in this disputation, as it shall be carried on again, deal not so unequally, so unjustly and hardly with me as before, deal fairly, uprightly, candidly and friendly with me, Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; let there not be such wrangling and hard speeches between us, as hitherto there have been. Mr Broughton agrees to either sense. Change your mind now: let not unrighteousness be objected. Yet the Hebrew particle (Al) doth not always forbidden, but often Particula 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non semper prohibet, sed aliqu●ndo simpliciter negat. Non erit iniquitas in verbis meis scili es, Merc. notes, simply to deny; and some translate it here, for a plain denial, rather than a forbidding, Not as we, Let it not be iniquity; but there shall not be iniquity, that is, in my words, or in that which I shall speak; and we may connect it with the latter part of the vers. my righteousness is in it. Yea, return again. He advised them to return before, now he doubles his advice, yea return again. Such repeated doubled speeches in Scripture, note; First, A vehemency of spirit in the speaker? Secondly, A necessity of obedience to the thing which is spoken, by the hearer. It is surely a weighty and a necessary point, which is spoken and spoken again. That's a double duty, and calls for double alligence, which we are doubly called to, Return I pray you, do not think that this is a small matter, a business of indifferency, return again. As (Cant. 6. 13.) Return, return, O Shulamite, return, return: There was great necessity for the Shulamite, to return, when he was so often cried after to return. So, Rejoice, and again I say, rejoice, said the Apostle, to note the vehemency of his spirit, and the necessity of that Gospel-duty, or how exceeding becoming it is, for Christians to walk cheerfully and rejoice. Here then, Return, yea return again, is, as if he had said, there is great cause you should return, and be better advised, that, you should consider otherwise of my case, than hitherto you have done; My righteousness is in it. That is, I am righteous in this matter, in this business: or upon such a further consideration and returning to the quistion, my righteousness, (by a true stating of these differences) will appear unto you. Job was no Justiciary, no boaster in or of his own righteousness; but he speaks of the righteousness of his cause, and of the uprightness of his conscience. According to that of (Psal. 73. ver. 6.) Thy righteousness shall appear as the light, that is, the righteousness of thy cause: so saith Job, my righteousness is in it, when you return and return again, to consider diligently and seriously of this business, you will find the result of all will be, that my righteousness is in it, that is, that I am in the right, or free from blame in this business, that I have not broken the rules of justice, or departed from a good conscience. Further, Others conceive Job bespeaks his friends in this quick language; Return, yea return again, to recall his Fort in dignaebundi discessum papabane-aut jam surrexer●nt discessuri, quaere illos invitat ad promoven●ā disputationem, Pined. friends, who were ready to go away in a pet or in a fume, as we use to say; They were rising to be gone and Job hastily calls them back, Return, I pray return; As a man in discourse growing so hot, that the house cannot hold him, but he will break away, is usually re-invited, pray stay, sir, return again; so Job, return again, my righteousness is in it, you shall see I mill make the matter good. Hence observe, first, (taking the rerurn in a Metaphorical sense.) That a passionate or inconsiderate man, goes from himself, and from the matter. Passion carries from the business before us. An angry man's discourse runs wild, he had need be reduced. Consideration is the returning of a man unto himself, or his coming home. As the passions of the concupiscible appetite, and intemperancies of youth, carry a man beyond his bounds (and therefore the Prodigal repenting, is said to come to himself, Luk. 15. 17.) so likewise do the passions of the irascible appetite. Anger disorders and discomposes the spirit, as much as luxury. Secondly, observe, To persist in evil is worse than the committing if evil. The one is common to man, the other peculiar to the Devil, and his peculiars, who know no repentance. It is bad enough to do ill, but not to return from evil, is inexcusable; therefore the Lord, often by his Prophets lays this, as the heaviest charge of all, upon his people. He taxes them with their departures from him: But especially with their refusals to return unto him, Yet have ye not returned unto me; this is more sinful than all the sins you have committed, you have not returned, you go on and persevere in evil. The sword of God proclaims alike voice in our ears at this day, Return, return again. We have departed and gone away from God, let us not draw that ancient change upon ourselves, I have smitten you, yet have ye not returned unto me. It is not sinning, but not returning, which brings final condemnation, impenitency seals the stone of destruction upon Persons, and Nations. Thirdly, whereas these words, Return, let it not be iniquity, are referred to Jobs friends, as if he had said, Let not this your passion make your sin fouler and greater; you have sinned already, but if you return not, your sin will be iniquity shortly, Note, He stops his sin from b●ing an iniquity, who hastens his returning from sin. Every sin, the least sin, is sin, as the least drop of water, is water: but every sin (in a strict sense) is not iniquity. The nature is the same, but the degree varies. As many a child never comes to be a man; so many a sin comes not to be an iniquity. Happy ●s he that taketh those little ones, and dasheth them against the stones. That returns before his sin be iniquity. Fourthly, observe further, how Job calls upon his friends, when he sees them transported (as he thought) with passion; he leaves complaining of his own sorrows, and gives them good counsel; he, for that present forgets his own ruins, that he might amend them. It is our duty to reclaim, and to appease those by gentle entreaties, who, we suppose, have wronged us, or gone astray from truth. Job doth not rail upon or revile his friends, but beseeches them, to be better advised, and consider what they did. Fifthly, in that he saith, Return, yea return again, taking this for a call to a more serious consideration of the business, we may note, That a man's cause and condition must be considered, and considered again, twice, that is, fully considered, before he be condemned. We must give account of every idle word, much more than of every unjust sentence or censure: It is but wisdom to consider that strictly, about which we must give so strict an account. Sixthly, in that he saith, My righteousness is in it. Observe, That a good cause, the more it is searched into, the better it will appear; the deeper you dig into it, the more truth and holiness you will find in it. Search a godly man, and the lower you go, the better he proves; the nearer you come to his heart, the richer treasures of grace and uprightness will be discovered. at his tongue, or, his lips may be gilded over with good words, but Whereas take an hypocrite, and you may have a little good metal, search him to the bottom, and there is all rottenness, even seven abominations at his heart. A godly man is not gilded, but gold. Search a Job quite through, try him to the centre, righteousness is in all his ways, the further you search, the better he is, and he will be best of all, at last. Verse 30. Is there iniquity in my tongue? Gannot my taste discern perverse things. Formula est seipsum compellantis & animum suum scrutantis, facta examinantis, Coc Verbaper stultitiam & temeritatem prolata latentis pravitatis indices. Thus he concludes his Directory to his friends, and his preparatory for what himself intended to pursue in the next Chapter, Is there iniquity in my tongue? doth my tongue speak unequal, or evil things? Hath any thing been spoken by me against common right, or against the divine rule? hath my tongue uttered any iniquity from my heart, Hath the sinfulness of my heart broken forth at my lips? Or hath it appeared, that I have done wickedly by what I have said? When my words are duly weighed, I shall not appear the man you make me. The word signifies calamity or misery, as well as iniquity, and so we may take it here, Is there calamity in my tongue? That is, do my words bespeak or invite my afflictions. We find the word used in that sense, Psal. 52. 2. Thy tongue deviseth mischief, or calamity; Iniquity devised or framed by the tongue is often a scourge upon the back, Micha 7. 3. the great man uttereth his mischievous desire; The mischievous evil words of his soul. Is there, (saith Job) any such mischievous device in my tongue? Dober Havoth Naphshi. Have I spoken poison to infect you: or blasphemy to dishonour God. Cannot my taste discern perverse things? Cannot my taste?] The Hebrews is, Cannot my palate? And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Palatum, eleganti Metaphora, a sensibus externis, ad interiores translata, appellat illam animae facultatem, qua justa ab injustis, vera â falsis, & aequa ac recta, ab iniquis & perversis dignoscuntur, nonsecus ac palato cibi dulces ab amaris, etc. Merc. Habet & anima suum palatum. because the palate is exquisite in tasting, therefore by a trope the organ is expressed for the act, Cannot my taste discern, cannot my palate, Or as others, Cannot my mouth discern perverse things? That faculty of the soul, whereby we discern or distinguish just from unjust, truth from falsehood, as sweet is distinguished from bitter, by the palate, is elegantly called the palate of the soul. Cannot my taste discern? The Hebrew is, Cannot my taste * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scriptura saepe linguae, faucibus manibus, tribuit, quod men. 'tis & intellectus proprium est, sc. med tari & intelligere. Magna est rationis & orationis cognatio. understand perverse things? It is usual in Scripture to ascribe understanding, not only to the senses, but also to the tongue, and sometimes to the hand. Understanding is ascribed to the tongue, in the place before named: Psal. 52. where the tongue is said, to the vice mischief; The tongue, properly, cannot devise, the tongue doth but utter mischief, it is the mind or heart that deviseth. The shop is within, where mischief is forged and framed, yet the contrivance of it, is in that text given to the tongue. There is a twofold reason of it, why the holy Ghost attributes the work of the understanding to the tongue, hand or senses, First, there is a great affinity, between reason and speech, and therefore the tongue, which is the instrument of speech, is honoured with the work of the understanding: And so great is the affinity between reason and speech, that no creature void of reason can speak; Speech is a peculiar property of the rational creature, Speech is or aught to be the immediate issue or birth of reason. Words are conceived in the mind, and born at the tongue. And words are the image of the mind. We may see what work is wrought in the mind, by that which is spoken by the tongue. The shape of a man's heart (when he speaks himself) comes out at his mouth. And therefore before a man speaks, he meditates. Meditation is the conception of words. As speaking is the production of them. Thus the Lord charges Joshua (Chap. 1. 8.) The book of the law shall not departed out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night: One would think, it should rather have been said, The book of the Law shall not departed out of thine heart, but thou shalt meditate therein, or if, not cut of thy mouth, than Ita meditaberis ut exipsa cogitatione mentis effervescente redundent, & ebulliant in ore verba. thou shalt speak of it. Meditation is too high a work for the mouth, Yet, because there ought to be much meditation about the Law of God, before a word of it comes out of the mouth, therefore the Lord saith, The book of the Law shall not departed out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night; that is, as oft as thou shalt speak, thou shalt meditate, thou shalt not speak rashly, it shall not be the work of thy tongue alone, but of thy mind and tongue together. There is a second reason, why, acts of the understanding are ascribed to the tongue, or to the senses; because when a thing is well spoken, or duly acted by any sense, Reason is the guide and the bodily Organ is under the dictates of the mind or understanding. So Gen. 41. 14. when old Jacob in giving the blessing unto joseph's children, Manasseh and Ephraim, laid his right hand upon the younger, and his left hand upon the elder, the text saith, he made his hands to understand, we translate, he guided his hands wittingly; there was so much reason, such divine reason in that act of jacob's hands, in laying his right-hand upon the younger, that the Prudenter egit manibus sun, ac siiplae manus mysteriorum consciae erant. Onkel. Hebrew gives it with this elegancy, he made his hands to understand; which one of the Jewish Writers, learnedly expounds thus, He ordered his hands wisely, as if they had been made acquainted with that great mystery of God's counsels, that the greater blessing was the portion of the younger son. And so the Psalmist (Psal. 78 72. speaking of David's reign and government saith, He governed them by the skilfulness of his hands. The Hebrew is, by the understanding of his hands; and more, the understandings of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In intelligentiis manuum, vel vol●rum. his hands. Or, as one renders it, The discretions of his hands, or the prudency of his Palms, ascribing all kind of political knowledge and understanding unto David. David in the outward administrations of the kingdom, acted with so much reason and justice, that his very hands are said to understand; His hands understood more than the heads of other Princes. As David's hands, so Jobs palate or taite, had an understanding, Cannot my palate understand? Yet further, it is frequent in Scripture metaphorically to translate things, which are only acted or apprehended by the inward senses, to the outward. Taste, properly, is of meat and drink; the humour or moisture, which is in meats, suitable to the salivall humour in the mouth, causeth pleasantness of taste. Here Job speaks of Doctrines, or of actions, Cannot my taste discern perverse things? If a thing be perversely or properly, truly or falsely spoken, cannot I taste it quickly? And hence the word of God is compared to those things, which are the object of taste, as to milk, and to strong meat, 1 Cor. 3. 2. I (saith the Apostle) have fed you with milk, and not with meat; That is, with easy and common truths, not with the more mysterious parts of Gospel-knowledge, because ye were not able to bear it. The taste of such mysteries was too strong for your palates. The same Metaphor is enlarged by the Apostle, Heb. 5. 12, 13, 14. And in this Book we find it more than once, Doth not the ear try words, and the mouth taste his meat? (Job 12. 11. Chap. 34. 3.) That is, doth not the ear try words, as the mouth tastes meat? Cannot my taste discern Perverse things? That is, words ill spoken, or wrong placed. The word signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also, any calamity, or sad accident. And so Mr. Broughton renders it. Cannot my palate declare all kind of heavy sorrows? Do ye think I have lost my judgement of things, and that I cannot tell, when I am pinched or pained. First, in that he saith here, Is there iniquity in my tongue? Observe, The tongue ofttimes discovers the iniquity of the heart. If there be iniquity in the heart, it will one time or other break forth at, and blister upon the tongue. He that is rotten at his heart, is commonly rotten in his talk, Matth. 12. 34. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And when there is abundance of iniquity in the heart, there is seldom a dearth or scarcity of it in the mouth: especially in times of trouble, that iniquity and corruption, that disease and plague of the heart, will break forth at the lips. As, Evil words corrupt good manners; So evil words discover, that our manners are corrupt. There are few men, but as the Damosel spoke to Peter, Their speech bewrayeth them, and you may smell the filth of their hearts by their breath. Secondly, observe from these words, Is there iniquity in my tongue? He whose heart is upright, may know that he is upright. When Job questions, Is there iniquity in my tongue? He resolves; There is no iniquity in my tongue; None of that iniquity, which you charge me with. I grant a believer hath not always a sight of his own integrity and uprightness, many a soul bears false witness against himself, and oppresses his own innocency: yet for the most part, sincerity hath a witness in itself, and holiness carries a light by which it is seen to him that hath it. An upright heart may know his own uprightness. Thirdly, in that Job is thus stiff, in maintaining his own uprightness, and in denying any iniquity to be in his tongue, Observe; It is a duty to maintain our own integrity and uprightness. Job was upon it before, and is now upon it again, and he will be upon it afterward, he never gives over justifying of himself against man, though he had not a word to plead for himself against God. Fourthly, from the latter clause, Cannot my taste discern perverse things? Observe; Reason distinguishes truth from falsehood, as the palate distinguishes bitter from sweet. Reason it is the souls-taster. Princes have their tasters before they eat, lest there should be poison in the dish. God hath given unto man a taster for his spiritual meat. The Pope will not suffer the meat he provides and cooks to be tasted, but will have it swallowed whole, or else he will thrust it whole down their throats. It is alike spiritual tyranny, to starve souls, and to cram them. It is our duty, when meat is set before us, & we are at a full table of knowledge, where variety of doctrines and opinions are served in, then to call for our taster. We may be surfeited else, if not poisoned. There may be a wild guord among good herbs in the pot, and so death in the pot too, therefore first taste, then eat and digest. A Christian hath a taste to discern error from truth; why then should he be denied the use of it? A woe is pronounced against those, who offer unwholesome doctrine, Isa. 5. 20 woe to those that call evil good, & good evil, that put light for darkness and darkness for light, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. A like woe is due to them, who will not give others leave to discern for themselves, what is good or evil, light or darkness, bitter or sweet; as good let another live for us, as another taste for us. And their misery will be little less, than the woes of these men, who cannot or will not take pains to distinguish, when evil is called good and good evil, when light is put for darkness, and darkness for light, when bitter is put for sweet, and sweet for bitter, or (as Job speaks here) whose taste cannot discern perverse things. There are some whose taste is so far from discerning perverse things, that it is easy to discern, their taste is perverse; for, bring them wholesome, true and savoury doctrine, they say it is bitter, or false doctrine; Bring them false doctrine, a lie, a dream a fancy, a mere humane invention, dish out such provision before them, that's excellent cheer. This was the heaviest curse, which God sent upon the Gentiles, Rom. 1. 28. God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things, which are not convenient, that is, to a mind void of judgement, a mind that could not taste or distinguish things, therefore the issue or effect was, They did things which were not convenient; as if a man not being able to judge of meats, eats poison, or meats most contrary to his health and constitution. It is a fearful judgement to be given up to an unapproving mind, to a mind that cannot discern truth from falsehood, the Oracles of God, from the forgeries of men, superstition, from holy worship. It is a sad thing to lose our spiritual senses. Such as play the wantoness with the word of God, and walk below the truths they know, are at last given up to a reprobate mind, to a mind not able to know the word of truth, and then they swallow down error for truth, and suck in deadly poison, like sweet pleasant wine. The Apostle speaking of the difference of doctrines, under the metaphor of meats, saith, Milk is for babes, but strong meat is for them of full age, even for those, that by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern good and evil; That is, their spiritual senses exercised to taste this, from that doctrine, and not to swallow every doctrine alike. It is a great blessing, when a people have senses exercised; And it is a blessing we have much cause to pray for, in these times. That many palates are out of taste, is too apparent by the multitude of heterodox opinions, which go down without disrelish. Some, which would even make a man tremble to name them, are entertained with delight. Some, which dissolve our comforts, and breaks us off from comfortable communion with Christ: Some, which shake, if not overthrow the very foundations of faith, are swallowed, as pleasant morsels. Doth not this convince, that there's a want of Jobs taste among us, to discern perverse things. Therefore get your senses exercised, be established in the present truth, that, ye, as this holy man in the midst of all bodily distempers, and outward troubles (which usually put the natural palate out of taste) may yet even then, as he, have your inward senses exquisite, and your spiritual palate exact to discern right from perverse things. Lastly, note, False doctrine, or true doctrine falsely applied is a perverse thing. False doctrine perverts, First, Reason; Secondly, Scripture; Thirdly, the souls of men. The Apostle (Acts 20. 30.) prophecies to the Church of Ephesus, and with them to all Churches, That out of themselves men should arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. Holy doctrine draws men to God, and false doctrine draws men to man. As itching ears heap teachers to themselves (2 Tim. 4. 3.) So false tongues heap disciples to themselves. That which is perverse in its nature, is perverting in its effect. JOB Chap. 7. Vers. 1, 2, 3, 4. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling? As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work: So am I made to possess months of vanity; and wearisome nights are appointed to me. When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I'm full of toss too and fro, unto the dawning of the day. WHere the knot of connection, between this and the former Chapter lieth, is not so discernible; which hath given occasion for much diversity of conjecture about it. First, It may be conceived, that Job in his discourse, refutes that tenet of Eliphaz, that, he was punished and scourged for his wickedness: by showing, that to be afflicted is the common condition of man, and therefore no such judgement of any man's wickedness or sinfulness could be made from his afflictions. Or, Secondly, That Job here confutes that promise, which Eliphaz made about the twentieth verse of the fifth Chapter, concerning outward prosperity, He shall know that his tabernacle shall be in peace, and he shall be delivered, etc. by proving it inconsistent with the present estate of mortals, to look for such uninterrupted happiness, or fair days without any clouds and storms, as Eliphaz seemed to undertake he should, Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling, etc. Or thirdly, the connection may be made with these words, which himself had spoken at the four and twentieth verse of the former Chapter, Teach me (saith Job) and I will hold my tongue, and cause me to understand wherein I have erred: In which words we shown, Job makes an humble submission of himself; and in case his friends could instruct him better, he was willing to learn, he was not wedded to his own opinion, or resolved never to be removed from it, In pursuance of which promised teacheablness, he in this Chapter grants what was grantable in the former discourse of Eliphaz. Eliphaz had said, Chap. 5. ver. 7, & 8. That man was born to labour as the sparks fly upward, and thereupon presently infers, I would seek unto God, etc. both these, the Doctrine and the Use, Job seems to prosecute in this seventh Chapter, as if he should say, what thou hast rightly spoken, I will grant thee; thou hast said, Man is born to trouble, I say so too, Is there not an appointed time unto man (of trouble?) and are not his days as the days of an hireling? And thou advisest me to seek unto God, and apply myself to him; it is good counsel, and therefore I will follow it: As we read he doth, at the seventeenth and twentieth verses of this Chapter, O remember that my life is wind, what is man that thou shouldest magnify him; I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? Why dost thou not parnon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? Language full of humility, and sounding out the brokenness of his heart. But lastly, rather thus, Job having in the former Chapter refuted those arguments, by which Eliphaz would convince him, and having renewed his request to die, expostulated with his friends about their unkindness toward him, and admonished them to a more equal dealing with, and hearing of him: he now proceeds to the confirmation of his first request to die, which he doth from divers grounds. 1. From the general condition of man's life, vers. 1. Is there not an appointed time to man, etc. 2. From the condition of some particular men, A servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and an hireling looketh for the reward of his work, may not I therefore desire death, which only will be a shadow to me, till when, I shall not have my reward? And, 3. From his own special condition at the third verse, and so forward to the seventh, therein expressing how sad, how restless, how troublesome his life was to him, which (as he apprehended) nothing could give remedy to, but only death: My disease appears curable, only by a grave, and my only medicine, is a mouth full of earth: Therefore the matter standing so with me, have I not rightly and reasonably desired, either that I had not lived at all, or that I may quickly die, and that God would cut off my life. Having by these arguments confirmed that former desire; In the next place, he again renews his former complaints from the eleventh verse of this Chapter, unto the seventeenth. Thirdly, he abases himself before God, as unworthy, that God should take any notice of him, or bestow a thought, a visit, a smile, or a chastisement upon him. What is man, that thou dost magnify him? that thou dost visit him, & c? Lastly, he concludes with confession of his sin, and earnest desire of pardon, at the twentieth and the one and twentieth verses. Thus in general, both for the dependence of the latter part of his speech upon the former, and the principal parts contained in this. Verse 1. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? and are not his days also like the days of an hireling. The question affirms, there is an appointed time to man upon earth, and his days are like the days of an hireling. From whence, we may form his argument thus. He that hath a certain term of life appointed him, to serve in, doth not sin in desiring an end of his service: But there is an appointed time, etc. Therefore it is not sinful to desire it. Is there not an appointed time?] The Hebrew thus; Is there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Militia, per Metaphoram, tempus ordinatum, determinatum, constitutum: ipsum ●ilit●ae tempus. not a warfare to man upon earth? So you find it in the margin of your Bibles: Our Translators put warfare there, and Appointed time in the text. The word signifies both, because wars of all other actions, have their seasons, and their appointed times; and the life of man is well described under both, or either of those notions. Consider it first under the most proper signification, and so many read it, Is there not a warfare to man upon the earth? Isa. 40. 1, 2. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord, speak comfortably to Jerusalem; Why? Tell her, her warfare is ended. In that place our translators put appointed time, in the margin, and, warfare, in the text, as here they put, appointed time, in the text, and warfare, in the margin; The sense in both is the same. Tell her that her warfare is ended, that is, the time appointed or constitued for her trouble is ended: So here, Is there not an appointed time? that is, is there not a set, determined time of the troubles, or troublesome warfaring life of man? The Greek Translators interpret it, Temptation, Is there not an Graeci 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, quasi tentationis officinam ubi homo varia experiatur varijque eventis & periculis sit expositus, ut miles in bello. appointed temptation to man upon the earth? And that gives us the same meaning; for temptation is a warfare; temptation is our spiritual war, the exercise and probation of a Christian. There are three things in which the greatest exercise of a Christian life consists, Prayer, Meditation, and Temptation. First Prayer, wherein man, is seeking unto, and working his heart towards God: Secondly, Meditation, wherein he is preparing himself, by holy thoughts and divine considerations, for his nearer addresses unto God in prayer, and how to walk in every duty towards man: Thirdly, Temptation, wherein he wrestles and strives with those enemies opposing Prayer, Meditation, and the whole course of holy obedience. The life of man is a continued temptation, and that's a spiritual warfare, a continual bickering with a world of enemies; And though they without stand still, yet a soul can scarce pass one hour, but he shall have many fights and bouts with his own heart. In this sense, Is there not an appointed time of warfare or temptation to man upon earth? Our life is a warfare in divers respects. First, it is a warfare, because Christians do or aught, to live under the greatest command of any in the world; they ought to stand armed at a call. A Soldier is under absolute command, he must not dispute the Orders of his General, but obey them; The Centurion in the Gospel saith, I have Soldiers under me, and I say to one go and he goeth, to another come and he cometh; and to a third do this and he doth it: which he speaks not as commending the special virtue and good disposition of his own Soldiers, but as describing the duty of all Soldiers: therefore Souldiary is well defined, To be the obedience of a stout and valiant mind, Militia est obedientia quadam fortis & invicti, animi arbitrio carentis suo. out of his own dispose; A Soldier moves upon direction; so must a Christian, he is in a warfaring condition, he must have a charge or a word from his Commander, for every step he treads, or action he undertakes. Secondly it is a warfare, in regard of perpetual motions and travels: A Soldier's life is an unsettled life; while he is in actual service, he hath no rest, he is either marching, or charging; and when he comes in his quarters, his stay is but little, he cannot build him a house, he can but pitch him down a tent for a night or two; he must away again. Man's life hath no stop, we have here no abiding City, we dwell in tents and tabernacles, waifaring and warfaring out our days. Thirdly, a warfare, because of continual watching. It is the watchword which Christ gave his followers, I say unto you, watch; that's the soldier's word and work too; warring and watching go together: The Soldier stands Centinel, fearing the enemies surprise: A Christian should stand upon his guard and his watch at all hours, is not that a warfare? Fourthly, a warfare, because Christians ought to keep their rank and file, that is, the places and relations wherein God hath set them. A Soldier commanded to stand such a ground, must not stir, though he die for it, and if he stirs (by Martial law) he shall die. There is so much keeping of order in war and Battles, that whatsoever keeps order, is said to fight, or war. The Sarres are said to have fought against Sisera in their courses, Judg. 5. 20. The Stars are embattaild or encamped in their spheres, out of which they move not, and are therefore often called the Militia, or host of Heaven. Fifthly, a warfare, because so full of hazards, troubles and labours, or because so much hardship is to be endured. A Soldier converses with dangers, and dwells in the territories of death continually: This caused Deborah to begin her Triumphant Song, with praise to the Lord, because the people offered themselves willingly. Many are forced and pressed to the wars; and most who are not pressed by the Authority of others, are pressed by their own hopes of gain, or desire of vainglory and renown. A true Voluntiere in war; is a rare man: There is so much danger in it, that there is seldom much of the will in it. The whole life of man, is full either of visible or invisible dangers; he passes the pikes every day. The Apostle reckons eight distinct perlis in one verse, which met him, which way soever he turned, 2 Cor. 11. 26. He was in deaths often. And though there are but few such Heroes as he, yet 'tis seldom, but any of us are in deaths: Especially while we remember, the mighty spiritual enemies and oppositions which encompass and beset us every day. We wrestle not with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers, etc. And are therefore advised to take to us the whole armour of God; never to stir without our sword. Sixthly a warfare, in regard of the issue; victory and triumph, or slavery and death, is the issue of our lives. Either we overcome and are more than conquerors (that's the Apostles language, Rom. 8.) or else we are conquered, and more than captives; that's the Apostles sense too (both in allusion) They are taken captive by the Devil at his will: To be led captive by the Devil, is the lowest captivity, lower than any captivity unto men. In reference to 2. Tim. 2. 26. the spiritual part of our warfare, there's no coming off upon equal rermes: We must be victors or slaves, conquer or die. Only this is the Saints assurance, that as the Captain of their salvation was made perfect by sufferings, and conquered by dying, so (at the worst) shall they; spiritual death (as sinners) hath no power over them at all, and when they die (as men) natural, or by men violently, they shall receive fuller power: Thus our life is a warfare upon earth. But take the word as we translate, for an appointed time; Is there not an appointed time to man upon the earth? And the reason why it bears that sense, is grounded upon these two things. 1. Because there is a special season of the year, most fit and Non significat tempus simpliciter, sed tempus certum ac constitutum, ea analogia quod determinato anni tempore exerceri solet militia. Militia ideo tempus determinatum dicitur, quia non quae vis aetas bello apta est, sed determinata & certa. suitable for war, 2 Sam. 11. 1. And it came to pass at the return of the year, when Kings go forth to battle. The time for war, is such a known appointed season, that the same word signifies, warfare, and any appointed season. 2. Because men go out to war, at a special time of their age: There is an appointed settled time of man's life, wherein he is fit to bear arms: Every age is not fit for arms. Old men and children are not fit for the field: Hence we find, Numbers the first, throughout, that the muster of the children of Israel is thus made, ver. 3, 20, 22, etc. From twenty years old and upward; all that are able to go forth to war. The Roman and Greek histories are distinct in this; In some Commonwealths, from Fifteen to Fifty, in others, from Twenty to Sixty: and in ours, the appointed time is, between Sixteen & Sixty, so men are pressed and listed for war; And because there is such an appointed, or a set time of life in all States to go out to war, therefore, that word is elegantly applied, to signify a set or an appointed time for any business. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? Upon earth: In Heaven our time knows no bounds, there are no terms or distinctions in eternity; Seasons and variety of times vanish and shall not be heard of in Heaven. Eterenity is time fixed. But there is an appointed time. To man upon earth. The word is Enosh, miserable, weak, frail man, is there not an appointed time to this man upon earth? that is, while he walks in this lower region of the world, and lives on mould. The sum of all may be thus conceived, as if Job had said: Singulis dich●● sua certaminae praesto sunt, adeo non nisi cum ipso vitae terminautor labores vitae, ac proinde se. cu●dum naturam finem vitae expeto, Jun. Every day hath evil annexed, some affliction or other waits upon every hour, so that there is no period of man's sorrow, but the period of his life; and therefore I walk by the rule of sound reason, when, that I might see an end of my trouble, I call for the end of my days. Observe hence, first, The life of man, is measured out by the will of God. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? There is. As God hath set out bounds and limits to the sea (Hitherto thou shalt come, and no further) by a perpetual decree; so, he hath also set out bounds and limits to the life of man, his life it is an appointed time: Thus far the line of thy life shall reach, and no further. We live not at adventures, neither can our care lengthen out our own days: As all our care cannot add one cubit to our stature, so not one minute to our glass or hour. And as we cannot lengthen, so we cannot shorten our own days in respect of this appointed time: They who die in a time, when God forbids; yet die when God appoints: And they live ●ut all God's time, who wickedly shorten their own: They cut their thread of life, but they cannot cut the thread of God's decree; we live not at our own will, but at the will of God; we are tenants at his will, in these houses of clay. He is the maker of time, and the measurer of our days; he gives us the lease of our lives for what years, he pleases; and it is most fit that he who created time, should dispose of time. God is the Lord of time, and farms it out, as, and to whom he thinks good. Christ might do what he pleased upon the Sabbath, for (saith he) the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath; God is the Lord of time, and therefore hath power to appoint, to one more, to another less. My times (saith David) are in thy hand, Psal. 31. 15. Thou mayest lengthen or shorten, continue or break them off, as thy pleasure is. Some live as if they were masters of time, and could appoint out their own term: as if they lived at their own discretion, and could make a covenant with the grave, and agree with death, when to come for them. They article with it, for this year, and the next; they say to the grave, thou shalt not take me yet, thou shalt spare me yet, I have such ends to drive, such pleasures to take, before I would die. They (Isa. 56. 12.) speak, as if their tongues and their time were their own, and they knew no Lord of either; To morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant; they speak of the next day, as if they could command it, and bid it come to serve their lusts. That wretched rich man, Lu. 12. could say, soul take thine ease, thou hast goods laid up for many years; see how liberal he is to his soul, out of another's right; and because he had got a great stock of riches, he gives himself a rich stock of time, many years. He resolved to make his life larger, as he had done his barns; and because they were full of corn, he also will be full of days, whereas the word came, Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be taken from thee. And he could not live till next morning, who resolved upon many years, to live. Secondly observe, That the decrees of God concerning our lives, must not lessen our care to preserve our lives. Is their not an appointed time to Non in absurdum trabenda est haec jobi sententia, ut temere se quispiam periculis objiciat, quia spatium vitae definitum est. man upon earth? Yes, that there is, man lives at God's appointment; but he must not live upon that appointment, that is, withdraw himself from means of his preservation, and say, God hath appointed how long I shall live, therefore what need I take care how to live? or what need I take care for the preserving of my life? As it is in spirituals, so also in temporals. God hath determined and appointed the portion of every man, all comes under a decree, under an everlasting and unmoveable decree; yet the decree which is past concerning us, must not take us from our care about ourselves. Though only the elect are saved, yet none are saved by their election; Infants who attain not the use of reason, much less the actings of grace, yet are not saved barely by election; what they cannot do, is done for them, they are saved as elect in Christ, not precisely as elect: how, they are united to Christ, we know not, but we know they must be united, or else they could not be saved. But they who grow in years, must also grow in the graces of sanctification, otherwise they are not saved by the grace of election: The decree of God appoints us to salvation, but the decree of God doth not save us; we must run through all the second causes, and ways which the word of God hath chalked out to eternal life and glory. Thus also our temporal life, passeth under a decree, it is by appointment: but woe unto those that shall say, God hath appointed how long I shall live, therefore what need I take care about my life? This is to walk contrary to one part of the decree, while we seem to submit unto the other. For God who appoints life, appoints all the means which concern the preservation of life. It hath no shadow of a warrant, for any man to cast himself upon needless dangers, or to forbear necessary helps for the sustaining of his life, because he hears his time is appointed, and that his days one earth, are all reckoned and numbered to him, from Heaven. Thirdly, for as much as there is an appointed time, we should learn patience, and wait quietly upon God. It is not in creatures (be they never so angry) to prolong the time of our sorrows. The same word, which shows us, that our life is a warfare, shows us also, that it is an appointed time. Men cannot appoint you one moments trouble, or lengthen this war, when God will shorten it. Our hairs are numbered much more our days. Honour God, and have good thoughts of him, for whether your times be fair or foul, calm or stormy, they are appointed times. The whole life of man on earth is ordered in heaven. Fourthly, if our lives are for an appointed time, we should be willing to die, when God calls. All the time we would live beyond that, is of our own appointment, and we should be willing to live, till God calls, for all that's appointed time. As it is sinful not to be willing to do (though it be burdensome) what God appoints, so is it likewise, not to be willing to live what time God appoints, though it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mercendarius a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conduxit. Mercenarius est qui in certum tempus condu●itur & saepe in die, quem ideo Graeci vocant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Sicut in unico die operario, quamdiu lucet sol, no● est ulla requies mercenario constitu●ā. ita dum luce hujus vitae fruimur nulla nobis requies expectauda est. be painful and troublesome. And are not his days, like the days of an hireling? An hireling is he, who works a set time, for a set reward; And so this latter clause of the verse is the same in sense with the former, Is there not an appointed time to man, and are not his days, like the days of an hireling? That is, are not his days set, as an hireling, with whom we agree for so many days, or for such a day. An hireling.] We may take him either for a hired soldier, a mercenary in war, or for an hired servant, a mercenary in work. An hireling in either notion is called to labour, sorrow and sweat; Such is the common condition of man, His days, are as the days of an bireling. God threatneth Moab by the Prophet, in this language (Isa. 16. 14.) Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned; that is, within three years, which shall be like the years of an hireling, troublesome years, laborious years, vexatious years, wearisome years, and then the glory of Moab shall be contemned, and utterly despised, As if he had said, Moab is now in great glory, but near great desolation. You shall see three years' trouble will stain all the glory of Moab, and whither all her beauty; we feel this truth, England was a Nation of great glory, you see how two or three years, like the years of an hireling, troublesome years, years of affliction, years of hard labour and travel, have almost spoiled the glory of it. And yet here Job makes a general description of the life of man: It is not the lot only of some poor afflicted, hard-wrought servants, that, their days are as the days of an hireling: he speaks of mankind, of the master, as well as of the servant, His days are like the days of an hireling. We may note from it, First, That, Except we labour we ought not to eat; For the days of man, are as the days of an hireling, the hireling shall not have his meat, except he work for it, neither ought he that hires, or sets him a work. The master is in this sense an hireling. The Saints are (in this sense) Hirelings. The Apostle speaks to believers, and reproves them (2 Thess. 3. 12.) There are some which walk among you inordinately, working not at all, now them that are such, we command, that they work and eat their own bread, and ver. 10. If any man work not, let him not eat; even they, whom Christ hath made free, are to account themselves, as hired servants, that is, they must not eat the bread of idleness; we steal all the bread, which (one way or other) we labour not for, and therefore the Apostle bids the Thessalonians work, that, they might eat their own bread; It is not our own bread, which we buy with our money, unless we pay (in what we can, and are called to) labour for it also. As we eat that bread pleasantly, so we come by it honestly, which is dipped in our own sweat. Secondly, we are hence taught; That, We ought to take our travels well, we must not murmur at our labours, or complain over our work, and say, what a weariness is it. As the Lord cannot bear it, that any should murmur at spiritual work, or say with them in the Prophet, What a weariness is it; so it is very displeasing to him, to say of our callings and the burdens of them, What a weariness are they? Why? It is the common condition of man: Why then should we quarrel with that law of labour, which is become the portion of our mortality. The corruption of our nature hath led us into this condition, and made us all as hirelings. Man's innocency had business, but sin hath brought him to sweat, and changed his labour into toil. Man was put into the garden, as Lord of it, to dress and till it, but now he is put there, as an hireling, to sweat and toil at it. There is a stamp of servility and drudgery upon all the labours, which the children of men take under the Sun. That argument, which the Apostle uses, to support us, in the bitterness of affliction, hath alike strength in it to comfort us in the toil someness of our labours. As there is no temptation hath taken hold of us, but that which is common to man, 1 Cor. 10. 13. So there is no labour laid upon any of us in our lawful callings, but that which is common to man. Even the Saints, whom Christ hath made free and separated from the world, are not freed from service, while they are in the world. And while Christ would not have them careful in any thing, he would have them industrious in every thing. That Canon of the Apostle is clear for it, (1 Cor. 7. 20.) Let every man abide in the same calling, wherein he was called; that is, your spiritual calling doth not void your civil. When you have learned to drive a trade for heaven, you must still drive your trade on earth. While there is any thing of sin in us, there must be somewhat of the hireling in us. There is not the most ingenious, no, nor the most spiritual labour, we go about, but there is somewhat of the hireling in it; in the duty of prayer, in the duty of preaching, there is somewhat of the hireling, that is, there is bodily pain and weariness, a waste upon our strength, and expense of our spirits. Though in these things the Saints work not for wages, but their very works is their wages, and their labour their reward, though there be nothing mercenary in their spirits, yet they feel the effects of a mercenary work, upon their bodies, even weariness and waste of natural strength and spirits. Thirdly, Seeing the days of a man are as the days of an hireling. Observe, There is a reward or wages, somewhat follows the labour and travel of this life. The hireling labours all day, but at night he hath his reward, Mat. 20. Christ compares believers, even, in their spiritual capacity, unto labourers in a vineyard, to hirelings, who wrought for a penny a day, and at night, they had every one their pay: It is so in reference to the whole course of this life, we are hirelings; in the evening, we shall have our penny, verily, There is a reward for the righteous, their labour is not in vain in the Lord, 1 Cor. 15. And as the righteous have a reward, so, the wicked shall have wages. Satan's hirelings shall have full pay, though no content, for all their works, The wages of sin is death; there's pay, such as it is, woeful pay, a black penny. The days of man are as the days of an hireling, there is an issue & a reward for every work Fourthly, note from the Metaphor, while an hireling is doing his master's work, he doth his own too, that is, his own profit comes in by those acts, in which he labours for another. It is thus also in the general state of man: above all, Christ's servants and hirelings, gain by the duties of obedience they perform to Christ, their own profit comes in, with his honour. A godly man cannot do a stroke of work for God, but he works for himself too; the servants of God must not be self-seekers and self-workers, they may not make themselves their end; but as it is with an hireling, let him be never so upright hearted toward the master he serves, let him lay self by, in all he doth, yet he hath a share of profit in all his labours God hath so espoused and married his own glory, and the good of man together, that, whosoever really promotes the one, promotes both. It is so likewise with those, who work the works of darkness, and do the lusts of the devil. While his slaves are doing his work, they are gaining towards destruction, and their own wages increases daily, they are treasuring up wrath and judgement against the day of wrath. As the measure of their sin fills, so doth the measure of their punishment. Thus also the days of man, are as the days of an hireling. There are two general observations, which I shall but name, because they will occur again. 1. The life of man, it is short; As the days of an hireling. The servant doth not abide in the house for ever, a hireling is but for a time. And it is good for a man; that it is so. some complain exceeding much, because their lives are so exceeding little. But let them weigh it well, and they shall see cause to rejoice much, because they live so little. In some respect it is good for wicked men, that their lives are so short: if their lives were longer, they would be wickeder, and so heaping up more sin, they would heap up more wrath against themselves. And it is very well for the Saints, that their lives are so short. Their corruptions & temptations, their weaknesses and infirmities, their troubles and afflictions are so many, that it is well their days are so few. If they should have length of life added to heaps of sorrows, and perpetuity with outward misery, how miserable were they! Christ promises it, as a point of favour to his, that the days of trouble should be shortened, Except those days should be shortened, no flesh should be saved (that is, kept or preserved alive in those tribulations) but for the Elects sakes those days shall be shortened, Mat. 24. 22. It is a favour also to the Saints, that their particular days are shortened, that theirs are but as the days of an hireling, for as much as their present days are days of trouble and travel. The days of the best are so full of evil, that it is good, they are no fuller of days. And further, it is good they are so evil, or full of trouble. It is well for wicked men, that their days are full of trouble; the sweeter their lives are to them, the sinfuller they are against God. Their outward comforts are but fuel and encouragement to their lusts; and while their lives are calm and quiet, they do but sail more quietly down into that dead sea of everlasting misery. And the Saints have this advantage by the troublesomeness of their lives, to be kept in continual exercise, and more dependence upon God; they would love the world too well, and delight in the creature too much, if God did not put bitterness into their cup. Job having thus shadowed the state of man, seems to make out his intendment or scope thus. There is no reason why I should be charged so deeply for desiring death; For what is the life of man? Is it not a life full of travel, and of trouble, full of dangers and temptations, is not the time of his life short and set? Is it not a speedy passing time, and yet a firmly appointed time? Why then should not I think the period of my life to be at hand? Why should not I think my appointed time is come; Forasmuch as I have so many evidences and symptoms of death before me, and have heard so many messages and summons to the grave. Death sits upon Plurima mortis imago. my lips, ready to come in, while I am speaking. Death hath taken possession of me already, and seized my port: death is in my face, I am the very picture of death, and images of death stand round about me. Therefore Eliphaz, why should I not call to have my days summed up, that I may see the end and sum of these troubles; Or wherefore wouldst thou stay my complaint against my life, or stop my desire of death, by giving me hopes of many days, and of a flourishing estate in this world? That's his first argument, from the general condition of mankind. Now he proceeds to consider somewhat more special in that condition. Verse 2. As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work. Verse 3. So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. As a servant earnestly desireth. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Traxit aerem ad os per Metaphoram, inbiavit, ardentur cupiit, qui enim vehementer aeliquid cupiunt, prae desiderii & expectationis magnitudine ad os rem trabunt seu frequentiùs respirant. To desire earnestly, is but one word in the original, it is so full of sense, that we cannot empty it into any one word in our language. The letter is, As a servant breathes after the shadow: And because a man, that hath an earnest longing desire for a thing, pants, breaths and gasps after it, therefore that word, which signifies to gape and draw in the air pantingly, signifies also to desire, or to desire earnestly, As a servant earnstly desireth, The shadow. Some understand it of the night, when the servant comes to rest himself after his labour all the day. Night is but a great shadow. Secondly, We may take it for the shadow of the day; A servant that is heated in labour abroad in the open field, earnestly desires a shadow, to get under a tree or a bush, a little to refresh himself. Or, Thirdly, the shadow may be taken for the house: to come into a man's house, or under a man's roof, is called a coming under his shadow, Gen. 19 8. Therefore they are come under my shadow, saith Lot to the men of Sodom, that is, under the covert of my roof. The shadow is used often in Scripture to note protection and mercy, Shadows are substantial mercies, and the promise of a shadow ●●bra id significat quod prote●endo & custo●●endo ob●mbrat is a real favour, Isa. 4. 6. The Church hath a promise under this notion, There shall be a Tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, Isa. 25. 4. A refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat. And Isa. 32. 2. The Lord promises that he will be as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land unto his people. And David flies to this shadow for safety. Under the shadow of thy wings shall be my refuge, till these calamities be overpast, Psal. 57 1. So Psal. 17. 8. Psal. 91. 1. So that in these words, As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, Job means that, which is most refreshing and desirable by a servant: And in those Eastern hot Countries, shadows were very refreshing and much desired. Jacob reporting his labours in keeping Laban's sheep, saith, In the day time I was consumed with heat, or parched with heat. Therefore a servant hath reason to desire the shadow. And as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work. There are two things, which a servant or an hireling desires much, Rest and reward; Shadow and pay. When he is hot the shadow refreshes him. And when he is hungry, his pay refreshes him: while his hand is at work in the day, his heart is upon the wages he shall receive at night. Hence the Lord in compassion to servants made a gracious provision for them by a law, Deut. 24. 14, 15. Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant, etc. at his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the Sun go down upon it, for he is poor and setteth his heart upon it, lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it be sin unto thee. Job puts the instance in both, As the hireling looks for the reward of his work, etc. He looketh. The word signifieth to expect a thing with an eye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 toward it, what we earnestly expect, our eyes move after it. David in his waiting upon God, saith, Mine eyes are towards thee, I lift up mine eyes and my heart to God; The same word is here used, The hireling looks. For the reward of his work. So we translate it. The Hebrew is, He looks for his work: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why? he had work before, he had his work all day long, his Master shown him his work, he needed not look for that; then his work is the reward of his work. In the Scripture, the word work signifies three things. 1. The very act of labour. 2. The effect of labour, the thing wrought, or that which is the product of labour. When a man hath laboured, what he laboured about is visible, and that we call his work, as well as the act of his labour. 3. The reward or the wages, which a man receives for his labour, Levit. 19 13. we read a plain text for it, The wages of him that is hired, shall not abide with thee all night, until the morning. The Hebrew is, The work of him that is hired shall not abide with thee. So Psal. 109. 20. Let this be the reward of mine adversaries Obus est fructus seu merces oberis quae pro labore datur, by'r Metonymiam from the Lord; The Hebrew is, Let this be the work of mine adversaries from the Lord. And Jer. 22. 13. we have the word in the same sense, work for wages. As it is usual to put prayer for the thing prayed for, a petition for the thing petitioned, or for the thing obtained by petition, The Lord hath given me my petition (saith Hannah, 1 Sam. 1. 27.) that is, the child for whom I did petition. It is usual also in Scripture to put sin for the punishment or reward of sin, Gen. 4. 13. My sin is greater, that is, my punishment is greater, than I can bear. And the Master is forbidden to detain the servants wages, lest it be sin to him, Deut. 24. 15. that is, lest he be punished for detaining it. Thus also it is usual to put the work for the reward of the work, The hireling expects his work, that is, he earnestly looks that he shall have wages in the evening for his work. Now (saith Job) as these wait, the servant and the hireling, for the shadow in the day, and for their wages at night; So I am made to possess months of vanity, etc. I shall note a point or two in passage from the words, as they contain a general truth, before I examine them in this application. Take the words as they are a direct proposition, A servant desires the shadow, and an hireling looks for the reward of his work. Hence observe, First, The condition of a servant is a very laborious and a wearisome condition; He longs for some rest; he earnestly desires the shadow. Observe, Secondly, The servant must have a reward. there's all the reason in the world he should. Observe, Thirdly, The hireling hath earnest thoughts upon his reward; His reward is in his eye. It is the reason given, why the wages of the hired servant should not be withheld, Deut. 24. 15. The Lord the righteous judge between Masters and servants, giveth this account or ground of his Law, Thou shalt not detain his wages, for he setteth his heart upon it; Poor man, he hath been working all day, and he hath had his heart upon his wages; the hopes of that, gave him some relief and ease in going through his hard task and service, therefore thou shalt not keep it from him, his heart is set upon it. But it may be questioned; Is not this a sin in the servant, to set his heart upon his wages? A charge is given, Psal. 62. 10. If riches increase, set not your heart upon them; and is it approvable in a servant, to set his heart upon his wages or increase? There is a great difference (and it is worthy our notice) between those two Scriptures. The word in Deutronomy (speaking of the poor servant) notes the lifting up of the soul; He hath lifted up his soul unto it, so we read in the margin of our Bibles: But in the Psalm (where he speaks of the covetous rich man) the word imports, the letting down, or settling of his heart upon it. A poor man hath but a little, and his wages (it may be) is above him, his wages (possibly) is more than he is worth, therefore he lifteth up his mind to it, as a mercy and a blessing from God, for the relief of himself and family; take heed (saith the Lord) that thou detain not his wages; for the poor man lifteth up his soul to it, as a thing he reacheth upward for; It is very dangerous to take that out of the hands of man, which he is taking (as it were) out of the hand of God. But a rich man, who hath abundance, lets his heart down, he croucheth and broodeth upon the creature. A godly poor man, looks up to his reward, and fetches his bread from Heaven; A covetous rich man looks down to his reward, and takes his bread from the earth; A godly man is above all earthly things, and yet he lifts up his mind to receive them. A mere natural man is below earthly things, and yet he descends that he may receive them: The things which both receive, are the same, but the conveyance and derivation, differ always, as much as Heaven and earth, sometimes, as much as Heaven and hell. But to the text. Lastly observe, That, it is the property of an hireling (take it strictly) to eye his reward. This is the description of an hireling, he is one who looks to his reward, whatsoever be doth to his work. Christ, John 10. 13. confirms this character, The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep; he cares much for the fleece, and for the flesh, but he cares little, if at all for the sheep, that is, how, or whether the sheep be fed and prosper. He that works for Christ, finds his reward in his work, and his eye is upon his work, as a reward, as well as upon the reward of his work: he is pleased as much, yea far more with his business, than he is with his wages: Did he not take content, and pay himself in this, that he is in a work acceptable to Christ, he could take no content, he could not be pleased at all, that he is in a work profitable to himself. Now Job applies this general, about the nature of a servant and an hireling, to his own condition. So I am made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. So am I made. It looks like a strange, and a very unlikely similitude; As a servant desireth the shadow, so am I made to possess months of vanity: Therefore to clear it, we must remember, that this is a similitude with a dissimilitude: The similitude is concealed, the dissimilitude is expressed; we may make it out thus; As a servant desireth the shadow, and an hireling looketh for the reward Similitudo dissimilis. of his work, so I, who am labouring in the heat of these afflictions, do earnestly desire a shadow, and I who am at work, as an hireling, would have a reward; that is, I would see the end and issue of these troubles; But (here's the dissimilitude) I am made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me; As if Job had said, When the servant hath wrought all day, and is weary he can lie down at night quietly & rest himself; but alas! the night is as troublesome, and as laborious to me as the day; When the hireling hath laboured and taken pains, he receives his reward at evening, but my wages are months of vanity, and my rewards are nights of trouble, I am paid in ill coin, months of vanity, wearisome nights are appointed for the reward of weary days. Thus the sense is plain. I am made to possess.] The word signifies possessing by inheritance and descent. Two things are implied in that phrase: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est jure baereditario aliquid acquir●re & possidere. First, that troubles and afflictions belong to us by right, they are possessed as an inheritance, which we receive from our parents and progenitors. I am made to possess. And, Secondly, it notes the continuance of troubles upon us: We have not only an ill lodging for a while, or we stay not with trouble, as travellers for a night, but we possess and inherit them as our own. Jobs troubles, were not to him as an hired house, or a lodging, but as an inheritance, wherein he was settled and estated: I am made to possess months of vanity; as if he had said, you see what the patrimony and inheritance is, which descends to me: I have waited for comfort, and have been in expectation of good days, but I possess months of vanity, that's all I have found and felt, as the issue of my labours. Months of vanity.] Some read, Empty Moons (the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bears that sense) as if Jobs Moon were always in the wane, or ever in the eclipse. The word signifies any kind of vanity, whether in word or in deed, personal vanity, or real vanity, falsehood or deceit, any thing that is trivial or light. Such months have I appointed to me. But some may say: Months of vanity: Why doth Job complain of this? Hath any man in the world any other than months of vanity? Why then doth Job take it so ill, that he possesseth months of vanity, when no other fall to the lot or possession of any man? David Psal. 39 vers. 5. affirms, that, man at his best estate is altogether vanity; What reason then hath Job to complain of months of vanity in his worst estate? It was with him as well as with any of his neighbours, we know not who hath any other than months of vanity. The Preacher makes this the preface of his Sermon, Eccles. 1. 2. Vanity of vanities (saith the Preacher) vanity of vanities, all is vanity. I answer, it is true, our whole life is a life of vanity, but yet there is more vanity in some man's life, or in some part of the same man's life, than in another. Vanity is gradual. There is a vain, and a rainer vanity, and there is the vainest vanity. Months of vanity may be understood two ways. First, Months of vanity, that is, months empty of comfort, fruitless months, months bringing me no refreshing or content. Inanis & vacua, quia erat vacua hominibus jumentis & plantis. As Gen. 1. 2. it is said, the earth was without form and void: void, that is, it had neither man, nor beast, nor plant upon it, there was nothing but emptiness upon the face of the earth, as it lay in that rude mass; So Job saith here, mine are months of vanity, void months, that is, months not filled up with any comfort, with any refreshing, with any joy, with any light or content, all these which are as the filling up of our months, and the beauty of time, are taken away from me, mine are empty months, my days are all Dogg-dayes, or at best, the days in the calendar of my life are blanks. Secondly, Months of vanity, because he had not what he expected, or the issue which he waited for: Job expresses himself in a Vacuum tempus est, quon nullam nobis offert utilitatem. posture of waiting, by the former similitudes; The hireling looks for his wages, and I look for somewhat, but it is in vain, I cannot enjoy it. So the word is used, Psal. 78. 33. where the Psalmist describes the sinful distempers of the people of Israel, and God's anger towards them, They believed not his word, etc. What then? Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. The days of all men are consumed in vanity, as we said before? but here was somewhat more judicial and penal; It is a sore judgement to consume our days in vanity, as that people did: As soon as they came out of Egypt, they were in a fair way to Canaan; but God leads them about by the wilderness, and there lets them wander out forty years, expecting and waiting for Canaan, but no Canaan came, or they came not to Canaan; this was the spending of their years in vanity, because they were travelling to their desired rest, but enjoyed it not; they went toiling up and down the wilderness as in a maze, finding no way out, but at the door of the grave; their carcases fell in the wilderness; thus their days were consumed in vanity. So saith Job, I possess months of vanity, that is, months wherein I am tired out in continual troubles, and they are fruitless, issueless troubles, I have no sensible benefit by them, I see no end of them, my hopes are frustrate, and put far off from me. And are not these months of vanity? Observe hence, first, Troubles will prevail upon us, whether we will or no. I am made to possess, etc. As if Job had said, I would fain have got over these months of vanity, or worn them out, but whether I will or no, I am made to possess them. The bands of affliction, are too strong for the creature to break: when the Lord sends trouble, he will make a man possess it, how displeasing soever it is; It is best for us to submit, where we cannot remedy, and to yield quietly to that, which we cannot avoid. Secondly, Observe, Troubles come to us, as our natural inheritance. I am made to possess months of vanity, they are as mine inheritance, and I would wave my right, but I cannot. There are two parts of our natural patrimony, sin, and sorrow, both these descend to us, and we are made to possess them, till we come to our purchased inheritance, reserved in Heaven for us. Observe thirdly, That, though every man's life have vanity in it, yet some men have more: that is, more troubles and trials, more disquietments and disappointments. The common condition of all men, in their best estate is, that they are altogether vanity, but the vanity of some men is more vain, their afflictions more afflicting, their troubles more troublesome, and their sickness more sick than their brethren. Job speaks as if he had spoiled all the world of this inheritance, and had engrossed all vanity to himself: I am made to possess months of vanity: That vanity which is the portion of all men, seems sometimes to be the portion of one man alone. I am the man that hath seen affliction, saith the Prophet Jeremy. Noctes pl●nae vigilijs & anxietatibus. Noctes laboris, i. e. laboriosas. Menses babco omni solatio vacuos, ut nec i● noctibus quidem liceat mihi quiesce e. Allusie ad servi & mercevarij nocturnam quierem, Pined. Lam. 3. 1. why, is that such a strange sight, who hath not seen affliction? True, but jeremy had seen more, then most, and therefore he speaks, as if he only had seen affliction. I am the man. And we arisome nights are appointed to me. Wearisome nights.] Or nights of labour and weariness; As if job had said, though the servant be wearied all day, yet the night is not wearisome to him, he rests at night, but I am wearied in the day, and wearied in the night; wearisome nights are appointed to me; the night which is given unto others for rest, is measured out to me, in watch and in sorrows. And this is a great aggravation of his sad condition: it is said before, that he had months of vanity, yet it might be supposed, his nights were comfortable intervals of refreshing: As a man may say, I have had seven years of hard labour, yet it is supposed he rested all the nights of those years; so when job saith, I had months of vanity, it might be conceived, he had, at least sometimes, a good night; therefore he adds, wearisome nights are appointed to me, I speak not after the rate of ordinary men, whose months labour, is a month of days, my labouring months include the night also. A strong, healthy man goeth forth to his labour and to his work, until the evening, Psal. 104. 23. But a sick, weak man, goeth forth to his labour in the evening. * Nox aegris maxime infesta est, toti sunt in cogitandis malis suis The night is most laborious to sick men, than they revolve their troubles, and being free from visits of friends, they visit their own afflictions, and study their own distempers, freely. Are appointed to me.] The Hebrew is, * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Numeravit, supputavit, unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mensis quod juxta lunae cursum menses numeramus. Non quancumque rationem numerandi de otat. sed artificialem & Arithme●●c●m; neque illam quam vocant Additionem, sed substractionem. Are numbered, or reckoned to me: as if he should say, God sets down my nights by tale or by scores, It is an arithmaticall word, is notes to number by art & skill: And some observe, that it notes Arithmetic in that operation of it, which we call substraction or subduction, not that which we call addition or multiplication. Wearisome nights, are numbered or appointed to me, in a kind of substraction, that is, God takes or substracts the night out of the months, and makes them as wearisome and as troublesome to me, as the days are. And because those things, which are thus numbered by way of separation or substraction, are usually appointed or appropriated to some special Qui in hac ratione numer andi quaedam subducuntur, & quasi separantur, ideo significat scorsim destinare ad aliquem specialem usum. use, therefore the word is well translated, to appoint or constitute: if you see a man separate or subtract one thing from another, it is an argument that he hath a reason for what he doth, and intends it to some extraordinary purpose. The word is so taken here, to note a special end to which these nights, being substracted from the rest of his time, were appointed; namely, they were to be as Jobs pay and reward; He was troubled all day, and if he looked for his reward or comfort in the evening, this was given him, A night as wearisome as his day, or he had an ill nights rest given for his hard day's labour. The Prophet gives us the word in such a sense, Isa. 56. 11, 12. He tells the Jews their sin in the former words, Ye furnish a drink offering to that number; Some understand his meaning to be, a reproof of that wicked and superstitious custom, wherein the Jews (it seems) did sympolize with the heathens, who were wont to drink to their Idols by number, to such an Idol they would drink so many cups, and that was called a drink offering to that number; Now saith God, because you have done thus, namely, furnished a drink offering to that number, therefore I will number you to the sword, or, therefore I will appoint you to the sword, I will subtract and take you out, and you shall be the men separated for the sword to deal with and destroy; I will number you to the sword, that shall drink your blood, because you have been so accurate in wickedness, to drink by number. The word is applied to Christ (Isa. 53. 12.) He was numbered amongst the transgressors, that is, he was taken aside, and separated from the innocent, and ranked amongst transgressors; which notes him appointed, or set apart to that end, that so he might be the Saviour of transgressors, and a deliverer of the wicked from their sins. In Daniel 1. ver. 10. when those children of the Hebrews, desired to be spared from eating the King's diet, I dare not do it, saith the steward, for I fear my Lord the King, who hath appointed your meat and your drink; as if it should be said, he hath numbered out to you, so many dishes of meat he hath numbered out to you, so many flagons of wine, he hath substracted such a proportion, and appointed it to you, and I dare not alter it. And in the Prophecy of Jonah, chap. 1. ver. 17. it is said, God prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, so we translate, the Hebrew is, God numbered a great fish to swallow up Jonah, that is, God did separate or substanct a fish from all the rest of the fishes of the sea, for that end and purpose, to swallow up jonah. From all which instances it is clear, that the word notes an appointment, by way of design, or the drawing of a thing to some special use and service. When a Party is drawn out of the body of an Army, they are numbered or appointed to some design; such a meaning is in jobs words, these nights are substracted or drawn out, and then appointed to be my reward and wages. The sum of all is, job comparing his estate with that of hirelings, servants and soldiers, finds his far worse than theirs, they have rest in the night, at least some nights they rest, but he had none. Observe here the law of nature, Night is the time of rest. Sleep is the parenthesis of our troubles: it puts a stop to our sorrows, and gives intermission to our labours. Observe secondly, That the troubles of every night, and how many troublesome nights any one shall have, are determined by God himself. I have wearisome nights (saith job) but they come not by accident, they are appointed and exactly numbered to me. It is matter of great comfort, to remember, that God is thus accurate about our sorrows: He gives his people a cup of sorrow, & he appointeth how many drops shall be in their cup, all the world cannot put in one drop beyond his measure: He appointeth out our trouble for the kind, and for the degree, and for the time or continuance of it; how many wearisome nights, how long every night shall be, are all calculated and set down, in the calendar of his heavenly counsels. I shall add but a word of the next verse, which is only the description of a wearisome night: job having said, that wearisome nights were appointed or numbered out to him: now resolves us what he means by a wearisome night, or when he accounts a night wearisome. Verse 4. When I lie down, I say, when shall I arise, and the night be gone? And I am full of toss to and fro, unto the dawning of the day. This is a wearisome night, and it is a most exact description of a wearisome night; when a man, as soon as he goeth to bed, desires to rise, as soon as it is night, inquires for day, this man hath a weary time of it. When shall I arise, and the night be gone? Mr Broughton translates, the dusky time be gone? The word signifies evening, and the verb, to mingle or to mix; because the evening is a time, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Miscuit, advesperascit, inde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vespera tempus ill●d cum tenebrae miscentur luci. wherein there is a mixture (as it were) of light and darkness. Evening, is light and darkness mingled; hence we call it twilight; And though all the night be (in this sense) mixed, because in nature there is no pure darkness, yet in the evening, this mixture is more discernible; therefore it is rather appliable to the former part of the night, because afterward the light is more fully overcome, and conquered. When shall the night be gone? The Hebrew is, when shall the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mensuravit binc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mensuram quantitatis continuae denotot, sicut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 discretae. night be measured out? There is an elegancy in that; it signifies to measure a thing, as we measure cloth, by a yard, or as ground is measured, by a rod or pole; it signifies likewise to measure time, to tell, count and observe the hours: As if job had said, of himself (as many times sick men do) I lie a bed all night, and tell the clock. The clock is the measure of the night: now, saith he, when shall the night be measured out? As if he had (with sorrow) counted the tedious hours, oh when will this time be measured out? what a long night is this! As come to a sick man in a morning, and you shall have him say, what a long, tedious night was this? as long as two or three nights. He adds yet another part of the description, I am full of toss to and fro unto the dawning of the day. He lay measuring the night, and was unquiet all the while, full of toss to and fro. The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saturatus word signifies to be filled with meat and drink; I have my fill of troubles, my fill of torture, I have unquietness enough, as much as I can hold of sorrow. Toss to and fro.] The word is understood by some, of inward toss. I am full of toss to and fro, that is, I have great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 motus, remotus-elorgatus. Ceterem agitationem denotat. Saturatus sum v●gis cogitationibus. Rab. Lev agitations in my heart, my thoughts are very unsettled. One of the Rabbins to that sense, I am full of wand'ring thoughts; thoughts will toss up and down, forward and backward; A man's thoughts will toss him from one end of the world unto the other; while he is a prisoner in his bed: They toss him from business to business, while he is unfit for any business. A sick man is full of inward toss, of wand'ring thoughts, his thoughts run fastest, when himself is bedrid, or confined to his bed: all the night is spent in the travel of his mind, while his body cannot stir. But rather undestand it of corporal toss. A sick man full of Aegrotantes mutationibus ut remedijs utuntur. Sen. pain removes from one side of his bed to another, from one corner to another, sometimes from the head of the bed to the foot. The Moralist expresses it excellently, Sick men use changes, as if they were medicines, they hope by changing their place to lose their pain by the way, I am full of toss to and fro. Till the dawning of the day. Till the day break, that is, the whole night though. Some understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Crepusculum vespertinun, vel matutinum. this for the evening, the word signifies both the evening and the morning. And these interpret this latter part of the verse, for his troubles in the day, having complained before, that wearisome nights were appointed to him, When I lie down, I say, when will the night be gone? There is an end of the night, but when the night is gone, have I any ease in the day? No, I am full of toss to and fro, until the evening; And so it is an amplification of his troubles in regard of both parts of the natural day, light and darkness. But we may more properly keep it to the description of a wearisome night, and that word, which may note the evening, is here to be appropriated to the dawning of the day, when darkness gins to departed, and give way to the prevailing light. This was a great aggravation of the afflictions of this holy man, he had no rest, no ease, in any part of the night, he could not so much as, get a nap towards morning. The night is the time of our truce with troubles, through a man be in conflicts with business all day long, yet there is a cessation at night, all is laid by till morning. Hence the night and sleep are well called, The Conquerors of evil, and Victors over sorrow; Malurum Domi●ices. because in the night a man gets rid of them. Christ saith, Mat. 6. ult. Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof: if there be evil enough in the day, who is able to stand before the evils of day and night too? When our very sleep becomes our fight, what can flesh and blood do any more? Sleep is a medicine for all diseases, and Physicians often give a sleepy potion for a medicine, that the body may have a little refreshing, after it hath been worn and tired out with a wakeful sickness. Observe from the text, as it is the description of a sick man; That a man in pain lo●ks upon every time as better to him, than the present time. When I lie down, I say, when shall I arise? I hope it will be better with me anon, I hope the day will be better to me than the night, and when the day comes, than he wisheth for night hoping the night will be better than the day. An afflicted troublesome time is so described, Deut. 28. 67. In the Morning thou shalt say, would God it were Even, and at Even thou shalt say, would God it were Morning; They shall think any thing, or time to come, better to them, than the present; therefore when they had night, they called for day, and when they had day, they sent a messenger for the night, ever thinking the next change of time, would befriend them with a change in their condition. Observe, Secondly. Change of place giveth no ease of pain. I am full of toss to and fro to the dawning of the day; he had changed, and changed, and changed, but could not change his pain for ease, that continued still. Some travel to other Countries to mend their Estates. Some go from kingdom to kingdom to ease their minds; and some to better their manners; but, as he that runs to another country caelum non animam mutat, qui trans mare currit. changes his air, but not his heart, altars place, but not his manners, the same is the same still: So it brings no health to the sick, no ease to the pained to change place. As a man sinsick, before he comes to rest and healing in Christ, tosses from place to place, from this duty to that duty, from this means to that means to get a little ease for his wounded spirit and aching conscience; he hopeth this will do him good, and that will do him good, but all in vain. And as worldly men hope their pleasures and their riches will do them good, and so they toss from one pleasure to another, from creature to creature, but all fails there is no settlement, no composedness, no peace, no redress, till the soul fixes upon Christ. So in bodily pains, there is no ease, no refreshing, but in God: it is not this or that place of the bed, it is not the bed or the couch, it is not the Country or the City, a sharp or a temperate air can do it; God can alone, and he can command any creature to do it. You that have months of comfort, and to whom refreshing nights are appointed, bless God, it is not your bed that gives you rest, but his blessing. Remember this description of a sick man: present the condition of a sick man to your thoughts, think what a wearisome thing it is, to lie all night telling the clock, calling for day, and tossing to and fro, praise God for quiet nights, and pity those to whom wearisome nights are appointed. JOB Chap. 7. vers. 5, 6, 7, 8. My flesh is clothed with worms, and clods of dust, my skin is broken, and become loathsome. My days are swifter than a Weavers shuttle, and are spent without hope. O remember that my life is wind, mine eye shall no more see good. The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more; thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. WE have seen Job in this Chapter confirming his former desires of death. 1. From the general condition of mankind, v. 1. 2. From the condition of some parlicular man, v. 2. And 3. From his own present condition, which he draws forth in the 3, 4, 5, and 6, verses. The third and the fourth verses have been already opened. In this fifth he gives us a further description of himself, and such a one, as might well assure us, that his restless nights were not without reason, My flesh is clothed, etc. As if he had said, if you think I am thus unquiet without cause, then behold my body, look upon me, and see what a pitiful spectacle I am, My flesh is clothed with worms, my skin is broken and hecome loathsome. These words give us Jobs picture, here is his delineation and pourtracture, as he was under the hand of God. They who would take Jobs picture, as, in the day of his afflictions, must draw him, thus, A man clothed with worms and clods of dust, there's his garment; his skin scabby and discolored, full of chaps and running sores, angry biles and inflamed ulcers, his posture, lying on the ground, scraping himself with a potsherd. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 caroper Synecdochen corpus in Piel Bisher significat Evangelium. My flesh is clothed with worms. My flesh.] That is, my body, by a Synecdoche; and the word which we translate flesh, springs from a root, or hath near relation to it, which signifies to bring and publish good tidings, or welcome news; and therefore the Gospel is expressed by it (Evangelium) is the same in Latin, or (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) in Greeke with this in the Hebrew: And some Critics give the reason, why flesh is expressed by this word, which signifies to publish or bring good tidings, because there should be a taking of flesh, or a making of flesh, namely the incarnation of our Lord jesus Christ, which should be the best tidings, and the most joyful news that ever the world heard of. Is clothed with worms. In the first Chapter of this book at the 21. verse, job describes himself thus, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return; but now it seems job hath got clothing, and being ready to lie down in the grave, he had a vesture put upon him, now (it seems) job should not go naked out of the world, for he said, My flesh is clothed; but, what is this clothing? My flesh is clothed with worms, and clods of dust, that's a suit of clothes very fit and suitable for the grave, but it is usually put on in the grave. job is in his grave-clothes before he dies; or, he speaks this to show that he accounted himself dead, while he lived, or (as Heman mourns, Psa. 88) Free among the dead; A member of that Corporation, a brother of that society already. For he was now in their habet or livery, A gown of worms set or embroidered with clods of dust. My flesh is clothed with worms. It is frequent in Scripture, when the holy Ghost would heighten the sense of what we are, & enjoy, would to note the abundance of Quavis re vestiri dicimur, Cujus accessione vel dedecoramur, vel ocnamur. a thing, or how man is adorned, or defiled with it all over, then to express it under the notion of clothing; God himself is expressed, clothed with Majesty, because he is Majesty all over, and there is nothing but glory upon him; God is also described, clothed with judgement and with justice; why? Because these are his honour and his ornament, he is justice and judgement all over; we find Job in the 29. of this book at the 14, verse, speaking thus of himself in his state of Magistracy, I put on righteousness, and it clothed me, my judgement was as a robe and a diadem; that is, I was full of righteousness, I was altogether reghteous, in dispensing re wards and punishments, in exercising my power among the people. To be clothed with humility, to be clothed with the Spirit, to be clothed with Christ, are phrases of the same importance. So on the other hand to be clothed with pride, with shame, with dishonour, Let mine enemies (saith David) be clothed with shame, Psal. 109. 29. Let them be clothed with dishonour, Psal. 35. 26. that is, let them be ashamed and dishonoured, all over, or exceedingly ashamed or dishonoured. And so a great desolation is called a clothing with desolation, Ezekiel 7. 27. That which strips a man naked is in this sense called his clothing, clothed with desolation. Thus we are to understand Job, when he saith, That his flesh was clothed with worms; his meaning is, he had many worms, crawling upon his flesh, or lying within his flesh, and so were as a lining to his upper garment of nature. These worms spread themselves all over him, as a filthy and loathsome garment covering his whole body. And besides this figure, Job spoke properly, while he was thus full of sores, and botches, and boyles, to say, he was clothed with worms; worms are proper to sores, many sores, breed worms, and worms are a disease in the flesh, as well as within the bowels, and such diseases are accounted the foulest and filthiest diseases of all other: Such was Jobs, his sores and boiles corrupted and bred worms, which made him an abhorring to himself, Putrefaction is the foil out of which worms grow, Rotten flesh breeds worms, and a rotten conscience breeds a worm, Isa. 66. 24. Their worm shall not die; why doth the holy Ghost say of those men who were never washed, nor healed of their sinne-sores, of their soul-sicknesses and pollutions, that when they die, they have a worm, that dieth not. It is in allusion to this, because, as a corrupt body, or corrupt putrid flesh, breeds noisome worms, so a corrupt conscience, a soul full of filthiness and uncleanness, which was never washed or healed in the fountain of the blood of Christ, this soul, this conscience breeds worms, even that gnawing worm, which shall live with it, feed upon it, and it for ever. Both the natural and the spiritual worm, arise from rottenness, and derive their pedigree from sores, sicknesses, and putrefaction. And clods of dust. Worms and clods of dust. Here are strange materials, course stuff for Jobs clothing, clods of dust. Some conceive that Job sat in the dust, and so the dust gathered about him, as a garment. Others, that these clods of dust, were the scrape of his sores, for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies the filings of any mettle, or the scrape of an unclean thing. It is said expressly in the second Chapter, that he took a pot-sherd to scrape himself; those clods of filthy dust, or scales scraped from his putrifying sores; these, with the crawling worms bred in them, covered his whole body like a garment, and therefore he complains, I am clothed with worms and clods of dust. You see what his garment was, see now (to carry on the allusion) his skin, upon which this garment was put? My skin (saith he) is broken, and become loathsome. The skin is the immediate garment of the flesh, his sickness had worn out his skin, he had many holes and rents in that garment, which needed mending, and it was all over so filthy, that it needed washing. My flesh is broken and become loathsome. Sores break the skin, and defile the skin, Jobs skin was so broken and chapped, so defiled and filthy, that he was loathsome to all beholders, and to himself. This is the picture of Job, A few days before, you might have pictured or drawn him thus, Job clothed with silk and scarlet, his garment set with precious oriental stones, his skin smooth and beautiful, his face cheerful and manly, his eye quick and piercing. But now Job is clothed with worms and clods of dust, his skin is broken and become loathsome. We may hence learn, what our own bodies are. The Apostle (Phil. 3. 21.) calls the body, a vile body; not that the work of God was vile: The work of God was noble and honourable in all he wrought, especially in that Masterpiece of it, the fabric of man's body; but as the body is come out of the hands of sin, so it is a vile body, that is, it is a body subject to corruption, and will quickly corrupt, be vile and loathsome, 1 Cor. 15 53. This corruptable must put on incorruption. The body of man is but one remove from worms and corruption, Chap. 17. 4. I have said to corruption thou a●t my Father, and to the worm, thou art my mother. We shall quickly bear the image of our parents, worms and corruption. Then be not proud of your bodies, nor of your beauties; They, who are now the fairest and goodliest to look upon, may quickly have a broken and a loathsome skin; A disease, one fit of sickness will spoil all thy beauty, deface and blemish thy excellent feature, and if a disease doth it not, old-age will, time will draw furrows in thy face, and make wrinkles in thy brow. Strength and beauty of body are no matches for time. All things were made in time, and time will mar all things. So long as generation continues, corruption must. Again, take heed of pride in clothing. The two externals, of which man is most subject to be proud, are beauty and apparel. are a flag of vanity, and pride sits upon the skirts. But remember how fine soever your clothing is this day and hour, God can put you on another suit before to morrow. We see what change of apparel job had, a godly man, an humble man. That which God did to try the grace of one; he can quickly do to punish and chastise the sin of another; he can quickly put you on such clothing, as you shall have little cause to be proud of. He can make you wear worms and clods of dust. And if we consider it, we have little reason to be proud of clothes: for if we follow the best of them to their original, they will be found to be but a clothing of worms, and clods of dust; what are silks, satins and velvets, but the issue of worms? And what is your gold and silver, what your pearls and precious stones? are they any thing (if you will resolve them into their principles) but clods of dust? They are indeed better concocted by the heat of the Sun, refined and polished by the art of a man, but if you search their pedigree, they also are but clods of dust. In your most glorious array, you are but clothed with dust and worms, and if you be proud of such clothing, God can clothe you with worms and clods, not only of unrefined and unpollished, but of putrified and filthy dust. Thus we see the first thing, the picture or description of jobs body, His friends at first sight, might be convinced, that a body in such a case, could take little rest day or night. He carries on his complaint, a degree further, at the 6. verse. Verse 6. My days are swifter than a Weavers shuttle, and are spent without hope. My days are swifter.] The Seventy render it thus, My days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. are swifter or nimbler than a word or speech. Nothing moves faster or passeth away more lightly, than a word; a word is gone, and it is gone suddenly; Hence the similitude is used proverbially, Psal. 90. 9 We spend our days, as a tale that i● told, or, as a meditation (so some translate) suddenly or swiftly; a discourse is quickly over, whether it be a discourse from the mouth, or in the mind; and of the two, the latter is far the more swift and nimble of foot, a discourse in our thoughts outruns the Sun, as much as the Sun outruns a snail; the thoughts of a man will travel the world over in a moment; he that now sits in this place, may be at the world's end in his thoughts, before I can speak another word. So that the translation of gloss, by speech or meditation, aggravates the sense, and extends it to the highest. But the word properly signifies (as we translate) a Weavers shuttle, which is an instrument of a very swift and sudden motion. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the word which we render [Swifter] signifies that which is fitted for the swiftest motion, Any light thing, because those things which are light, move swiftest; and we call a good runner, a man light of foot, Hab. 1. 8. The horses of the Chaldeans are thus described, Their horses are swifter (or lighter of foot) than the Leopards, so, swifter or lighter than the weaver's shuttle, which passeth the loom or web with such speed, that it is grown to a Radius Textoris dictum proverbiale, radio velocius. proverb, for all things which are quick and transient. The Latins express it by that word, which signifies a ray of the Sun, which is darted in a moment from one end of the heavens to another. But a question rises. job in the third Chapter, and so in the fifth, complains that his life was so prolonged, and slow-paced that it was very tedious to him, and in this Chapter by a repeated request, he spurs and hastens his life to its journey's end; he thought (it seems) his time not winged, but slow footed; how is it then, that in this place he complaineth of the swiftness of his days? My days are swifter than a Weavers shuttle. I answer, In a word: By his days, here, we are to understand his good days, his days of comfort and prosperity; the days of my peace and plenty, are slipped away and gone, even as a weaver's shuttle. But when he complains that his life is slow-footed, and requests that his days might move faster, he means the days of sorrow and trouble which had overtaken him in his journey; the former were too swift, and the latter too slow; It is as if he had said, Alas, all my fair days of prosperity are gone, they are slipped away as a weaver's shuttle, they are as a tale that is told, nothing remains of them, but the remembrance, which is an addition to my sorrow; but now I have days, that seem long, very long, they hand upon my hands, I cannot get them off, my sorrows clog my time, and make every hour seem a year. Hezekiah in his complaint upon his sick bed, useth this allusion, Mine age is departed and removed from me, as a shepherd's tent, I have cut off like a weaver my life, Isa. 38. 12. As the weaver cuts off the thread when the web is finished, so it is with me, I have cut off as a weaver my life; Not that Hezekiah was active in his own death, we are not to understand it so, for he prayed that God would spare him; and he spoke this upon the promise of God, to lengthen out his life, and to tie the thread of his days again, according to which the web was woven on for fifteen years more; But this speech of Hezekiah, as a weaver I have cut off my life, is like that of the Apostle, I have finished my course. He compares the passing of his life to a shuttle, and the conclusion of it to the cutting off, of the thread; Nights and days pass this shuttle forward and backward, to and again, the night casts it to the day, and the day to the night, between these two, time quickly wears off the thread of life. The heathen Poets had a fiction answering this allusion of the holy Ghost; they tell us a story, or a fiction rather, of three sisters, whereof the one held the wheel or the distaff, the Tres Parcae elotho Lachesis Atropos. second drew out the thread, and a third cut it off; In this they shadow the state of man's life; our ordinary phrase for living long, is spinning a long thread, and for dying, the cutting off the thread of life. And they are spent without hope. Some translate, they are spent so, as that there is no hope left. The word, which here we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 english, spent, signifies both consumption and consummation, or sometimes in a good sense, the end or perfecting of a thing, and sometime in an ill sense, the end or consuming of a thing, Gen. 2. 1. So the Heavens and the earth were finished, It is this word, they were ended, God ended his works by way of perfection, and consummation, he made his work complete. But here, and often in Scripture, it notes ending by way of consumption, or as we translate, the spending of a thing; Jer. 14. 12. I will consume (or make an end of) them by the sword; And Exod. 33. 3. God commands Moses, to go with the people into the wilderness, for (saith he) I will not go up in the midst of them, lest I consume them in the way. And to show how deep an expense and consumption of time was upon him, Job tells us, it had devoured and eaten up all his hope. It is worse to have our hope spent, then to have our days spent; now (saith he) my days are spent, and that is not all, my hope is spent; Some translate so, my days are spent, and I have Cum inopia spei, vel defectu spei, sc. longioris vitae. want or penury of hope; as I have spent my days, so I have spent my hope. And his hopelessenesse, may refer two ways; I have no hope, or my hope is spent; First, in regard of long life, I see I am so afflicted with this disease, that there is no hope I should hold out under it: Secondly, without hope, that is, without hope of being in a better condition, that is, of having my estate restored unto me again, if I should have health restored, and a longer life continued. In both these senses, as he saw the thread of his days cut off, so he saw the thread of his hope cut off, he was near death, and his hope was dead. My days are spent without hope, or, there is no hope remaining. This also is a negative to both parts of Eliphaz his promise, either of longer life, or of a better. We may observe hence, first, a common truth (which I shall not insist upon) about that precious commodity, a commodity more precious than the gold of Ophir, Time. All time is short, and we have a very short estate in time. Man is not master of one day, and a servant but of few days. The holy Ghost gives us very many remembrances of this, which is an argument, that we are very apt to forget it. Man is slow to take notice of the swiftness of time, and very dull in apprehending the speed of his days. It is a wonder that such a plain common doctrine, should be handled so often, and that the Holy Ghost, should as it were, labour for similitudes, and fetch in all things that are more than ordinarily transitory in nature, to teach us the transitoriness of our condition: We meet with many in this book, all hinting at the sudden, invisible motion of time: This is a point easy to be known, but very hard to be believed; every man assents to it, but few live it. And surely the holy Ghost would not spend so many words about it, nor gather up so many illustrations of it from sense, if it were not of much importance to our faith. We usually slight the hearing of common principles; ●nd a Sermon preached upon this subject, the shortness of our lives, and the speed of time, is judged a needless shortening of time; and the hour seems very long, which runs out upon the speed of time; we think it an easy doctrine, and a Theme for boys. But the truth is, if the heart did well digest, how few our days are, we should have better days; and men would live holier, if they knew indeed their lives were no longer. Therefore though I only touch this subject, yet, do ye dwell upon it, and stay long in your thoughts upon the shortness of your lives: Common truths neglected, cause a neglect of every truth. Had we more serious thoughts of Heaven and hell, that these are, and what these are; that there is a God, and who he is; that there will be a judgement, and what it will be, we should more profitably improve and trade our time and talents. Secondly note, Time passeth irrecoverably. When the weaver's shuttle is once out of his hand, 'tis gone presently; there is no hope time past should be recalled, or time in motion stopped: To consider time under that notion, should make us very good husbands of our time, or (as the Apostle advises) to redeem the time. Redemptions are made by purchase, to redeem a thing, is to buy it with a price; the price we redeem time with, is our labourand faithful travel. It is matter of mourning, to consider, that so little care is taken in spending that, which when it is gone, we have no hope it can be restored to us again. Thirdly, In that job complained before, that his life was so long, and now complaineth of the shortness or swiftness of his life, we may note; That, Man thinks good days end too soon, and that evil days stay too long, or will never have an end. We love the company of good days, and are therefore sorry when they depart: When the Disciples were upon the Mount, and had such a good day of it, how desirous were they to have continued there, and sorry they were the day was at an end. Master (saith Peter) it is good for us to be here: The sudden passing of our comforts, is our trouble. Time is always of the same pace, no creature keeps his pace more evenly than time doth, it always moves at the same rate, neither faster nor slower; but man thinks this time short, and that time long; this time speedy, and that time slow, according to the several objects he meets with, and to the conditions wherein he is: Fourthly observe, That hope is the last refuge of the soul: My days are spent without hope, my hope is spent too; If I had hope left, I had somewhat left, but my hope is gone. It is so in natural things, it is so in spiritual things. The Apostle, Heb 6. tells us, that hope is the anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast; while hope holds, comfort holds, and when hope's gone, all's gone. Observe lastly, That, sometimes a godly man's hope may lie prostrate. My days (saith he) are cut off without hope: Job thought (as I have noted from some passages before (that his case was desperate, his hope lay in the dust, as well as his body, or his honour. Every godly man is not an Abraham, of whom it is said, Rom. 4. 18. That against hope he believed in hope: Nay Abraham is not always Abraham, he that hath such a strong hope, hath it not always, even his hope may sometimes possibly be hopeless. There are weaknesses in the strongest, and imperfections may come upon those who are perfect, ebbings after the greatest flow, and declinings after the greatest heights of graces and gracious actings My days are spent without hope. Job having thus complained of his condition, and asserted his own desires of death, now turns from his friends, with whom he had discoursed all this while, and betakes himself to God, to speak a while with him; The next words are generally understood, an Apostrophe to God: Verse 7. Or member that my life is wind, mine eye shall no more see good, etc. O remember that my life is wind. To remember, is not here taken strictly, for to God all things are present. Remembrance, is the calling of that to mind which is past; when the act of remembering is applied to God in Scripture, it hath one of these three senses. 1. It notes a resolution or settled purpose in God, to act his justice, or inflict punishment upon his enemies, Psal. 137. 7. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom: that is, Lord bring forth that decree of thine, for the ruin and destruction of these bloody Edomites, who have been cruel against thy people. Secondly, it signifies an affection in God, ready to help and relieve his own people: Psal. 74. 2. Remember thy Congregation which thou didst purchase of old, that is, do good to thy Congregation, bless thy Congregation. Thirdly, To remember, imports an act of present consideration: to remember, is fully to weigh, observe and take notice of the estate of things or persons: Psal. 38. 39 He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passeth away and cometh not again; that is, he considered and weighed the estate of man: So in this place, O remember that my life is wind, that is, consider, and weigh it well Lord, put my condition into the balance, observe what a weak creature I am, how short my llfe is: therefore deal with me, as with a weak short-lived creature; Thou needest not lay any great stress upon me, thou needest not trouble thyself much to make an end of me, my life is but wind, 'tis but a puff, which quickly passes away. O remember that my life is wind. This is a proverbial speech, Vita ventus, Elegans proverbiale. like that before, of a weaver's shuttle. The word translated wind, signifies the holy Ghost, the third Person in the blessed Trinity: As also a Spirit in general. And because the wind is of a spiritual nature, invisible, swift, powerful, therefore it is applied to that aerial or elementary spirit; And the operation of the holy Ghost, is shadowed by wind or breath, Christ breathed upon his Disciples saying, receive the holy Ghost, John 20. 22. and the holy Ghost came as a mighty rushing wind, Acts 2. 2. When Job saith, remember that my life is wind, he means, my Quasi ventus Targum. life is like the wind; It is a similitude; not an assertion. The life of man is like the wind in two things: First, the wind passeth away speedily, so doth man's life: Secondly, the wind when it is past, returns no more, as you cannot stop the wind, or change its course; So all the power in the world, is not powerful enough to recallor divert the wind, which way the wind goes it will go, and when it goes 'tis gone, Ps. 78. 34. He remembered that they were but flesh, wind that passeth away; in this sense Job calleth his life a wind, it passeth away, and shall not return, by any law or constitution of nature, or by any efficacy of natural causes. Yet here observe, Job saith not, His soul was a wind, but his life was a wind. Some have philosophised the soul into a wind, a blast or a breath; and tell us, that it goes, as the soul of a beast, that life and soul are but the same thing, when the life's gone out of the body, the soul's gone from its being: They acknowledge a restoring of it again with the body at the resurrection, but deny it any existence when separate from the body. How dishonourable this is to the noble constitution of man, and how dissonant to Scripture, is proved in mentioning it; we acknowledge, that life which is the union of soul and body, is a wind and passeth away; In all the learned languages, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Flare. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Spiritus a spirando; Animum quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quidam dictum existimant. Graeci pro respiratione seu spiritu quem ducimas aceipiunt. primo quod vita nostra respiratione indige●t; sccundo quod flatu videatur humana vita in prima sua origine constitisse, word which signifies spirit or life, hath its original, from respiring; and when we say, my wind was gone, or my wind was almost beaten out of my body, our meaning is, my Life was almost gone. In the creation (Gen. 2. 7.) God breathed into man the breath of life, or of lives, implying the many facultes and operations of life. And in as much as the body of man was first form, and this life brought in after, to act and move it, this is an abundant proof, that the soul of man is not any temperament of the body, the body being completed (as a body) before it, and yet no life resulting. Whereas beasts (to whom that beastly opinion compares man in his creation) had living bodies as soon as bodies, their total form being but an extract from the matter. Solomen, Eccl. 3. 19, 20, 21. brings in the Atheist, drawing this conclusion from those confused oppressions which he observed in the world: men carried themselves so like beasts, preying upon, and devouring one another, that he (who had nothing but carnal reason to judge by) presently resolves; That which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts, even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other, yea they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast, for all are vanity; all go to one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to the dust again. And whereas the Atheist heard some speak of the ascent of man's spirit after this life, he puts it off, as but talk and guessing. ver. 21. Who knoweth the spirit of man, that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast, that goeth downward to the earth? That is, who can tell that there is such a difference, between the spirit of a man and of a beast? who ever saw the one ascending, or the other descending? or from what Anatomy was this learned? Thus the Atheist derides the doctrine of the soul, and will therefore laugh and be merry with his body while it lasts, that's his portion, For who shall bring him to s●e what shall be after him, ver. 22. Is it not strange, that any who are called sober Christians, should plant their opinions in this soil of Atheism: and make that a proof of their faith, which Solomon brings only as a proof of some men's infidelity? The Preacher in this Book, personated those whom he abhorred, and sometimes speaks the practices of other men, not his own opinion. There is no more reason to ground this Tenet of the Souls Mortality upon those texts, than there is of encouragement to intemperancy in that, chap. 11. 9 Rejoice O young man in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine own heart; Or in that of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 15. 32. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. If any would learn solomon's own sense about this point, let him read it, as plain as words can make it (Eccl. 12. 7.) Then (namely when man dies) shall the dust return to the earth, as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God, who gave it. So then (to the next before us) the soul is not a wind, but the Hujusmodi sententi● regressum animarum in corpora minin è negant, sed necessitatem moriendi confirmant, & celeri: atem. life: And all those Scriptures where life is compared to wind, and dying, to the passing of it without returning, deny the regress or returning of the soul to a natural, not to an eternal life, and imply the short stay of the soul in the body, and certain departure from it, not, a not being, when it parts. These two must part, and so part, as never to return to that estate again; Thus job expounds himself in the words following; Mine eye shall no more see good. Or as the Hebrew, I shall not return to see good, answerable to the metaphor of a wind, it passeth away, and returns no more. To see. In this place, as often elsewhere, is to enjoy, I shall not Videre bonum pro frui, nota locutio est. enjoy good, Psal. 4. 6. Who will show, or who will cause us to see any good? It was not the bare sight of good, which they desired, but the enjoyment of it. So jer. 17. 6. The man whose heart departeth from God, is threatened, that he shall not see, when good cometh, that is, he shall not enjoy good, when it comes: For though to see good be a mercy, yet to see it and not to taste it, is a curse. Therefore at the last day, they who thought themselves high in God's favour, but were indeed under his wrath, are told, that they shall Lam. 13. 26. see Abraham, Isaac and jacob in the Kingdom of God, and themselves shut out; they shall see what they cannot enjoy, and that sight shall add to their sorrow. The Prophet cries out, Lament. 3. 1. I am the man that hath seen affliction, that is, I am the man that hath felt and had experience of afflictions. And Psalm 16. 10. the great promise to Christ is, that though he took a corruptible body upon him, yet he should not see corruption, that is, partake of corruption; corruption should have no communion with, much less power over him. And we have the same use of the word in this book, chap. 20. ver. 17. where Zophar tells the hypocrite, that God will deprive and strip him of every good thing. He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter; It is a rhetorical expresson, comparing the affluence of outward things, to floods, and rivers and brooks, which send forth their streams plentifully; as if he had said, though there be great store of honey and butter (those two are specified for the rest) though there be rivers, brooks and streams of these commodities, yet he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall see none of them, that is, he shall not enjoy or taste a drop of Sicut Graeci 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, & Latini bonum, aliquando pro pulchro, commodo & utili usurpant. Isa subinde Hebraei vocabudum, Tob, Fagius, in Gen. 2. 18 them. That unbelieving Lord, is told by Elisha, that he should see plenty in Samaria the next day, but should not eat thereof, 2 King. 7. 2. Not to see, is not to eat; and he that sees, but eats not is not relieved, but troubled at the sight. Mine eye shall not see good. What good? when a man dies, shall he see no more good? we see but little good while we live, and the greatest good, is to be seen when we die: or rather while we live, what do we see but evil, and when the Saints die, what have they to see but good? how is it then, that job saith, when I die, mine eye shall not see good? what miserable creatures were we, if there were no good to be seen, beyond the line of this life? our richest stock of comfort, lies in the good we shall see hereafter, which is therefore called, the blessed-making vision; And job knew well enough, that his eyes should see good after death, for he saith (chap. 19 27.) with these eyes shall I see God; he knew also his soul had an eye to see good (and a better good than ever he saw in the world) while his body lay in the grave. Then, his meaning of, Mine eye shall no more see good, is, no more worldly good, none of † these good things, which I have seen; I shall be above the smart of earthly sorrows, and above the sense of earthly joys. Good is either natural, or civil, or spiritual; When God created the world, he looked upon all that he bade made, and he saw that all was very good: Civil good, is the order, peace and prosperity of the world, death stops the sight of all this good. As for eternal or spiritual good, death cannot close or dim the eye against those objects. Then here is no plea for Atheists against the resurrection, nor any, against the souls Being, or being awake, till the resurrection. job speaks only about the spear and course of nature; when man dies naturally, and is in the state of the dead, he enjoys nothing, he acts nothing according to the estate of the living, * In his & similibus locis, Scriptura in telligenda est de statu mortuorum in morte quis consitebitur tibi? post resurrect●onem pii laudabunt Deum, sed ante illam, quamdiverunt in sepulchro, nemo confitebitur ei anima & corpore simul, Drus, juxta raturae cursum hic loquitur, regans rediturum ●ominem ubi hine excessit Re●urrectio mortuorum divinum & supra naturam opus est, quo hic non respicit, nutu●e tantum consuctum ordinem afferens, quomodo intellïgend● sunt q●aecunque talia in hoc libro in Psalmis, & alijs Scripturae libris, occurrunt. Psal. 115. 17. The dead praise the not, etc. there is no work, device or business at all in the grave, Eccl. 9 10. The hand works not, the tongue speaks not, The eye shall no more see this good. job expresses himself by an act of the eye, which carries the greatest strength for refreshing to the whole man. All the joy and pleasure we shall have in Heaven, comes in by sight, we shall see him as ●e is; The beholding of God in Christ, is the beatifical vision, much of the good which we have in this world, comes in by the sense of seeing; and all the good of the next is placed in seeing; therefore he doth not say, I shall no more taste good, or no more feel good, but no more see good, * Per Analogi● ad summi boni possessionem, quae in visione consistit aliorum honorum, possessio rectè dicitur videre bona. because the chiefest good, eternal good, consists in vision, therefore proportionably our present good doth so likewise. Sick Hezekiah speaks in the language of sick Job; I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living; I shall behold man no more, with the inhabitants of the world, Isa. 38. 11. When Hezekiah thought he should die, he describes the state of the dead by a deprivation of all those comforts which are taken in, by the sight of the eye. But you will say, how saith he, I shall not see the Lord? He doth not say absolutely, I shall not see the Lord? But with a modification, thus, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living. But did Hezekiah see the Lord in the land of the living, or while he lived? Yes, as Moses saw him that was invisible, so did Hezekiah: God makes himself visible to the Saints in this life. Though God cannot be seen in his essence in Heaven, much less on earth, yet he is seen in his works, in the acts of his providence, and in his ordinances; we may see the go of God in the Sanctuary, and behold the beauty of the Lord, while we inquire in his Temple, Psalm 27. 4. So that when Hezekiah saith, I shall not see the Lord in the land of the living; his meaning is, I shall not behold God in his great works, and in the ordinances of his holy worship, and in the Congregations of his holy people. In all these God is visible, and most in the last; and therefore he saith, I shall behold man no more, with the inhabitants of the world; God is visible in all creatures, but most in man, and among men, most in his Saints, and among his Saints most, when they meet in the comely order of his house and worship; The ignorant and unlearned coming into such a sacred throng; sees so much of God, that he is convinced and goes away reporting, that God is in them of a truth. In Christ is seen the brightness of his Father's glory, and in the Saints much of the beauty of it is seen. Christ is the express image of his person, and in the Saints so meeting, much of his image is expressed. First, in that Job betakes himself to God, O remember that my life is wind, etc. Observe, That In our distresses it is better to cry to God, then to complain to creatures. God is usually the last, but he is always the best refuge, when we have told over the story of our sorrows and sad condition, and poured our wants into the bosoms of our most faithful friends; yet, this Apostrophe is sweetest to the soul, when we can turn unto God, O remember me. It is said of Hezekiah in his sickness, that he turned himself unto the wall and prayed, he turned from the people, from those that were about his bed, unto the wall; why, what was the wall to him? Or what could the wall do for him? surely nothing. As good turn to an Idol for help or ease, as to a wall, yea such a turn to the wall, turns the wall into an idol; Good Hezekiah had no thought of the wall, nor had he any message to any image, hanging there. But as 'tis probable, many of his loving Subjects and servants were weeping about the bed of their sick King, and he had been discoursing of his disease, and telling them of his sickness, but at last he turns to the wall; that is, he leaves speaking to the company, and turns away from them, that he might have communion with God, and his first word of prayer, is, the same with Jobs, Remember now O Lord, Isa. 38. 3. Creatures are but creatures, and when they have done their best for us, it may be they can do no good for us; when they have tried all their skill, and all their strength, and stirred the utmost of their abilities, to give us counsel and ease, we must say to them all, stand by, and come to jobs Turn, O Lord remember. That man is most to be bemoaned, who can make his moan to man only. He, who knows not how to complain to God, or to speak out his sorrows, and his griefs in the ear of Christ, shall gain little, (though he receive much) by complaining to the creature. But so long as we have a God to turn to, and spread our cause before, though men turn from us, yea, though they turn against us, and forget us, yet it is enough, that we have said, O Lord remember. Secondly, from the matter, which job puts God in mind of, namely his natural frailty and fleeting condition, that he was a passing wind. Observe, It is an argument, moving the Lord to compassion, to mind him of the frailty of our condition. There is no argument from ourselves, so effectual, to draw out the bowels of God's compassions toward us, either in regard of our spiritual or temporal estate, as this, to tell him how frail we are; The Psalmist shows this the motive of mercy often to that ancient people the Jews, Psal. 78. 38. He being full of compassion forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not, yea many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath; But what moved the Lord to deal thus with his people? What was it, out of himself? We know, the inward moving cause was his own freegrace, but what did he look upon abroad in the creature? He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. Jobs argument to a letter. He considered how easily and quickly they might be destroyed, and therefore he destroyed them not, Psal. 103. 14. Like as a father pitieth his children, so doth the Lord, etc. Why, what stirr's up this pity? For he knoweth our frame, and he remembreth that we are but dust; Now, that which God himself makes the argument, all the argument in us, of his turning to us in mercy; that we should manage, especially as our argument, when we turn to him in prayer. Should we plead before God our perfections, and say, Lord remember our holiness, our zeal, our prayers, our tears, our fastings and humiliations, could any of this move God, or be any attractive of his compassions toward us? If we will plead our perfections; God will despise our prayer. Our strongest argument is to say, we are weak, and to tell God we are sinful, prevails more, then to tell him, we are righteous: We shall gain most by saying we are unprofitable servants. But did not Hezekiah, entreat the Lord to remember that he had walked before him in truth and with a perfect heart, and done that which was good in his sight? Isa. 38. 3. And doth not Nehemiah use the like plea, Chap. 13. 14, 22. I answer, first, that, these were the best, most the spiritual and powerful plead with God is not proved, because used by good men. Grace doth not act always at the height, nor bring out choicest its treasures at all times. Secondly, they move the Lord to remember what good they had done, but they do not move the Lord by that remembrance to do them good. Hezekiah was so far from rejoicing in his own righteousness: that the text saith, He wept sore. And Nehemiah with the same breath, desires the Lord to remember what he had done, and to spare him, according to the greatness or multitude of mercy. He, that when he hath done best, begs a multitude of mercies to spare him, is fare enough from challenging justice to reward him. Men, that are but ingenuous, will be moved most with a sight or report of another's weakness. The beggar speaks most effectually by his rages and sores. The Woman, 2 Sam. 14. 14. who was hired to move David for the bringing back of Absolom, useth this argument, For we must needs die, and are as water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; As if she had said, Sir, if you will contend with your Son, thus, alas, his life is but water, and he will die, for this is the common condition of mankind; therefore be compassionate and pitiful to him, fetch home your banished. This motive takes much upon the heart of God, as in regard of particular persons, so of a people in general, Deut. 32. 36. The Lord shall repent himself for his servants. But when will he repent himself? When he seethe that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left. When they have no power and strength, and there is none shut up, that is, when they have no fort, no strong places to defend themselves in, but even lie open to the rage and malice of the adversary, and are ready to sink utterly, than the Lord takes this, both as an argument and a season for him, to repent of the affliction of his people; that is, to change the way of his administrations towards them. This promise was in part made good to Israel in the days of Jeroboam, Son of Joash, 2 King. 14. 26. The Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter, for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper in Israel. Thirdly, speaking of the world, he saith, Mine eye shall no more see good. Observe then, That worldly things are good things. In their sphere and proportion, they are good. Abraham minds the rich man, Luke 16. Son remember, that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things. Therefore, we are to use the world, and all the creatures in it, as the good things of God, and the goodness we see in creatures, should raise us up, to admire the goodness of the Creator; if goodness be stamped upon present and temporary things, how good are things eternal? Fourthly, Mine eyes shall no more see good. Observe; After this life there is no more use, or enjoyment of worldly things. The things of the world are but for the world; Mine eyes shall no more see, I shall no more enjoy or use these good things. Consider what it is you lay up, when you lay up the things of this life, you lay up those things, which after a while your eyes shall see no more; you lay up those things, which after a few days; you shall have no more use of; you shall have no use at all of your gold, no use at all of your silver, no use at all of your apparel, no use at all of your goodly houses, no use at all of your rich furniture, no use at all of your lands, you shall have no use of all these good things: Consider then what it is you lay up, a time is coming, when you shall say of them all, I shall no more see, I shall no more use and enjoy any of these good things. Therefore be so wise as to improve this time, which passes like a Weavers shuttle and a blast of wind, to lay up such good things, as your eyes shall see, when you are laid down in the grave; lay up spiritual good things, lay up your portion in Christ, make him yours, and then when you die, and lie down in the grave, you may say, we have good things, yet to see; our best sight is to come, even such a sight, as eye hath not seen. Such a sight, as to which the glory of all the Princes of the world is a mere Pagean tree. And so much of Jobs Apostrophe to God. The next verse is a further description of the state of the dead. Verse 8. The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more; thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. In the former verse, Job had said his own eyes should see no more good, now he saith, that the eyes of others shall see him no more; The eye of him that hath seen me, shall see me no more. It is a great part of the glory and comfort which men take in the world, to be seen of men. As we take in our comfort by seeing, so Ponit bic duo, ut significet quod non revertetur ad conversationem humanam, quae maximè consist it in videre & videri. Visus cum sit subtilior, sensuum principatum tenet in vita sensibili. Aquin. Me quaere●t quem aspiciant, bumanitus dictum. by being seen. No man would put himself into goodly clothing were it not, that he goes abroad in company to be seen, and knows others will be looking upon him. Now as Job sets forth the vanity of the creature and of this life, because he should see none of it, when he died, so, because when he died, others should see him no more, all his beauty, riches and good things, must be buried with him. There is an elegancy in putting these two together, to see and be seen. Death stops both, it takes us from seeing, and it takes us from being seen. As all the good we have will be hid from our eyes, so all our glory and excellency will be obscured from the eyes of others in the dark chambers of the grave. Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. Job speaks of a threefold eye. 1. Of his own eye, Mine eye shall see no more good. Verse 7. 2. Of the eye of men, The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more. 3. Of the eye of God, Thine eyes are upon me; and I am not. He doth not say, Thine eyes are upon me, and thou shalt not see me. God's eye looks into the grave, and can see there; when we are out of the eyes of men, we are in the eye of God; therefore he saith, Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not; as if he had said, Lord, if thou shalt defer a little to help me, and then shouldest come to look for thy Job, I shall be dead, I shall be laid in the grave, I shall not be capable of remedy, if my remedy be deferred: it is too late to give a man a cordial when he is dead: Thou shalt Tuornm beneficiorum, si forte cupias (humanitus loquitur cum occulto questu neglectus sui) von ero capax. Cocc. not have a Job to help, if thou dost not help him quickly. Some understand it in a spiritual sense, Thine eyes are upon me, as if he should say, Lord thine eyes are upon me, to search me, and try out my ways, and alas I am not, I am not able to stand before thy justice, before thy pure eyes, which can behold none iniquity. But rather take it as an appeal to God, whether or no he were not near death. Thou Lord seest I am as a dead man; as a man not to be numbered among the living. Therefore if thou wilt deliver me, let thy loving-kindness speedily prevent me, for I am brought very low. As a sick man in some acute disease hastens his Physician, Sir, give me somewhat presently, or I am gone, you cannot but see I am a borderer upon death. Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. That is; I am not alive, I am not among the children of men. Not to be, doth not import a not-being, but a not appearing, I am not as I was, nor can I long be at all. Rachel wept for her children, because they were not; joseph's brethren said to their Father, Joseph is not; and Job himself in the 21. of this Chapter, explains this to be his sense, Thou shalt seek me in the morning, and I shall not be; Death is a great devourer, it sweeps all that appears of man, into the grave. The world shall no more enjoy him, nor he the world, this is man's not being, when he dies: as the two following verses further explain by an elegant similitude. Verse 9 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away; so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. 10. He shall return no more to his house; neither shall his place know him any more. Job having moved the Lord to take notice of, and compassionate his transitory condition, his life being but like the hastening wind. He gives us another comparison to the same sense and purpose; There, his life was but a wind, and here it is but a cloud, As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down to the grave, shall come up no more, etc. The cloud] in a natural notion, is a thick and moist vapour, drawn up from the earth, by the heat of the Sun to the middle region of the air, and by the coldness of that heavenly country (where snow and hail, etc. are made and stored up) is further condensed, congealed and thickened, and so hangs or moves partly from natural causes, the Sun and wind, but especially by supernatural, the mighty power and appointment of God, like an huge mountain in the air. To this cloud Job compares the vanishing estate of this life. As the cloud (such a cloud, as you see hanging in the air) is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consumed, or spent: The same word is used at the 6. Verse, My life is spent without hope. A cloud comes to its height, and then 'tis quickly dispersed and vanisheth away; The letter of the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ambulavit, ivit, & per metalepsin de rebus evanescentibus, intereunti bus, etc. is, It goeth or walketh away. The walk of the clouds is according to the walk of the winds, we call it the Rack of the clouds. When the Heavens are (as it were) all masked with clouds, and a black vail or curtain drawn between us and the Sun, the winds in a little time dissipate and scatter them. It is usual in Scripture to compare those things, which are vanishing & suddenly consumed, to clouds, In which sense (Isai. 44. 22.) the sins of the Saints are compared to a cloud, and the pardoning of their sins to this consuming and scattering of the cloud, I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins. A cloud is but a kind of a blot in the pure parchment-roll of the skies, I am sure a cloud of sin is a foul blot in the roll of our lives, Blot a fair writing, and you cannot read it, but blot out the blots, and then 'tis legible again: yet, the blotting out of sin, intimates it fair written, as an evidence or a record against us, till a pardon blots it out. In which sense, Christ is said to have blotted out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us, Col. 2. 14. Thy sins (O Israel, so the Lord seems to speak in the Prophet) are as a cloud to hinder the shining of the light of my countenance upon thee: like blots, they hinder thee, from reading the evidences of my favour, or they stand like evidences of guilt against thee. But I have blotted out this cloud, that is, I have pardoned thy sins, and by the breath of my favour and free grace, scattered thy transgressions, with all the evils and sequels, which they naturally bring forth. So that, now the light shines fair and warm upon thee; the evidences, which were against thee, cannot be read, and thou mayest read the evidences of my love, and mercy towards thee. The sins of the Saints are but vanishing clouds, whereas sin in itself, and the sins of all those, who are out of Christ, are an abiding cloud, they are a cloud firm and , like a mountain of brass, or a rock of stone. Sins make such a cloud, as no power in Heaven or earth is able to consume, but the power of mercy, and a gale of love, breathing through the covenant of Grace. And, as the life of man is compared by Job to a cloud, so, to that which is the matter of the cloud, by the Apostle James, Chap. 4. verse 14. where he puts the question, what's the life of man? Is it not (saith he) even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away? A vapour is exhaled from the earth by the heat of the Sun, and is the matter out of which the cloud is made. Man's life is not only like a cloud, which is more condense and strong, but like those thin vapours, sometimes observed arising from moorish grounds, which are the original of clouds, and more vanishing then clouds. Even these, are but vanishing enough, to shadow the vanishing, decaying, quickly dis-appearing life of man. As the cloud consumes and vanishes, (the next words speak out the mind of the comparison.) So he that goeth down to the grave, shall come up no more. The grave is a descent; And the word which is here used for the grave, is Sheol, about which many disputes are raised among the learned: The root of it signifies to desire, or to crave with earnestness, and the reason given is, because the grave is always craving and ask; Though the grave hath devoured the bodies of millions of men, yet it is as hungry as it was the first morsel, still it is ask and craving: The grave is numbered among those things which are not satisfied, Prov. 30. 16. In the Greek of the new Testament, it is translated Hades, which by change of letters, some form out of the Hebrew Adam, and Adamah the earth, unto which God condemned fallen man to return, Gen. 3. 19 We find this word Sheol, taken five ways in Scripture. 1. Strictly and properly for the place of the damned, Prov. 15. II. Hell and destruction are before the Lord, how much more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than all the hearts of the children of men. God looks through the darkness of hell, which is utter darkness. Tam infernus quam sepulchrum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Sept. Status mortuorum vel sepalchrum, nam ut anima de corpore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de sepulchro usurpatur, Ps. 16. Drus. 2. It is put Metaphorically, for great and extreme dangers, or miseries which seem irrecoverable and remediless; these are figuratively called hell, because hell properly taken, is a place from whence there is no recovery; There's no release from the chains of darkness, all changes are on earth, Heaven and hell know none: When David praises the Lord (Psalm 86. 13.) for delivering his soul from the lowest hell; he meaneth an estate on earth, of the lowest and deepest danger imaginable; Mercy helped him at the worst. To be as low as hell, is to be at the lowest. 3. The word signifies the lower parts of the earth, without relation to punishment. Psal. 139. 8. If I go down into hell thou art there. He had said before, if I ascend up into Heaven thou art there; by Heaven he means the upper Region of the world, without any respect to the estate of blessedness; and hell is the most opposite and remote in distance, without respect to misery. As is he had said, let me go whither I will, thy presence finds me out. 4. It is taken for the state of the dead, whether those dead are in the grave or no, Psal. 30. 3. Isa. 38. 18, 19 Gen. 37. 35. In all which places, to go out of the world, is to go to Sheol. Jacob in the text alleged, Gen. 37. 35. said, he would go down into the grave to his son, mourning; yet Jacob thought his Son was devoured by a wild beast, he could not go down into the grave to his son, for the bowels of a wild beast was his supposed grave, but he meaneth only this, I will even die, as he is dead. So Numb. 16. 33. where that dreadful judgement of God upon Korah, Dathan and Abiram is storied, it is said, that they, their sheep and their oxen, and their tents, and all went down into Sheol, that is, they were all devoured and swallowed up. But 5. Sheol signifies the place where the body is laid after death, namely, the grave, Prov. 30. 16. Man hath a dimension of earth fitted to the dimensions of his body; this portion or allotment is his Sheol. Yet, it signifies the grave only in general, as it is natural to mankind, not that grave which is artificial and proper to any particular man, this the Hebrew expresses by another * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word: He that goeth down to the grave, goes to his long home, to a house out of which he is never able to see or make his way, and Ainsw. in Gen. 37. therefore it follows; He shall come up no more. No? that's sad news indeed, to go down to the grave and come up no more. Are all the hopes of man shut up in the grave? and is there an utter end of him when his life ends? Shall he come up no more? Many of the Greek writers tax Job as not acquainted with the doctrine of the Resurrection, as if he either knew not that mystery, or doubted, at this time, of it: And some of the Rabbins say plainly, Hic abnegat Iob resuscitationem mortuorum. Rab. Sol. Non negatur resurrectio ad vitam, sed ad similem vitam, Pined. he denied it: But he is so clear in the 19th Chapter, that we need not think him so much as cloudy here: And if we look a little farther, himself will give us the comment of this text: When he saith, he shall come up no more, it is not a denial of a dying man's resurrection to life, but of his restitution to the same life, or to such a life as he parted with at the graves mouth: They who die a natural death, shall not live a natural life again; therefore he addeth in the next verse; Verse 10. He shall return no more to his house. He doth not say absolutely, he shall return no more, but he shall return no more to his house, he shall have no more to do with this world, with worldly businesses or contentments, with the labour or comforts of the creature, or of his Family; He shall return no more to his house. But some may say, how doth this answer the comparison, That as the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down to the grave, shall come up no more; for we find another description of clouds, Eccles. 12. 2. where the text saith, that, the clouds return after rain: So that it seems, though clouds vanish and are consumed, yet they return and come again. The clouds are like bottles full of rain, or sponges full of water, God crushes these sponges, or unstops these bottles, and they are emptied, and in emptying vanish away: but yet Solomon affirms, the clouds return after rain, how then doth Job say, that as the cloud vanisheth, so man goeth to the grave and returns no more? In that place of Ecclesiastes, Solomon is only giving us a description of old age, and the sad condition of man in it; he calleth it the evil day; and wisheth men would be wise to consider their latter end, remembering their Creator, and laying up a good foundation, before those evil days overtake them, before the light of the Sun, and Moon, and Stars be darkened, and the clouds return after the rain; In old age, the clouds return after the rain, thus: as in some very wet time, when we think it hath reigned so much, as might have spent and quite exhausted the clouds, or drawn those bottles dry, yet you shall see them return again, it will rain day after day as fast as ever; so in old age, when rheums distil so freely, that you would think an old man had emptied himself of all, yet the clouds will return again, and floods of watery humours overflow. Thus the clouds of old age return; And in this sense the clouds of the air return, after they are consumed and spent into rain: But how doth a cloud return? not the same cloud numerically, that cloud, which was dissolved doth not return; the same Sun goes down, and vanisheth out of our sight in the Evening, and returneth again, the same individual and numerical Sun, in the morning; but that numerical cloud which vanished, comes not again: Thus man vanisheth, and returns as the clouds return after the rain, that is, after one generation Si id quod nunquam fui●, nunc est, quomodo quod nunc est, post interritum dcnuo fore negatur? Nam si hoc mirum, illud magis mirum videtur of men are dead, they return again in their children, another generation springs up: other return to life there is none, till all shall return at the general judgement of quick and dead. As now we are, who never were, so all shall return, who were, but are not. It was a witty answer of a learned Jew, disputing with a heathen Philosopher, who opposed the Resurrection: If that (saith he) which never was in the world, now is; is it strange, that, that which now is, should be again, after it is not in the world? If this be a wonder, the other is much more wonderful. Neither shall his place know him any more. His place, may be taken three ways. First, For the calling and condition of a man in this life, that's the place of a man, a man's Calling is his place. Or secondly, Locally for his house or inheritance, where he dwelled; he shall come to that place no more. Or thirdly, Place is taken for dignity, magistracy, for the eminency of a man's calling, therefore we say of a Magistrate or a man in honour, he hath a Great place, or he is a man of place and Rank, in all these senses, his place shall know him no more. His place shall not know him. That's an elegancy of the holy language. Places are without life and without sense, much more without knowledge; knowing is an act of reason, how is it then said, his place shall know him no more? Did it ever know him? there's a double figure in it: Some understand it by an Hypallage, or transmutation of the words, his place shall know him no more, that is, he shall know his place no more. So that is expounded (Psal. 103. 16.) The place thereof shall know it no more, speaking of man passing away like a wind. So Psal. 37. 10. Thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be; his place shall not be; places continue while the world continues; Then, his place shall not be, is, he shall not be in his place. Or secondly, understand it by a Prosopopeia, (frequent in Scripture) which is the imitation of life, by things without life: when a place takes upon it the person of a man, or when a place acts or imitates the speech of a man: sense and reason are often ascribed to things without life, and so the meaning of, his place shall know him no more, may be Quosis diceret, ipsae res inanima quae serviura & parent ad nutum mortalibus, mortuis tamen null usui sunt, Illos non agnoscunt dominos. Ea enim est vis verbi cognoscendi & non cognoscendi. conceived thus: When a man lives and comes home to his house, his house (as it were) welcomes him home, and his place is glad to entertain him; as in the Psalm, the little hills are said to rejoice at the showers, so, when a man comes home, his house and all he hath, have as it were, a tongue to bid him welcome, and open arms to receive and embrace him; but when he dies, he shall return no more, and then his place shall know him (that is, receive him) no more. Observe from this briefly (because it is a similitude of the same importance with that opened in the former words) first, That death is the conclusion of all worldly comforts and relations. As the cloud vanisheth and returneth not, so (in that sense) there is an utter conclusion of man, he is gone, and there is no returning; God by his almighty power, hath fetched back some, and the vanishing clouds have been brought again: so Lazarus (and others at the death of Christ) was raised from the grave; but in a natural way, death seizeth all fast for ever: your places, your relations, your credits, your Friends shall know you no more, or give you farther entertainment. Secondly observe; That God hath given us not only the book of Scripture, but the book of the creature, therein to learn and read our own frailty and mortality. The creatures preach what man is, and that is a reason why the holy Ghost spends so much time; and is so frequent in giving us the measure of ourselves by creatures; these are every hour in our eye, we meet with, and see, and handle, and feel them continually: The wind, the vapours, the clouds, set forth what we are, When I consider (said David, Psal. 8. 3. 4.) the Heavens, the work of thy fingers, the Moon, and the Stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him? To consider the greatness of the works of God, should abase man; it should amaze us, to remember, that God hath made such things for our use, who are ourselves so useless (in comparison of what we ought) to God. And when man considers the Heavens and the earth, and weighs how many things there are in them, which set forth his frailty, he hath reason to cry out, O Lord what is man? Man is but a wind, a cloud, a vapour, even such a thing, as I see most perishing and vanishing in the whole compass of the creation. Psalm. 19 1. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy work▪ The heavens are excellent creatures, and full of glorious wonders, they speak the power and wisdom of God, they show forth his handy work, they can be the work of none, but of God only; The clouds also show forth the handy work and power of God, Psal. 147. 8. Who covereth the heavens with clouds: The hand of God draws those curtains, and puts that mask upon the face of Heaven. But as the heavens declare the glory of God, so they publish and declare the weakness of man, the vapours and the winds show forth, how frail he is: As the invisible things of God, to wit, his eternal power and Godhead, are seen in the things which are made; God is (as it were) visible in the creatures; so likewise the frailty and mutability, the weakness and inconstancy of man, is visible in the things, which are created; we may read a lecture of our own transitoriness, in the most transitory texts of nature: And that is an admirable contrivance and complication of things, that out of the very same text of the creature, where the infinite wisdom & power of God may be learned, man also may learn his own frailty: He that studies the creature much, shall find much of God and of himself, Some conceive when Isaac (Gen, 24. 63.) went forth into the field to meditate, that he studied the book of the creatures, probably the holy man did so, but, we are sure he might. How will it shame those men at last, who know not God not themselves, when they have or might have had (without cost or travel) so many tutors and instructers. JOB Chap. 7. Vers. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. Therefore I will not refrain my mouth, I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I a sea or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me? When I say my bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint. Then thou skarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions. So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than life. I loathe it, I would not live always, let me alone, for my days are vanity. IN the context of these six verses, we may take notice of four things. 1. Jobs violent resolution to complain, ver. 11. 2. His vehement complaint, ver. 12. 3. An amplification of his sorrows, ver. 13, 14. 4. A renovation of his often repeated desires to die, and the tediousness of his life, ver. 15. 16. Therefore.] Job having in an apostrophe to God, shown his weak condition; takes up a fresh resolution of complaining to God; Therefore I will not refrain my mouth, etc. as if he had said, The consideration of these things, is so fare from putting me to silence, that it doth rather enlarge my heart, and open my mouth to speak and complain, once more; seeing death is by God's appointment, the certain end of all outward troubles, and perceiving myself upon the very borders or brink of death, my body past cure, my estate irrecoverable and remediless; therefore I will complain yet again, I will yet farther lay open my misery before the Lord, and press him to hasten me through the confines of this land of sorrow, that I may accomplish my days, and see an end of these troubles, for my soul is in great bitterness. I will not refrain my mouth.] The word signifies to stop, inhibit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proprie est continere probibere, & cum ad liuguam & orationem refertur ●ffert suppressionem quandam & cohibitionem eluctantis spiritus, & sermonis, conantis se aperto ore effundere. or prohibit; Those writs which stay the process of inferior Courts, are called Prohibitions, and then no man may open his mouth more in that business, until the Prohibition be dissolved or taken off: I (saith Job) will not give myself a prohibition, I will not silence or suppress my sorrows: I will give my heart full liberty to meditate, and my tongue to speak out my sufferings: Being emptied of all my comforts, I will surely take my fill of complain. It will be some ease to me, to make known how I am pained. I will not refrain my mouth. That word is used (Isa. 58. 1.) Cry aloud spare not; when the Prophet is commanded to tell the people of their sins, the Lord sets his tongue at liberty, spare not, thou art not silenced or limited, therefore, cry aloud; Theirs, were crying sins, and crying sins must have crying reproofs, loud sinners must not be whispered to, therefore, Cry aloud, spare not. I will not spare my mouth (saith Job) or refrain as we translate. But I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, or in the straightness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ie. in angustiis spiritus mei, coarctat me spiritus pectore inclusus, patefaciam liberum illi aditum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proprie meditari, vel ex meditatione interius animo concepta aliquid exterius agere loqui, orari, conqueri. Vocem edam querulam, musfitando & meditandi, Merc. of my spirit; I am in a strait, I am penned in my spirit, and unless I let my spirit out, my heart will break; I must give it vent and air, I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. The word rendered complain, signifies to meditate, and so, to speak upon meditation, or to speak deliberately. It implies, first, a forming and fashioning of what we would say in our thoughts; Thoughts are the moulds of our words. Job intends not rash speaking: what he intended to speak, should be moulded, shaped and wrought in his heart, before brought forth by his tongue. Prayer is expressed by this word, because prayer ought first to be form in the heart: Prayer is the manifestation of our desires to God; If the tongue speaks before the heart, before the heart makes up our requests, we take God's name in vain. Hannah takes up this word (1 Sam. 1. 16.) Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial, for out of the abundance of my complaint (or meditation, so the word is rendered) and grief, have I spoken. Hunnah was praying, her voice was not heard, only her lips moved which caused Eli to suspect and censure her for drunk or distracted; but she answers in words of turth and soberness, O my Lord, count not thine handmaid a daughter of Belial, for though my voice hath not been heard, yet I have been speaking out of the abundance of my complaint, that is, out of the abundance of my meditation; my complaints are not the work of my tongue, but of my heart, and my lips moved not, until my heart moved, my complaint is my meditation. Hence likewise that phrase of pouring out prayer, Psal. 142. 2. I poured out my complaint before him; He that pours out, must have somewhat, yea much within, where there is a constant stream, there also is a fountain, I poured out my complaint, or my complaining prayer; it is the same word here, I have gathered the bitter waters of sorrow into my own heart, and now I pour them forth in complain. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. What the bitterness Amarum non solum, dulci opponitur, sed etiam jucundo. Amariorem me fecit senectus, i. e asperiorem, Plau●. of the soul is, hath been expounded already in the third Chapter, therefore I shall not stay upon it: It notes only the height or extremity of affliction. Bitter is opposed to unpleasant, as well as to sweet: In the bitterness of my soul: The affliction appeared most upon his body, but it afflicted him most in his soul. He speaks little of the pain of his body, in comparison of the trouble upon his spirit, he insists principally upon that, I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul, not in the pains of my flesh, or sufferings of my body; and yet that form of speaking, excludes not his sense and sensibleness of bodily pains, for a man may well say, his soul is in bitterness by reason of the pains of his body. Being in this condition, we see what his remedy was, he falls a crying and a complaining before God, telling how it was with him. Jobs complaints have been spoken of in former passages of the Book, and why he complains, hath been showed. An afflicted soul finds some ease, in complaining of affliction; To complain out of impatience, distrust and hard thoughts of God is very sinful; in that sense we must be silent, as David, Psal. 39 9 when the hand of God was heavy upon him, I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it; in reference to the dealing of God with him, David had not a word to say; Our Lord Christ (the great pattern of suffering) was as a sheep before the shearer, dumb, and opened not his mouth, no impatient speech came from him. Though the grief of Job was very great, and so it might somewhat (as hath formerly been cleared) excuse the greatness of his complaint, yet, in this Job shown himself a Docemur quantae sint hominis vir●s, sibi à Deo derelisti. Merc. man subject to like passions, as we are. Man thinks to get cure by complaining, but usually he gets a wound: What poor shifts are we poor creatures often put to? How often do we entangle ourselves because we are straightened? Though Jobs heart kept close to God in the main, though his spirit was preserved untouched of blaspheming, yet we find him touching too often, and too loud upon this string of complaining. He cannot be excused from some motions of impatience, while we hear him settling upon these resolutions to take his fill of, or to let lose the reins of his passion to complain, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Anguish is a very ill guide of the tongue. It must needs be troubled matter, which passion dictates. Observe further, That when sorrow continues and hangs long upon us, it grows boisterous and resolute. We have three wills in the text, as if Job had turned all his reason into Will, and his will into passion, I will not refrain; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul; He was grown to a kind of resolvedness in his sorrow. It is as unsafe for man (in this sense) to will what Nec tamen is fuit Job. qui quod sibi licere non putaret proteruè ac procaciter vellet aggredi. Meri. he doth, as to do what he will; we ought to will the will of God, but we must submit our own. We should not mourn over our afflictions, nor rejoice over our comforts, but as God wils. Yet in this, the will of Job was rather strong then pertinacious. He was not a man of that rough make, to oppose his will against the will and good pleasure of God, though that were a pain to him. Having thus resolved to complain, he complains in this very high Language. Verse 12. Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me? These are his first words, words full of deep complaint, like the sea, which, whether he was or no, he would be answered. Am I a sea? Tell me. His question is of like importance with that, at the 12. verse of the 6. Chapter, Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh brass? He expostulates with God, why hast thou laid such trouble upon me? Am I stone or brass that I should be able to bear it? And here like a sea swollen with bitter waters) in the bitterness of his soul he gins to break the bounds again, Am I a sea or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me? A sea or a whale. The sea and the whale are often joined in Scripture, Psal. 104. 25, 26. O Lord how manifold are thy works, etc. the earth is full of thy riches, so is the great and the wide sea, there go the ships, there is that Leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein. Again, Psal. 74. 13. 14. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength, thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters, thou brakest the head of Leviathan in pieces. But why doth Job speak this language? In brief, the meaning is this. The sea, you know, is a mighty boisterous and unruly creature, and the whale is the strongest, mightest and most dreadful creature in the sea; the greatest of the creatures, whether upon sea or land. The sea is the most boisterous of all the inanimate creatures, and the whale is the most boisterous of all living creatures: So that here Job gives instance in two creatures, which are the most headstrong, violent and outrageous in the whole creation, The whale and the sea. And he sets forth his own weakness, by the Antithesis of these two creatures, surpassing all in strength with which God only is able to grapple and encounter. And in ask, Am I a sea or a whale, he may be conceived to speak thus, Lord thou seemest to deal with me in a way beyond all thy deal with the children of men; Thou carriest thyself towards me, as if I were more proud, heady, hard to be reclaimed, than any man in the world; thou seemest to take such a course with me, as with the unruly sea, and with the boisterous whale, to keep me in compass. He speaks as if God laid too heavy an affliction upon him, and took too strong a course to tame him, or, as if he might be more gently dealt with, and that God needed not prepare such bonds and fetters for him, or lay such law upon him, as upon the mighty sea, and the monstrous whale. But for the words in particular. Am I a sea? There are three things in the sea, specially considerable, at which Mare barbarum & indomitum elementum est. Job might have an aim here. First, the turbulence of the sea; the sea is stormy and turbulent, so stormy and turbulent, that it threatneth to over-whelme all; to over-whelme the ships sailing upon it, to over-whelme the Visat est Deus conjecisse mare in carcerem, atque illi pedes, ac manus constrinxisie propte● quam exquisita dry land encompassing it, and it would do both, if God did not bound it, if he had not said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed; did not God put an everlasting law upon it, it would be lawless, Gen. 1. 10. the text saith, That the gathering together of waters, God called seas; God gathered them together, thrust them together into one place, and there set a watch upon them, put them in prison, bound them Deiprovidentiam dioitur. Psal. 95. 4. in chains, for he saw what an unruly element it was, and how soon it would disturb all, if left to it's own guidance. So Job 38. 10. He hath set bounds to it, bars and doors to keep it in. He locks and bolts it in by his mighty power. And then Jobs meaning may be this. Am I an over-whelming tyrant or oppressor, a swallower up of the poor, etc. that thou dost thus imprison and restrain me? Secondly, there is a wonderful capaciousness in the sea: the sea is so big and broad, so extensive and vast, that it takes in all the waters that come off the land into its bosom, and yet feels no access. And then his meaning may be thus conceived, Am I able to drink in all these floods of sorrow, and rivers of affliction, which are let out and unburthen themselves upon me? Thirdly, the sea is of mighty strength, though we say, weak as water; water is a weak element in one sense, yet in another, water is a strong element, so strong, that it bears all down before it, and bears all the storms that rage upon it. And so his meaning is, am I able to bear continual tempest, perpetual toss and agitations. Wilt thou ever let lose the winds and gusts of trouble to blow thus furiously upon me? Or (am I) a whale? The word signifies any great and terrible creature, any monster 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vasta five stupenda quae vis animantia significat, sive terrestria, sive aquatilia sive aeria, Quidam Thinnorum nomen binc deducunt. whether of sea or land, but frequently, the whale; so Gen. 1. 21. God created great whales; and Lamen. 4. 3. The sea monsters, draw out their breasts; which some interpret the sea calf. It is taken also for the dragon, which lives partly upon the earth, and partly in the water (Deut. 32. 3.) their wine is the poison of dragons; and so Jer. 51. 37. But place it either at land or sea, it notes the most fierce, devouring and cruel of all living creatures. Our Translations understand it of that huge stupendious sea-monster, the whale or Leviathan, Am I a sea, or a whale. That thou setteth a watch (or a guard) over me? The word signifies to watch a thing so narrowly, that it can neither escape, nor do hurt: for upon these two reasons, watches and guards are set, we are afraid some will run from us, that others will hurt us, therefore we set a guard upon them. In this last sense, Job specially meaneth it, Thou settest a watch over me, as thou dost over the sea and the whale. Why doth God set a watch over these? It is that the sea should not hurt thc earth, that whales and sea monsters should not hurt man, sailing upon the sea, or destroy the lesser fishes swimming there. In the 39th Psalm ver. 2. the word is used for setting a watch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Custodire, servare, significat custodism, undique circumclusam unde nullum patet effugium. upon the tongue, I have set a watch (saith David) upon my lips, etc. A man sets a watch upon his lips, lest he should speak a miss, or lest he should do hurt or wrong in speaking, so (Ps. 141. 3.) the Psalmist desireth God to set a watch before his mouth, and keep the door of his lips, The tongue is a hurtful instrument, as the Apostle James describes it, a little member, which hath a world of iniquity in it: Therefore the tongue being so hurtful, it is a great part of grace, to keep a watch over it, and a great part of our duty to beg of God to set a watch upon it, that it may do no hurt, that it may not as a sea or a whale, swallow up our neighbours good name. Nehemiah (Chap. 4. 23.) made his prayer (a sweet conjunction) and set a guard or a watch; why was it? to keep off his wicked enemies from hurting him, and hindering the good work he had in hand. Some translate it thus, Am I a sea or a whale, that thou shouldest enclose me in prison? It comes to the same sense, and the Circum dedisti me career. Vul. Sicut carcer latinis a coercendo, sic Hebraeis a custodiendo. word signifies a prison in divers texts of Scripture: prisons are places of watch and guard, from whence there is no escape or getting lose. Job thought himself a man kept in prison, as offenders are, The sea is a prisoner shut within banks and walls: as a man in prison cannot go where he will, so neither can the sea. And the whale, of whom it is said, He takes his pastime in the sea, is, yet God's prisoner there. And the truth is, all creatures, are in the prison of providence, the limits whereof they can no more go beyond, than a man that is bound (as Peter) with two chains, and all the doors locked upon him. Especially afflictions are imprisonments, sickness is an imprisonment. A disease is sent like a Sergeant to attach a man: that shuts a man within his house, confines him to his chamber, and then binds him upon his bed, not to stir, till God give a release: sorrow is often called a Cord, Psal. 18. 4. The sorrows of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (the cords of death, as the Hebrew is) compassed me about; And Psal. 116. 3. The sorrows of hell (or the cords of hell) were about me. And in that sense Job speaks of himself, why dost thou arrest and cast me into prison, binding me with the cords of these sorrows and sicknesses. So he complains, Chap. 13. 27. Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly to all my paths, thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet. It is said of the woman (Luk. 13. 16.) that Satan had bound her eighteen years; she was bound with the cords of that infirmity, and kept as a poor prisoner those many years. From all we may collect the sense formerly hinted, that Job expostulates with God for using him, after the manner of a whale or a sea, as if he were a man so unruly, that nothing could tame and quiet him but such a severe course, as is used with beasts, or, as if he were a vexer and a devourer of his brethren, a very enemy to mankind. Observe from hence. First, in that Job saith, Am I a sea or a whale, that thou settest a watch over m●? The providence of God watches over all his creatures; All their motions are by his permission or commission, they stir, not but by his leave. The providence of God is his watch, and therefore it is called the eye of providence; and providence hath such an eye, as never sleeps nor slumbers; and therein lieth our security, that we have a providential eye open for us, when ours are shut and we asleep. Secondly, observe, God expresses most care to keep those creatures from hurting man, which are most apt to hurt man. We see Job instances in these two by name, the sea and the whale, and tells us, that God puts a guard upon them, he watches the least cretures, but it speaks most security to man, to hear that these are under a watch. The Lord watches over all wicked men, that they should not hurt his people, but such of them as are most harmful, who are very seas and whales, men who would swallow and drown his people with a deluge of rage and malice, over these the Lord watches in a special manner. His eye of jealousy (which is always awake) is surely wakeful upon these. As the Lord hath a special eye upon the Saints to do them good, so he hath a special eye upon the wicked, that they do no hurt, or no more, then shall turn to good. Hence the Psalmist admonishes all, and it may have a particular application to wicked men, Psal. 32. 9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. If the Lord sees men so brutish, that they will not be ruled by reason, he will rule them by rigour, He hath a whip for the Horse, a bridle for the Ass, and a rod for the fools back, (Prov. 26. 3.) A rocky shore for the sea, and a prison for the whale, rather than they shall come near to hurt his beloved people. Secondly, note, That Man in the passion, and distempered sinfulness of his nature, is like the sea or the whale. A cruel man is as hurtful, as the most hurtful creature. In the place before noted, while man is warned, Not to be as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding. It is intimated that many men are; and it is a truth, that all men left to themselves would be like unto a horse or a mule, yea like unto a sea or a whale in doing mischief. The Prophet (Isai. 57 20) compares wicked men unto the troubled sea that cannot rest. There is not in the whole compass of nature, a clearer shadow of man's nature, than the sea. First, The sea is very vast, and would (if let alone) be boundless, Man is naturally vast and boundless in his desires, he is never satisfied. Secondly, The sea is unstable, always fleeting and moving, Gen. 49. 3. Dying Jacob characters Reuben thus, unstable at water: The heart of man is a movable thing, ebbing and flowing forward and backward, tumbling up and down, as the vast Ocean. Thirdly, The sea is often provoked with storms and tempests, it is the great stage, where the winds act their parts, and strive, as it is expressed in the Revelation. There are many winds striving upon the sea of man's heart continually, and therefore he is so boisterous, and so stormy; he hath winds within him, and winds from without him; The winds in his own bowels make the greatest commotions. The Apostle James questions (Chap. 4. 1.) Whence comes contentions and wars, and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts, that war in your members? Lust's are as boisterous winds in the soul, which make it unquiet and unruly; strong lusts and desires like strong winds; and contrary lusts and desires like contrary winds, contend upon this sea. Most men are (Tit. 3. 3.) serving divers lusts and pleasures, not only many, but divers, or divers not only in number, but in nature, one lust as a contrary wind, striving with another, and so making a storm in the heart. And this storminesse is caused also by an outward blast; Satan blows upon the heart, and the world blows: so that, till the holy Ghost breathes heavenly gales to overcome and blow down those storms raised by the blast of stronglusts and temptations, the soul will be ever like a sea tumbled up and down, or, as the Apostle Judas speaks (vers. 13.) like a raging wave of the sea, foaming out it's own shame. And this is further considerable, that as the sea is most turbulent and tempestuous, most loud and roaring about the banks, where it is restrained; so man is most boisterous, where he is kept in and stopped; if God do but set bounds to him by afflictions, he gins to rage's at those bounds. It is that which job (in a degree) complained of, he thought God would bind and bond him in by affliction, and he began to be somewhat unquiet in his shackles. But when God sets bounds to wicked men by afflictions, and hedges up their way with thorns, they are angry indeed, & their corruptions break forth the more, by how much the stronger banks are made against them. The great bank and bound, which God hath set up to keep the lusts of men from overflowing all, his word and will, his laws and ordinances, by which he speaks to man, as to the sea, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; Against these banks, the hearts of men naturally rage's most. How do their lusts roar and rise up against the holy and righteous will of God, there the foam of their corruptions is most wrought and cast up. As Paul himself acknowledged of his natural condition, Rom. 7. 8. Sin (saith he) taking occasion by the law, wrought in me, all manner of concupiscence, my lusts and corruptions were more mad, because they were more restrained, I was like the sea, which makes most noise at, and most assaults the banks which stay it. So ver. 13. Sin that it might appear sin, wrought death in me by that which is good; there was a good, a holy, and a righteous law set before me, but the baseness of my heart was such, that I was the worse, for that, which taught me what was good, and should have made me better. Further, man is as a sea in this, he ever casts up mire and dirt when he is moved, corruption moves, every stirring stirs up the puddle of his heart. As he is a sea for largeness, so he is a very sink for filthiness, Isa. 57 20. The wicked are like the troubled sea, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. Lastly, Covetous oppressors have a nearer resemblance to the sea in three things. They (as the sea) suck in all the rivers and streams of profit, which flow into them, from any part of the world, and yet are not filled. Secondly, They (as the sea) wrack and over-whelme thousands, and are not at all moved with their out-cries. Thirdly, They (as the sea) have huge treasures in their houses, yet all satisfies not their desires, they are as greedy, as if they were not worth a groat. Look upon man, in the other comparison, He is a whale, a devourer. In the worst of bruits, you may see the picture of man's nature. They who have power to do what they will, and will do (when their advantage is in it) to the utmost of their power; These are your Leviathans upon dry land. Senacherib was a mighty whale, gaping to swallow up the people of God, and therefore the Lord expresses his dealing with him in a word very suitable to this sense (2 King. 19 28.) Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, etc. See how God uses him, Senacherib came raging and threatening to swallow all up; God uses him like an unruly beast of the earth, or like a devouring fish of the sea, He puts a hook in his nose, It is said of Leviathan, that he scorns the hook and the angle, Job 41. Canst thou draw out Leviathan with an hook? implying that no hook, no tackle is strong enough to hold this sea-monster, but God hath a hook can hold him. Some men are like this sea-monster, no tackling of man's making will hold them, no power under heaven can stop them; then the Lord prepares his engines and inctruments, he can make a hook will catch Senacherib the great whale, as if he were but a sprat, I will put my hook into his nose, and turn him about or pull him up. What devouring enemies have come out against us, threatening to swallow, or, as the Moabites said of the children of Israel (Num. 22. 4.) to lick up all that were round about, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field. Yea, they thought (as it is said of Leviathan) that they could draw up jordan into their mouths, that is, remove the greatest difficulties, and overcome all opposition. But how often hath God put a bridle into the lips of the horse, and a hook into the nose of these whales? Further, if we consider the words, as jobs question, in application unto himself, Am I a whale? Am I a sea? Observe, Man is apt to have good thoughts of himself. job would not be the whale, or the sea. Secondly note, Man is apt to judge that God lays more upon him than there is need. Am I a whale or a sea? as if job had said, Lord thou needest not deal thus strictly and severely with me, or bestow so much care to watch me. I would have come in at a call, thou needest not have bounded me with these afflictions, and put such a hook in my nose, a nod, or a beck would have fetched me in: Wise men suit their preparations to their occasion; we carry not out a piece of Ordinance to shoot at a fly, which we can kill with a philip; so saith Job, Lord I need not all this, a little admonition, a little chastning, or a check should have reduced me, such are man's thoughts. But the most wise God, never lays more upon man, than he hath need of: when God streightens us with such afflictions, he seethe there is somewhat of the sea in us, he must bond us, somewhat of the whale in us, he must watch and bring us under. If we see God bestow more rods and blows upon us, we must conclude, we could not be without them; some apprehend, that such is Jobs meaning in the sixteenth verse, What is man that thou shouldest magnify him? as if he had said, it is too great an honour for man to be afflicted by thy hand. If we see a King make great provisions of war, to go out against an enemy, we say he magnifies the enemy. It is an argument they have great strength, against whom we prepare great strength. So Job, Lord thou magnifiest me, thou makest me to be looked at, as some powerful creature, a sea, a whale, against whom thou actest so much of thy power. Job having, as he resolved, begun to complain of his sorrows, now amplifies them. Verse 13. When I say my bed shall cemfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint. 14. Then thou skarest me, etc. He amplisies his sorrows upon this general ground, because they were such, as he could not find any ease or abatement of, no not at any time, no not by any means; As if he had said, my grief and my pain is so remediless, that, neither artificial nor natural means give me any ease; those things, which have the greatest probability of refreshing, yield me none. He instances in those ordinary ways, which give sick and distempered bodies some abatement or intermission of their pains lying down upon their bed or couch; When I say, my bed shall comfort me, my chouch shall ease my complaint, As if he had said, while I was wrestling all day, and conflicting with my sorrows, I yet had some hope to find comfort at night, and that I should meet with rest in my bed, but my hope fails me ever: or while in the day time my thoughts are overburthened, and my spirit overwhelmed within me, I think sometimes to deceive my pains a little, by taking a nap or a slumber upon my couch; but alas, my pains will not be deceived, when I say, my bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint (I find in stead of ease, farther trouble, and in stead of comfort, terrors. For then) thou skarest me with dreams. When I say my bed shall comfort me. The word signifies to mourn and repent, as well as to comfort; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doluit, paenituit, per antiphrasin, dolere desijt, consolationem invonit. because comfort usually follows holy mourning and repenting. Godly sorrow is the mother of spiritual joy. In the words we have either that ordinary figure Prosopopeia, the fiction of a person, when acts of life and reason are ascribed to things without life; and so Job brings in his bed, as his friend speaking to him, when I say my bed shall comfort me, my bed and I will confer together, I am persuaded that will afford me a word of comfort: Or we may rather understand it by a Metonymy of the effect, when I say my bed shall comfort me; Comfort is the common and usual effect or benefit of lying down upon the bed: The bed is said to comfort, because ordinarily we find comfort in resting upon the bed; that being a means or instrumental cause of comfort, is called a Comforter. My couch shall ease my complaint. The words are indifferently translated in Scripture, either for a bed, or for a couch; but if we take them distinctly, than the bed is the place, where we rest in the night, and the couch by day: When Job saith; My couch shall ease my complaint; It notes his complaint or sorrow lay as a heavy burden, or weight upon him; for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levavit, evexit, sustu. li●. signifies to ease, or to lift up, or to ease by lifting up; if a man have a burden upon him, the way to ease him, is to lift it off from him; so Job here, I lie down upon my couch, with a burden of heavy sorrows upon me, God knows, hoping my couch will be a means to take off that burden a while, that I may have a little breathing, but (to my grief) I find, it doth not. The use of sleep, is to unburthen the spirit, and take off the load of cares; The word is used in that sense Magnum est peccatum meum, prae tollendo vel majus. quam ut tolli possit: Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, quam ut remittatur mihi quam ut sustinere possim, Jun. Gen. 4. 13. about the sin of Cain, which lay upon him as a heavy burden, My sin (saith he) is greater than can be forgiven (so some translations) or greater than I can bear, word for word thus; my sin is greater than can be taken off; Forgiveness is the taking sin off from us; it is the word here used for easing; my sin is greater than I can be eased of; as if Cain thought his sin a burden which the arm of mercy could not lift from his shoulders: Pardon is the easing of the conscience, sin the burdening of it; sin is a burden, and so is sorrow. My couch (saith he) shall ease my complaint, by taking off, or at least intermitting the troubles, which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In retractatione five meditatione miseriae apud animum. Loquen mecum. cause me to complain: or my couch shall ease me in my conplaint, when I am meditating, revolving and rolling my troubles up and down in my thoughts, than my couch and I am discoursing together, and reasoning out the matter, but no ease comes. We may observe from hence, first, That a man in pain, expects ease from every change. My bed (saith Job) shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint, every thing he sees raises his hope, every man that comes to him, he looks upon as a messenger of good news, I said, this shall help me, and that shall help me; surely if I had such a thing (saith a sick man) it would do me good, if I had such meat I could eat, if I had such drink, my would relish it, if I were in such an air, it would restore my health, and I should get up again. As a Bee goes from flower to flower, to suck out somewhat, so man from instrument to instrument, from means to means, from bed to couch, still hoping to find relief or mitigation at least for his troubled mind, or pained body. Secondly observe hence, That the most probable or proper means, are unable of themselves to give us any ease or comfort. What is fit to give a man rest than a bed? what is more proper to give one refreshing than a couch? but Job goes to his bed in vain, and goes to his couch in vain, nor this, nor that, nor t'other administered him any help. Creatures are not able of themselves to give out the comforts committed to them: Their common nature must be assisted with a special word of blessing, or else they do us no good. If God will command a bed to comfort us, it shall comfort us, if he will say to a couch, ease such a man's complaint, it shall ease his complaint; Job saith it, and his saying could not effect it: Nay, if God will say to a hard stone, give such a man rest, he shall rest and sleep sweetly upon it; when another shall not get a wink of sleep upon a down pillow: If God say to a prison, give such a man rest, he shall find rest there: if God speak to bonds and fetters, give such a man content and pleasure, he shall find not only contentment, but pleasure in bonds and fetters: if God say to flames of fire, refresh such as are cast into your arms, the fire will obey him, and refresh them: The most probable means cannot help us of themselves, and a word from God will make the most improbable means helpful to us, yea that which is destructive shall save us. For as God can create that good for us which is absent, so he can (as it were) uncreate the evil that is present; Providence can take away or suspend that hurting and destroying power which creation gave; no creature is able to help or to hurt, if God forbidden and lay his restraint upon it. Bread cannot nourish, or warm us, if he say they shall not; poison shall not kill, or fire burn us, if he say they shall not. Man's saying is but saying; Gods saying is doing, Man may say to his bed, comfort me; to his riches and honours, content me; to his wife and children, please me; to wine and music, make me merry; he may lay his command, or send his desires to all creatures, and yet remain comfortless, contentlesse, mirthless. Pleasure itself will not please him, nor the having of his will, satisfy his mind at his own saying or biding. Observe in the fourth place; That rest and sleep, are from the especial blessing of God. When I said to my bed, do it, the bed could not, sleep is not from a soft bed, or from an easy couch. Psal. 127. 2. For so he giveth his beloved sleep; that is, sleep with quietness, or extraordinary quiet refreshing sleep; which some have noted in the Grammar of the text; The Hebrew word Shena, for sleep, being with (Aleph) a quiet or resting letter, otherwise, than is usual in that language. He giveth sleep to his Jedidiaths, as the word is there, alluding to one of the names of Solomon, The Lord gives sleep sometimes as a love token to his beloved: The connection is somewhat obscure, the words before run thus, It is in vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrow, for so he giveth his beloved sleep; how is sleep a consequent of fruitless labour, and eating the bread of sorrow, these rather hinder sleep. Some refer it to the words of the first verse, Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the City, the watchman waketh but in vain, for so he giveth his beloved sleep, the Lord watches and takes a care of a City and family, and thus gives his people rest, and quiet sleep, they are not awakened with alarms or surprises of the enemy: Others read it thus, for surely he will give his, etc. that is notwithstanding the ungodly are eaten up with cares to provide bread for themselves and families to eat, yet without fail, the Lord of his mere mercy will give food convenient to his people by their labours, and quiet sleep (which includes all inward contentments) with it. So Prov. 3. 24. Thou shall lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet; And Psal. 41. 3. there is a special promise made to the sick man, or to him, who hath been a comforter of the sick, The Lord will make all his bed in his sickness; that is, God will make his bed easy and comfortable in his sickness. When we cannot sleep, we use to complain of our servants, and say, sure this bed was not made to night, or it was ill made; no man complains his bed was ill made, when he hath slept well: That his people in such a case may be sure of rest, the Lord condescends to that low office, the making of their beds, Therefore we are to receive sleep as a matter of special blessing, coming from the hand of God; he makes the bed in sickness, and in health too; then bless God for rest, and not your beds. Though we know sleep is the portion of mankind and many times the worst of men have quiet and refreshing sleep; yet no wicked man ever slept upon the pillow of this promise, nor will God make the bed of the greatest Prince in the world, as such, which yet, he is ready to do for his meanest servant; common comforts, are to some special mercies. As some enjoy riches and honour by common providence, while others enjoy them by virtue of a special promise, so it is with sleep, He giveth his beloved sleep. But what found Job upon his bed? Instead of sleep and rest, he found scaring dreams and terrifying visions as it follows, Verse 14. Thou skarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stratus prostratus, contritus, per metaphoram, territus consternatus, ment jacuit, Et velut animi deliqrium importat. visions. As if he had said, I find myself altogether disappointed and deceived, instead of being comforted, I am skared, instead of being eased, I am terrified, my bed is to me as a very rack, and my couch my torment, or a little-ease. Thou skarost me. The word signifies to be cast down prostrate to the ground with fear, or to be ground to powder with fear; And it is often rendered by that word, contrite, which notes, breaking of the heart by godly sorrow! such a breaking is upon me, through the dreams which fall upon me, in, and break my sleep; If I have any sleep, it is terrifying, and not refreshing sleep. Thou skarest me with dreams. That word springs from a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spissus, crassus, per Metalepsin somniavit quia ex voporibus crassis provenit somnus quem somnia conjequuntur. root signifying thick vapours; because sleep is caused by thick vapours ascending from the stomach to the brain, and closing up the senses; dreams usually come in that sleep, and the stronger and thicker the vapour is procuring sleep, the more we are subject to dream. And terrifyest me through visions. In the fourth Chapter I had occasion to speak at large concerning visions, therefore I shall not here insist upon that point, but refer the reader thither; I shall only say thus much, that these were not † visions as those before treated of, for the revelation of any divine secrets, to enlighten the mind of man, but only visions of hellish horror, to darken and vex the mind of man. The Hebrew word signifies to see, whence the ancient Prophets were called (Chozim) * Visiones istae quibus percellebatur. job erant terriculamenta, lemures species, umbrae, spectra, manes, simulacra & alia hujusmodi a daemone procurata, quamvis ipse Iob sibi á Deo inferri asserit, Cassia. Col. 7. c. 32. Seers. Our english word Gaze, hath near affinity with it. And we call Star-prophets (who pretend skill in predictions, from the visions of the Heavens) Stargazers. Job had both dreams and visions, for in every dream there is somewhat of a vision; There are many visions without a dream, but there cannot be a dream without a vision; An image or similitude, is always represented to, or form in the fancy, or else * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hinc prophet●e cbozim videntes dicti. there can be no dream: Jacob dreamt (Gen. 28. 12.) and behold a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to Heaven. The vision here spoken of, was (I conceive) the vision of his dream, though some understand it of day or waking vision. There is a twofold cause of dreams: There is an inward cause, and an outward cause. And The inward cause of dreams is twofold: 1. The accidental motions of the fancy, of which a man can give no reason from any precedent agitation of mind or body. 2. The settled natural temperament and constitution of the body. The external or outward causes, are usually according to the objects with which, or about which we are conversant in the day time, the impressions of these kept in the fancy, are form into dreams at night; such as the desires or distempers of the mind are, such often are our dreams. Or take it thus. Dreams may have a five fold cause. First, The natural temper of the body, and so from the variety of constitutions, variety of dreams are shaped; Choleric, or Melancholy, or Phlegmatic, or Sanguine, produce their special dreams. Secondly, Dreams are caused by the distempers of the body, either from intemperate drinking, or eating any kind of meat, or from the very eating (though moderately) of some meats, or from the diseases and sicknesses of the body; from this latter Jobs dreams were much increased, and Satan took the advantage to raise fumes, and stir the pudled humours of his body up into his brain, out of which his fancy form terrible representations to his mind. As Melancholy is said to be the Devil's bath, so are other diseased sickly humours; in them he sport's himself, and vexes man. Thirdly, There is a moral cause of dreams; such as the studies and businesses, labours and employments, cares and disquietments Quaecunque men. 'tis agitat infestus vigorea per q●ietem sacer & arcanus refert veloxque sensus, Sen. in Octa. of a man are in the day, such often are his dream. As he works in the day, his fancy works in the night. Fourthly, Dreams have a divine cause, and are immediately from God. The Scripture is full of instances, I need not stay upon them: Jacob had such a dream, Gen. 28. 16. and Jospeh had many dreams from God: Hence his brethren called him in scorn, The dreamer, or a Captain Dreamer, Gen. 37. 19 And not only have godly men dreams from God, but heathens also, Pharaoh and Nebuchnazzar, men of the earth received dreams from Heaven, of high concernment, revealing the counsels of God, concerning their own Kingdoms, and the latter about the state of all Kingdoms and Monarchies, till all the Kingdoms of the earth shall become the Kingdoms of that One, sole, Supreme Monarch, the Lord Jesus Christ. Fifthly, There are diabolical dreams, dreams which are from the Devil: Not that the Devil of himself is able to cause a dream, he cannot stir the fancy in the night, or tempt in the day, but as he hath a power given him; but permitted, he causes sometimes sinful and fifthly dreams; as Augustine bewails in the tenth book of his Confessions: sometimes terrible and troublesome Aug. confess. li. 10. Ca 30. dreams, sometimes treacherous and deluding dreams. It is by some conceived, that the dream of Pilat's wife, Mat. 27. 19 was from the Devil: she comes to Pilate, and desires him to have nothing to do with that Just man: for (saith she) I have suffered many things this night in a dream, because of him. The reason why some conceive that dream was from the Devil, is this, because thereby Satan would have hindered the work of man's redemption, if Christ had not died, and so by saving him, would have destroyed us all. I will not assert this; but it is clear to the point in hand, that there are dreams from the temptations, motions and suggestions of the Devil, who hath a power over us, as God lengthens out his chain both day and night. But, when it is said, Thou skarest me with dreams, what dreams were these, divine or Diabolical? Job speaks unto God, Thou skarest me with dreams: doubtless divine dreams had an influence upon his spirit, and left terrifying impressions there. But Satan having power to afflict Job which way he pleased, was instrumental here: and yet Job saith to God, Thou skarest me. As before, when Satan by his instruments took away all from him, he said, The Lord hath taken; so here, when Satan vexed him with visions, representing horrid and fearful spectacles, yet he saith; Thou skarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me with visions, as pointing still unto the power and providence of God, who hath all second causes, Satan and all, at his own dispose. Observe here, first, That even our dreams are ordered by God. Though Satan be the instrument, yet we may say, Thou skarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me with visions. Job was not ignorant, that second causes had a great power upon the body, to produce dreams and nightly fancies; he was not ignorant, that the strength of a disease might do very much in this, and that Satan his former enemy was busy to improve the distempers of his body for the trouble of his mind: yet he overlooks all these (as he did before) and saith, Lord thou skarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me with visions. Dreams are in the hand of God: As our waking times are in the hand of God, so are our sleeping times: when we are sleeping we are in the arms of an ever waking Father: Satan hath not power to touch us, sleeping or waking, without leave. Secondly, God can make our sleep an affliction. Jobs were scaring and terrifying dreams: Some dreams are for warning and admonition; The Lord warned Joseph in a dream: Some are for counsel and instruction, he revealed great things in dreams: Others are for comfort and consolation. Many a soul hath tasted more of heaven in a night-dreame, than in many day's attendance upon holy Ordinances. As the lusts of wicked men have dreams attending them, so also have the graces of the Saints. Jobs dreams were for terror and afflictions. Observe secondly, Satan's desire of troubling poor souls, is restless. It is restless indeed, for he will not give them leave to rest, they shall not sleep in quiet, their very dreams shall be distractions, and their nightly representations, a vexation to them. Note further, That (if God permit) Satan can make dreams very terrible to us. He can show himself in a dream, and offer ugly sights, extremely perplexing to the Spirit. He is able to cast himself into a thousand ill favoured shapes, into horrid and dreadful shapes, he can himself with what habit he pleases, if God give him a general Commission. And hence the devil terrifies, not only by temptations to the mind, but by apparitions to the eye, and is seen, at least conceived to be seen (especially by such as labour under strong diseases) like a Lion, a Bear, a Dog, gaping, grinning, staring: whence we say of any terrifying sight, it looks like a devil. We depend upon God, as for sleep, so for the comfort of sleep. Many lie down to sleep and their sleep is their terror. As that evil spirit (in the Gospel) went about seeking rest, but found none: So he hinders some, (and would more) from finding rest, when they seek it. Therefore bless God for any refreshing you have by sleep: Bless God when your dreams are not your skares, nor your beds your rack. See the effect, what deep impressions, dreadful dreams made in Jobs spirit, he was so affrighted with them, that he professes with his next breath. Verse 15. My soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than life, I loathe it, I would not live always. So that my soul chooseth strangling.] He renews his former often repeated motion, but with a greater ardency; He not only prefers death before his troubled condition, but a violent death, and (in the opinion of some) the worst of violent deaths, strangling, which though it be not the most painful of violent deaths, yet it is looked upon as the most ignominious of violent deaths. Some refer these words to the terror which Job had in his dreams and visions, as if they were so violent upon him, that they almost distracted him, and made him mad, that they even put him upon desperate thoughts of destroying himself: My soul chooseth strangling, that is, I am often tempted and almost prevailed Ab hujusmodi spectris multos sejam strangulasse, & profiliisse in puteos asserit. Hippoc. with, to make myself away. The learned Physicians tell us, that their Patients have often attempted to destroy themselves through the terrors of dreams and visions. Yet we may understand the word [strangling] only of natural and ordinary. Every death is a kind of strangling; and some diseases stop and choke a man even as strangling doth; so that, My soul chooseth strangling, may be taken in general, My soul chooseth death rather than life. My soul chooseth. He puts the soul (as it is often in Scripture) for the whole man; and the sense of all is, as if he had said, If I might be my own chooser, if I might have my election, I would even take the worst of deaths rather than the life which now I live. My soul chooseth strangling. And death rather than life. If we take strangling for a special death, than here death is put in general; As thus, if strangling be too easy a death, let me die any kind of death, Death rather than life. The Hebrew in the letter is, And death rather than my bones, which some render thus, And death rather than to be with my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Os a robore dictum, nihil in ipso taem sort & firmum quod vis doloris non debilitarat & confregerat. Aquin. bones; To be with our bones is to live. Others make this choosing an act of his bones, My soul chooseth strangling and my bones death: that is, every part of me chooseth death, all vote for the grave, I have not a dissenting member, no nor a dissenting bone; when David prays, Psal. 6. 2. Heale me O Lord, for my bones are vexed; His meaning is, I am vexed quite through. And when he promiseth (Psal. 35. 10.) All my bones shall say, who is like unto the Lord, etc. his meaning is, that he will praise God quite through, soul and body. Again (Lam. 1. 13.) From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against me, that is, he hath utterly consumed me. So here the whole man is expressed by parts, soul and bones, or body and soul, that is, whether I consider the anguish of my soul, or the pains of my body, I desire to die. Thirdly [Death rather than my bones;] because he had such sore putrified and afflicted bones, painful bones: For when Satan desired a Commission to afflict him, he words it thus, Touch his flesh, and his bone, and he will curse thee to thy face: Doubtless Magis optarim mori, quam talia essa & membra pu●●ida & ulceribus difflaentia. Merc-ossiumm mentinit quod dolor ad intima usque ossa penetravit. Satan had gone as deep, as his commission; he had liberty to touch his flesh and his bone, and he did it: He vexed his very bones (as we say) my bones are ewen rotten and consumed, the sores and the putrefaction is sunk down into my marrow, I had rather have death than my bones; that is, than a body thus consumed and putrified even to the very bones. Yet further, some of the Hebrews give it thus; Death rather than my bones] because Job had nothing left him, but bones, he could not say my flesh, for his flesh was consumed: As we say, Jobo vix aliud quam ossasuperesset. Such a man is nothing, but skin and bones, a very skelleton; I am nothing but bones, and I had rather die, than live such an Anatomy. Verse 16. I loathe it, I would not live always; let me alone, for my days are vanity. He closeth up his complaint, as he had often done before, with the tedium that was upon him, and the nauciousnesse of his life: I loathe it, I am nothing but skin and bone, nothing but sores and boils, my life is a burden to me, I would not live always. I loathe it. The word signifies the greatest aversation possible. God expresseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his greatest displicency of that, wherein the Jews were commanded to take their greatest pleasure, under this notion, Amos 5. 21. I despise your feasts; you think you keep solemn feasts, wherein I delight as much as yourselves, but I loathe them, my stomach turns at every dish. The stomach closes with wholesome meat, and turns to it; that which is unwholesome, the stomach turns against, the sight of it causes loathing. Their feasts were of Gods own appointment, and he used (in a sense) to feast with them, but their hypocrisy spoilt the banquet. Job speaks of his own life, what the Lord spoke of their feasts. I loathe it, even as that meat which is most burdensome to the stomach. So Psal. 53. 5. Thou hast put them to shame, because God loathed them, or, because God despised them: They who are loathsome to God cannot long be honourable or acceptable among men. I would not live always. The word is, I would not live to eternity; or, I would not live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ever. Why, who can, if he would? Why should Job deprecate that, which was not attainable? I would not live always, he needed not trouble himself about that; (for he speaks of a natural life) it being impossible that he should. There is no fear of living always in this world, nor is there any hope of avoiding it in the next. Why then doth Job say, I would not live always. To live always or for ever, is often used in Scripture, for a long time; The Ceremonies and institutions of the Jews were said to be for ever, because they were longlived, yet we know they are vanished and gone, That which continues as long as it should, continues always. So here, I would not live always, that is, I would not live long or I would not live out my full time, I had rather be cut off in the midst of my days, or in the midst of my years, than live to the end of them. Let me alone, for my days are vanity. Let me alone.] Or cease from me; which is taken two ways, either, leave off to prolong and protract my days, cease from me so, do not stand by me, with thine assisting power to keep my life whole within me; I am ready to die, give me no strong-water or cordial, rather pull away my pillow, let me go: Or, Cease from me; that is, cease afflicting me, take off thine afflicting hand from me, do not any longer hold me in this woeful and sad condition, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 huic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mundus, tempus hoc nomen non tam humanae vitae ●erminum quam totum vitae cur●icul●m & tempus humanae vitae praefinitum denotat quod cito deficit & cess●t. Cease from me. The world and time, while they continue are always ceasing, and therefore have their denomination from this word, which signifies co cease. For my days are vanity. That's the ground of his prayer, why he requests God to cease from him, My days are vanity; why shouldst thou stay me longer in a vain shadow. If we take, Cease from me, or, let me alone, for the ending of his affliction, it is, as if he had said, my life is vanity, there is trouble enough in it; if thou givest me the greatest ease, that ordinarily a life can have, yet it is but a vain life, I need not have this super-addition or accumulation of sorrows upon me: Or, let me alone my life is vanity; why should I converse further and longer with vanity. My days are vanity. He saith not, my days are vain, but they are vanity. My days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A verbo Habal, quod est evanescere. R●● denotat quae non est quidpi●m, aut quae cito desinit, aut fl●●us, qui exit ab ore, sic enim halitum infantium appellant. Pag. are Hebel, which signifieth a vain, light thing, a bubble on the water, or a breath of the mouth, my days are but a breath, or a puff. The root imports, vanishing or disappearing, the still almost unperceiveable breath of a little infant, which will scarce move a feather. Alas, my days are fleeting and vanishing, vain, yea vanity, they have no consistency in them, O then cease from me, and let me do what vanity must, vanish out of sight. Hence observe, First, That which a man loatheth, he longs to be rid of. I loathe it, I would not live always. When a man loathes his sin, than he saith, I would not sin always. I would be eased of this burden of corruption, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death. When a man delights in sin, he would sinne always, he thinks he can never have enough of sinning: it is so in any other instance; where once affection is alienated, we would be estranged, and taken off from conversation: We care not to be with that from which our hearts are departed. Assoon as ever Amnon, had defiled, he loathes his sister, and assoon as he loathed her, he turned her out of doors, And Amnon said unto her, arise and be gone, 2 Sam. 13. 15. He that loathes his life, is glad when a door opens for its departure. I loathe it, I would not live always. Secondly, observe, Trouble makes a little time seem long. He had said before, that his life was swifter than a Weavers shuttle; now, I would not live always; O how long is my life, how tedious! He looks upon it, as if it were a kind of eternity, as if his life would never have an end, never be done, I would not live always. Pain makes every hour a day, and every day a month, and every month a year, yea an age. He thinks his life will never end, whose affliction doth not; he thinks he shall never die, because his troubles live. Every man is ready to say, he lives too long, when he lives not, as he would. The souls under the Altar cried out (Revel. 6. 10.) How long Lord, how long Lord, wilt thou cease to avenge, etc. of our good days we complain, How short Lord, how short? And of our evil days we cry out, How long Lord, how long? This is a long day, and this a long night indeed, this is a long fit, this a lasting affliction. As the eternity which we shall have in heaven, is the longest, so it is the shortest; Eternity is longest in regard of duration, but it is shortest in regard of apprehension; The eternity of heaven shall be to us, no more tedious than a minute or a moment. Eternity is so full of pleasure and satisfaction, that it breeds no fullness of itself: living at the well head of comfort, in immediate communion with God by Jesus Christ, our comforts renew as much as they continue; whence freshness of appetite, and fullness of satisfaction, are perpetually interchangeable. The joys of that estate are so many, that the years seem but few. Eternal joy makes eternity, but as a moment, as eternal pain will make every moment an eternity. Thirdly, Observe; forasmuch as Job saith, I would not live always; he intimates, that there is such a desire in some men; for he speaks of a life in this world; There is a principle in man, drawing out his heart in desires, to live always in the world. I (saith Job) would not live always; let others make that their choice, if they will, I will not. Most are very greedy of that commodity, and would not part with it upon any terms: and no wonder, for (as the Psalmist describes them) They have their portion in this life; He that hath his portion in this life, would ever have this life; he that hath nothing beyond this world, would never go heyond the world. Such must needs be all for life, all for the world, because these are their all. You shall never come to a worldly man, and find him in a mind to die, Let orhers take heaven, he is contented with his earth; let others make their best of the next life, the present shall serve his turn. From the reason of this request, My days are vanity, Observe; The life of man is a vain life. Vanity hath two things in it, whereof the one may seem quite contrary to the other; it hath emptiness in it, and it hath fullness in it; it hath emptiness of comfort, and fullness of vexation; that's the right vanity, Vanity with vexation of spirit; My days are vanity, they are empty of good and full of evil. Four ways, the vanity of man's days may be demonstrated. First, they are vain comparatively: So our days are more than vain, or less than vanity, for they are nothing, Psal. 39 5. Mine age is nothing before thee. As in comparison of God (Isa. 40. 15. 17,) The Nations are as the drop of a bucket, etc. they are vanity, yea they are nothing, yea they are counted to him less than nothing; So our days are vain, they are nothing but vanity, they are less than vanity, or nothing; nothingness is the substance of vanity, and all troublesomeness is the accident of it. We cannot form up an apprehension of our life, so little as it is, we cannot reach so low in our thoughts, as the bottom of man's vanity, in either notion. As we are not able to raise our hearts so high, as the excellency of that estate, which we have by Christ; no man's thoughts are big enough, or can be, to comprehend or to take in that: So we cannot little our thoughts enough to consider the estate, sin hath brought us into; therefore it is said, to be as nothing, and less than nothing, and how little that is, which is less than nothing, no man can proportion. Secondly, our days are vanity, because they are so unconstant and changeable, so subject to motion and alteration. That's a vain thing which is ever upon its change. That which sets the glory of God highest in opposition to the vanity of the creature, is, That with him there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning, Jam. 1. 17. or, shadow by turning; some translate it so, no shadow by turning, because the Tropic or turning of the Sun makes the shadow: while the Sun is in the Zenith, that is, directly over our heads in the highest point of the heavens, we cast no shadows. Now the Lord never turneth, he is ever fixed at a point, and so makes no shadow; or thus, as we render it, no shadow of turning; that is, not only is there no turning in God, but there is not so much as a shadow of it, not so much as the least imagination of a shadow. This sets up the glory of God highest: And in opposition to this point of highest perfection in God, lies the lowest point of the creature vanity: that in them there is nothing but turning, in them there is nothing but variableness, and the substance of turning. The fashion of the world passeth away, it is ever passing, never standing at a stay. It is more than passing, it is posting from stage to stage, night and day. As the nature of Sicut bomo omnes in scipso res velut mundus quidam, ita omnium mutationum seminae continct. man contains the seeds and principles of all things in the world (and is therefore called a little world.) So his nature contains the seeds and principles of all the changes in the world. Therefore his days are vain. Thirdly, the vanity of these days appears in this, because they are unsatisfying days. That's a vain thing, which doth not satisfy; for vanity is emptiness, and emptiness can never fill: our days are but as a dream. And what is spoken in Isaias (Chap. 29. 8.) concerning the dreamer, is verified of a mere natural life, It is saith the Prophet, As when a hungry man dreameth, and behold he eateth; but he awaketh and his soul is empty; or, as when a thirsty man dreameth, and behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh and behold he is faint; neither hunger nor thirst can be appeased by dreams, satisfaction comes not in at the door of imagination. Our days of themselves can give us no more satisfaction, no better a breakfast, than a dream of meat and drink doth to a hungry, or a thirsty man. All creatures are not able to fill one. There is a satisfaction which comes to us through the creature, but the creature doth not satisfy: God can make any thing satisfy, the least of his creatures shall fill the greatest. He can give us as much, as we expect from them, that is, look what satisfaction a man would have from a creature, that God can give when he pleaseth: But the days of man are vanity in this, because we cannot take this satisfaction ourselves from the creature; neither is any creature able to give it us. When creatures have done their best, we are hungry and restless still, empty and unsatisfied still. There is no rest till we return to God, or till God turn his face to us. Fourthly, the vanity of our days appears in this, that they are deceivable days; that's very vain to us, which deceives us. And in this the great vanity of the creature consists: it promiseth much and performeth nothing. Great promises are made, and hopes are raised very high: Riches will tell us, what they will do for us; and honours will tell us, what they will do for us, and how happy they will make us; and the wine will tell us, O how that will refresh us, and the sweet and the fat will tell us, how they will fatten us. All these make golden promises, but leaden performances. They cannot make good what they promise, unless they can, with evil. As Satan said to Christ, when he had not so much as a shoela●chet to dispose of, All this will I give thee: So the creature joining with our hearts, makes wonderful promises of high content, and then leaves us most discontented, This is vanity and vexation of man's spirit. If the creature were not so free to enter bond, and give us security, for the payment of great good, it would not be so ill with us. If the creature would say directly to us, it is not in me, as Job brings in the creatures disclaiming wisdom (chap. 28.) The sea saith, it is not in me; and the earth saith, it is not in me; So if creatures would speak plainly, comfort is not in us, help is not in us, satisfaction is not in us, and so tell us how vain they are, their vanity were less to us, though the same in itself. It is worse to be deceived of good, then to want it. Surely (saith David of this life) every man walketh in a vain show, Psal. 39 6. there is a show of this, and that, and the other Qnasi nihil habeat humana vita verum & solid●m, sed apparens umbratile, imag narium, thing a promise of it, but it is a vain show, it is but like a Pageant, which feeds the eye, and delights the fancy, or pleases the ear, but passeth away, and leaveth you as empty as before. In the fifth verse of that Psalm, the inventory of man's temporal estate is summed up, and the total amounts but to this, Every man at his best estate is altogether vanity; and lest any should think he hath miscounted, an affirmation is prefixed; Surely, every man at his best estate is altogether vanity; Every man is vanity, and every man is vanity at his best estate: not only in his afflictions and in his losses, in his troubles and in his sorrows, such as Job now was in; but take a man in the height, and perfection, and accomplishment of all creature comforts and accrewments: take the cream, the pith, the marrow, the sweetness of all; extract a quintessence of all that can be had in creatures, all is vanity, Man at his best estate is vanity, yea altogether vanity. When Cain was born, there was much ado about his birth, I have got a manchild from God, saith his mother, she looked upon him as a great possession, and therefore called his name Cain, which signifies a possession; But the second man, that was born into the world, bore the title of the world vanity; his name was Abel, which is the word here used; They called his name Abel, that is, vanity: a premonition was given in the name of the second Abel viventium ●m●ium typus & representatio, Pined. man, what would or should be the condition of all men. Psal. 144. 4. there is an allusion unto those two names; we translate it, Man is like to vanity, the Hebrew is, Adam is as Abel; Adam (you know) was the name of the first man, the name of Abel's father; but as Adam was the proper name of the first, so it is an appellative, or common to all men; now Adam, that is man, or all men, are Abel, vain, and walking in a vain shadow. And this word is by some translated, nothing, his days are nothing, Temtus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Pined. Idols are nothing; time is but the Idol of eternity, and things temporal, but the Idol of things eternal. This word signifies in the Hebrew, an Idol and a vain thing: Deut. 32. 31. Jer. 2. 5. the word Abel, is translated Idol; and the Apostle (1 Cor. 8.) tells us, that an Idol is nothing in the world, that is, an Idol is the vainest thing in the world, or the greatest vanity: So that upon the matter, our estate and our days here are but an Idol, that is, the representation of a thing which is not; so much vanity and folly, so much trouble and sorrow, so much affliction is mixed with the days and life we now lead, as A nothing is all it can justly be called, or an Idol, a show, of what is not. And therefore we may well make it an argument (as Job here) to take us off from the world, and to chide worldlings with, as David did (Psal. 4.) O ye sons of men, how long will ye love vanity! or as Solomon about that adored Idol of the world, riches, (Prov. 23. 5.) wilt thou set thine eyes (or as the Original) wilt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou cause thine eyes to fly upon that, which is not. An Eagle will not catch flies (that's no game for her) much less will she make a flight at nothing, when there is no game sprung at all. And wilt thou make a flight with thy heart (for the eye which Solomon chiefly intends, is the eye of the soul) when nothing springs before thee, but, that which is not. To close this point, if the creature be so vain, and the days of man be vanity, let us set our eyes and hearts upon that which is, something, upon that which is all, upon that which is lasting, upon that which is everlasting, upon that which is true, upon that which is truth, upon that which will not deceive, upon that which cannot deceive, upon that which will be more in fruition, than ever it was in expectation. The excellency of that estate we have in spirituals, consists in this, that as it promiseth much, so it performeth much, and rather more than it promiseth; a believer finds himself satisfied in Christ, beyond expectation; the soul did not expect so much as it finds: As the Queen of Sheba coming to Solomon, had satisfaction beyond report and promise, so shall all who come to Christ; he makes us large promises, and if we believe, we shall find larger performances: We shall, at last, say, that the half of those good things which we now enjoy, were not told us in the promises: God hath laid up all good in his word, but our thoughts are not able to take out the extent of those good things; Hence it is said, that when Christ appears, He shall come to be admired in his Saints; things shall be so far beyond their apprehension, that they shall be all in admiration. JOB Chap. 7. Vers. 17, 18. 19 What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? And that thou shouldest visit him every morning: and try him every moment? How long wilt thou not departed from me, nor let me alone, till I may swallow down my spittle? THese three verses, contain a farther argument, whereby Job strengthens his complaint. The sum of the argument is taken, from a comparison of the power, majesty and greatness of God, with the meanness and misery, with the lowness and poverty of man; What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him, and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? Why should the great, the wise, the powerful, the glorious God, contend or have to do with weak, miserable, vain man. How unequal is this Paria paribus congandent. match? What is man?] The word is, what is miserable man? Enosh, man encompassed about with sorrows. What is this sorrowful miserable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 man? Job concluded in the former verse, man is vanity. And yet here he questions, What is man? The question relisheth of contempt, rather than of ignorace: and carries with it a low estimation of man, let him be what he will, not a want of information what man is: What is man? As we use to say to, or of those we slight, who are you? or what's he? It imports the vanity and deficiency of the creature. Or the words are a diminutive admiration: He admires the smallness, the littleness, the meanness, the nothingness of man. Questions in Scripture, often abate the sense, Zech. 4. 7. Who art thou O great mountain? thou lookest very big and very great, but who art thou? tell me who thou art, or I will tell thee, thou art now but a molehill, thou shalt be a nothing shortly, Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: it is a contemptuous undervaluing question against the proud opposers of the Church. Who am I, O Lord, and what is my house (saith David, 2 Sam. 7. 18.) His question extenuates. On the other side; questions often increase the sense, and raise it to the highest. Exod. 15. 11. Who is a God like unto thee? where is there such a God as thou art? So Mich. 7. 18. Who is a God like unto thee, pardoning iniquity, transgression and sin? The question puts the brightest glory upon God, in pardoning sin. Hence man is abased in a question, what is man? how low, how poor a creature is he? Or take the question, barely for a desire of resolution; as if this were a piece of a Catechism about man's frailty, what is man? He had told us in the words immediately foregoing the text; that man is vanity, why then doth he inquire in these words, what is man? It is not to learn what man is, but to teach us the wonder, that man being such, should be thus regarded: As if he had said, Forasmuch as man is vanity, what is vanity that thou shouldest magnify it? will any one esteem vanity, and prise a thing of nought? man is vanity; that's the answer to the question. The Scripture gives many answers to this question: Ask the Prophet Isaiah, what is man? and he answers (chap. 40. 6.) Man is grass, All flesh is grass, and the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field. Ask David, what is man? He answers (Psal. 62. 9) Man is a lie, not a liar only, or a deceiver, but a lie and a deceit. All the answers the holy Ghost gives concerning man, are to humble man: Man is ready to flatter himself, and one man to flatter another; but, God tells us plainly, what we are. That thou shouldest magnify him? or make him great? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is a threefold sense of that word [magnify] used in Scripture. Magnus quantitate vel qualitate, annis bonore existimatione, authoritate, Shined. 1. It implies, only a manifestation or declaration of another's greatness, or an opening of his intrinsical worth and dignity; in which sense, man is often said to magnify God, he declares and publishes the infinite, internal worth and dignity of God. Luke. 1. 46. the Virgin beginneth her Song thus, My soul doth magnify the Lord. It is impossible we should give the least addition to the greatness of God: Then magnifying of God, is only a declaring that God is great: So, Psal. 34. 3. O magnify the Lord with me, that is, let us join our hearts and our tongues in this great work, to lift up the honour and Name of our God. 2. To magnify, is to esteem or prise greatly: So the Apostle speaking of his office, shows how highly he prized it, by breaking forth into this holy boast, Rom. 11. 13. I magnify mine Office. I esteem this as my greatest privilege and honour, that God hath called me to be an Apostle; And Acts 5. 19 when the Pharisees were so angry with the Apostles, and many were afraid to join with them, the text saith, the people magnified them, that is, the people had high thoughts of them, and esteemed them greatly. But thirdly (which is chiefly intended in this place) to magnify, is, to make great, or to give some real addition of worth and respect. Thus the Lord magnifies man; he magnifies him, by adding somewhat to him, by giving glory and lustre to man, who in himself is vile, and mean, and contemptible. And thus God magnifies man four ways. First, He magnifies man in the work of creation; of that we read, Psal. 8. 4. where this question is put, What is man that thou shouldest be mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him; The third verse shows us, what it was which raised the Psalmist to this admiration of the goodness of God to man; When I behold the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the Moon and the Stars which thou hast made; Lord what is man? God in the work of creation, made all these things serviceable and instrumental for the good of man. What is man, that he should have a Sun, a Moon and Stars planted in the firmament for him? what creature is this? when great preparations are made in any place, much provisions laid in, and the house adorned with richest furnitures; We say, what is this man that comes to such a house? when such a goodly fabric was raised up, the goodly house of the world adorned and furnished, we have reason, admiring to say; what is this man that must be the tenant, or inhabitant of this house? There is yet a higher exaltation of man in the creation, man was magnified with the stamp of God's image; one part whereof the Psalmist describes at the fift verse; Thou hast given him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, etc. Thus man was magnified in creation. What was man that he should have the rule of the world given him? that he should be the Lord over the fish of the sea, & over the beasts of the field, and over the fowls of the air. Again, man was magnified in creation, in that God set him in the next degree to the Angels; Thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels; there is the first part of the answer to this question, man was magnified in being made so excellent a creature, and in having so many excellent creatures made for him. All which may be understood of man, as created in God's image, and Lord of the world, but since the transgression, it is peculiar to Christ, As the Apostle applies it, (Heb. 2. 6.) and to those who have their blood and dignity restored by the work of redemption, which is the next part of man's exaltation. Secondly, Man is magnified or made great by the work of redemption. That exalts man indeed. Man was laid low, and his honour in the dust, notwithstanding all that greatness which he received in creation: Though Sun, and Moon, and Stars, the fish of the Sea, and the fowls of the air, etc. were made his servants, and himself a companion of Angels; yet by sin he fell below all these privileges, and was made a companion for Devils, a citizen of hell: Therefore the second magnifying of man, was by the work of redemption. And, what was man that thou shouldest redeem him, when he was a captive? raise him when he was down, build and repair him when he was ruined, when he was lost seek him, and when he was bankrupt and undone, give him a better stock and set him up again? What was man that thou shouldest do all this for him? How did the mercy of God magnify his servants, when he gave his Son to pay their debt to his own justice? If man was magnified when the Sun, and Moon, and heavens were made for him; how was he magnifyed, when God was made man for him? how was he exalted, when the Son of God was humbled for him! Thirdly, Man is magnified or made great in the work of regeneration, wherein God re-stamps his Image upon him, in those shining characters of holiness and knowledge; The first creation being spoiled, occasioned redemption, and redemption purchased a second creation. Every one that is in Christ is a new creature, 2 Cor. 5. 17. Our dignity is far greater in being new creatures, then in being creatures. Lastly, Man is magnified by those several acts of favour and grace, which God casts upon him every day: smiling upon him, embracing him in his arms, admitting him to near communion with himself, watching over him, tending him, guarding him with Angels, directing him, counselling him, comforting him, upholding him by his spirit, till he bring him unto glory, which is the highest step of preferment that man's nature is capable of. What is man that thou shouldest magnify him in all these things? Observe hence; first, That, All the worth and dignity of man, is out of himself. What is man? As if he had said, man hath nothing of his own, to commend him to, or to ingratiate himself with God. God hath put something upon him, he hath magnified man, and given him a real worth, because he would. Free grace exalts man. Hence (Psal. 90. 20.) the Psalmist prays, Let the heathen know themselves to be but men: As if he had said, man, who is high in his own esteem, conceits himself to be somewhat above man, he judges of himself beyond his own sphere and border: Therefore Lord bring their thoughts within the compass of their own condition, let them know that they are but men; A man that is acquainted with himself, will be humble enough; A mere man, is but mere earth. The Prophet tells him so, thrice over, with one breath (Jer. 22. 29.) O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Man is earth, in the constitution of his body, that was framed out of the earth: he is earthly in the corruption of his mind, that muds in the earth: The Apostles stile is, earthly minded men: And he will be earth, in his dissolution; when he dies he returns to his earth. A natural man is earth all over; earth in his making, earthly in his mind, his spirit earthly, earth gets into this heaven, his upper regions: and the body, his lower region, shall moulder to earth again: Then, what is man? Hence (I say) it is, that when man at any time would exalt and lift himself up, he thinks himself above man, he hath some notion or apprehension of an excellency, beyond the line of a creature: He conceits he hath or is a piece of a deity. The first ground of hope upon which man raised himself against God, was, that he might be a god; he was not satisfied in being made like unto God, he would be (which was the highest robbery) Gods equal, and stand by himself: this thought was his fall. There is such a principle of pride in the hearts of all men by nature. They are not contented in the sphere of a creature, they would be somewhat, beyond that. The truth is, all the true worth and dignity of man, is in what he hath beyond himself, his excellency is in Christ, and his glory, in being made partaker of the divine nature. It abased man, when he aspired to take a divine nature to himself, but it exalts man, when God inspires him with a participation of the divine nature. What is man that thou dost thus magnify him? Christ makes us very great and glorious, by the dignity which he puts upon us: as he tells the Church (Ezek. 16. 14.) Thy beauty was perfect, through my comeliness which I had put upon thee; thou hadst no comeliness, no beauty of thine own, but through my comeliness thou art very beautiful. The worth of man is out of himself; the Church shines by those rays, by that lustre, which Christ casts upon her. Secondly observe from this question, What is man, etc. Man hath laid himself so low, that he is not worthy of one thought from God. What is man that thou shouldest magnify him and set thy heart upon him? It is a wonder that God should vouchsafe a gracious look upon such a creature as man; it is wonderful, considering the distance between God and man, as man is a creature, and God the creator; What is man: that God should take notice of him? is he not a clod of earth, a piece of clay? but consider him as a sinful and an unclean creature, and we may wonder to amazement; what is an unclean creature, that God should magnify him? will the Lord indeed put value upon filthiness, and fix his approving eye upon an impure thing? One step further, what is rebellious man, man an enemy to God, that God should magnify him! what admiration can answer this question? will God prefer his enemies, and magnify those who would cast him down? Will a Prince exalt a traitor, or give him honour, who attempts to take away his life? The sinful nature of man, is an enemy to the nature of God, and would pull God out of Heaven; yet God even at that time, is raising man to Heaven; Sin would lessen the great God, and yet God greatens sinful man. Thirdly observe; Though man be low in himself, yet God bestows many thoughts and cares upon him. Though there be no reason at all in man, why God should magnify him, yet God doth and will. Free grace overlooks all the distance that is between God and us, as we are creatures, and it overlooks that greater and vaster distance, which is between God and us, as we are sinful creatures; Many a man is ready to think himself so good and so great, that his brother is not worthy one of his thoughts, or a cast of his eye; he thinks it too much to look towards a man, that is of the same make with himself, because he is a little lower statured in estate or degree. A great rich man thinks he doth a poor man a very great favour, if he turns about and speaks to him: We may well cry out with admiration, O the pride of man to man! and O the love of God to man! one man hath scarce humility enough to speak to another, who in nature is equal to him, and yet God (who is infinitely above us) hath love enough to magnify and set his heart upon him. The language of the holy Ghost, is very gradual about this point. erst, What is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Psal. 8. 4. To be mindful of a man, is not so much as to visit him, we may be mindful of those, whom we go not to see, or to whom we send no help. Secondly, What is man that thou takest knowledge of him, or the son of man, that thou makest an account of him, Psal. 144. 3. It is much that God will take knowledge of a man, or cast an eye upon him, but it is a great deal more, that God will make account of him; but the third and highest step of favour, is this of the text, that the Lord will magnify man and set his heart upon him, as if he could not be without him? Observe, Fourthly, The true apprehension of the greatness of God's mercy and goodness to us, makes us little in our own eyes. I ground it thus, when Job had considered how the Lord exalts and greatens man, he than abases and diminishes man, what is man that thou shouldest magnify him? Nothing should draw man so low in himself, as to think how high God doth, and how much higher, yet, God intends to raise him. In the 1 Chron. 17. 16. When David enquired of God by Nathan, whether he should build him an house? God answered no, he should not, but his son after him should; But though the Lord would not have David build him an house, yet the Messenger, who was to carry this report, must tell David, That the Lord would build him an house, and establish his son upon the throne after him, vers. 10. 11. Assoon as David had this answer brought him, of God's wonderful goodness toward him, and of those large promises to his family, he breaks out into this diminutive admiration, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And yet this is a small thing in thine eyes, O God: for thou hast also spoke of thy servants house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Lord God. We hear not of such an humble speech falling from David's lips, till Gon sent him that message of advancement. And so (2 Sam. 9 8.) when David out of that abundant love he bore to Jonathan, enquired, Is there any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathans' sake? Mephibosheth was found; And when David told him, I will take care for thee, Thou shalt eat bread at my table continually; This favour astonisheth Mephibosheth, what is thy sevant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog, as I am? He spoke of himself below men, when he heard David speak so highly of him. A living dog is better than a dead Lion; but what is worse than a dead dog? The like impression David's excessive kindness made upon the spirit of Abigail (1 Sam. 25. 41.) when he sent messengers to her, after the death of her husband Nabal, to assure her, that he would be her husband. This honour (that David anointed King over Israel should desire her to be his wife) abases Abigail in her own eyes, Let me (saith she) be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord. David's wife! (said she) it is too much preferment for me, to be David's servant! I shall be honoured enough to be his servant's servant, and that in the lowest service, to wash their feet. As ingenuous spirits, when they hear messages of great favours tendered them, fall low in their own thoughts: So much more will gracious spirits. Those magnifying offers of Christ and pardon of sin by him, of a crown of life, and an exceeding weight of glory purchased by him; these magnifying promises (I say) bring the soul upon the knee, upon the meditation and acknowledgement of its own meanness and vileness; What am I that the Lord should respect me, that the Lord should redeem me, that he should regenerate me, than he should set his love upon me, prepare heaven and glory, a crown and a kingdom for me? what am I? There is nothing doth more empty us of self-conceit and high thoughts, than duly to consider, what high thoughts God hath of us. Note one thing further from these words, what is man that thou shouldest magnify him? If God magnify man, one man should not vilify and debase another; one man should not contemn and slight another. Who art thou that centemnest thy brother? Thou canst not (really) magnify thy brother, and wilt thou debase him? It is a most dangerous attempt to abase those, whom God magnifies, to despise those whom God honours. That, on whom God sets his heart, against him, man should set his heart, or tongue, or pen. God seeks occasion to magnify us, though we give him advantages every day to cast dishonour upon us. Let man takc heed how he dishonours those, whom the great God now doth, and intends to honour more. When Pharaoh magnified Joseph, he caused the people to cry Abrech, that is, bow the knee before him, Gen. 41. 43. And when Ahasuerus intended to advance Mordecai. He commanded him to be arrayed in royal apparel, etc. and proclamation to be made, Thus shall it be done to the man, whom the King delighteth to honour, Esth. 6. 11. Princes expect that all should favour and honour, those, whom they honour and make their favourites. Surely then the great God will not bear it, that they should be despised, whom he delights in, and casts honour upon. But here a Question arises, How this is appliable unto Job? why doth Job, who lay upon a dunghill, and was cast into so low a condition, speak of magnifying? Was Job magnified? Doth Job wonder at his preferment and exaltation, when he was brought down to the dust? Poor Job! Thou wast almost nullified, and made no body, and dost thou speak, as if thy honour were too big for thee, What is man that thou shouldest magnify him? We may answer. First, By connecting this word [magnify] with the words that follow; What is man that thou shouldest magnify him, and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? As if he had said, What is man that thou shouldest magnify him, by setting thine heart upon him? And so, setting the heart upon man, is an explication of what is meant by magnifying man. And that's a clear truth; when God sets his heart upon a man, he magnifies him sure enough; that act of God is the exaltation of the creature: Man needs no greater honour than this, that God sets his heart upon him; he that knows that, knows himself high enough. Whatsoever man sets his heart upon, he (as man can) exalts and magnifies it. If a man sets his heart upon another man, he magnifies that man. Yea, if a man sets his heart upon a beast or a stove, (he in a sense) deifies that beast, that stone. If he sets his heart upon any creature, he makes that creature a god to him: for nothing should have the heart, but God alone. And the reason is, because setting the heart upon any thing is the highest exaltation we can give it. Therefore nothing ought to have the heart set upon it, but God; for he is Lord over all. And the Lord calls us to set our hearts upon him, because that is the highest honour, creatures can give him. Now, as our setting our hearts on God magnifies him, so the setting of his heart on us, doth wonderfully magnify us. And he therefore sets his heart upon us, that we might at once see and admire, how much he honours us. If a King set his heart upon a man, that man is greatly magnified; he is magnified in the opinion of others; and not only in the bare opinion of others, but there is a real dignity put upon that man, on whom a King puts his heart. How much more, if God sets his heart upon man, is man really magnified. That God sets his eye upon a man, is a magnifying of him. It was the privilege of Solomon's Temple, that the Lord promised his eye would be upon that place; and it was a high honour to the Temple, that God would look upon it continually, 1 King. 8. 29. If it be a condescension for God to eye the creature, He humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth, Psa. 113. 6. How great is his condescension in setting his heart upon the creature. So there is a truth in this sense, and we may make a comfortable improvement of it, What is man that thou shouldest magnify him, by setting thine heart upon him? Secondly, Job may have respect to his former greatness, when God magnified him, and made him the greatest man in the East; and is now be-moaning his own change, in the changeableness of man's condition; who, when he is lifted up to the highest, fairly built and adorned, yet in a moment may be cast down and Quorsum in me lo●●pletando tuam operam p●suisti, tuam providentiam ostendisti, quare me ad cum statum evexisti in qua parsistere non poteram. ruined. Therefore Job comes with his wonder, Lord, what is man! What is the ordinary state of man, that thou shouldest take care to make him great! As if he had said, why didst thou magnify me, to make me the greatest man in the East? Why didst thou set thine heart upon me, to bless my family, and provide for me, as if thou hadst none else to provide for? Thou seest man's beauty is blasted in the twinkling of an eye, and then all thy work is lost. It is not worth the while to do that, which may be undone so soon. Would any one be at cost to build a house, to bestow a great deal of charge & pains upon it, and it may be spend some years about the adorning and furnishing of it; and when all's done, it is such a house, that the next breath of wind may level with the ground. What is such a house, that a man should build it? When man is raised up and built, a puff of wind, a blast of affliction blows him down, and brings him to the dust; what is this man, that he should be magnified? This is a good sense of the words; that Job reflecting upon his former greatness, and honour, now defaced and overthrown, breaks out into this expostulation; what is man? Why should God in his providence lay out so much to magnify and set a man up; who may be so quickly down, as you see I am at this day. But thirdly, rather take it thus. What is man that thou shouldest magnify him? Namely, by dealing with him thus in chastenings and afflictions by disciplining and tutor him with the rods of thy correction. But you will say, Is it a magnifying of a man to afflict a man? Yes, it is a magnifying of man; man is magnified two ways, by affliction. First, in that, God, who is so great will descend to chastise and correct, or to order the Chastisements and corrections of man. Man is magnified, when God deals or contends with him. That, Indignus sum, quem vel percutias, contemptior sum quam ut adversus me manum extendas. God wrestles and strives with man, is an honour to man. David (1 Sam. 24. 14.) seems to look upon it, as too great honour (though it were a burdensome one) that Saul, a King, one so much above him, would follow and pursue him, Against whom is the King of Israel come out? against a dead dog, or against a flea? Alas, I am no match for thee, thou puttest too much weight upon me, in that thou contendest with me. To make great preparations, and to send out a great army and skifull Commanders against an enemy, magnifies that enemy, that is, it begets an apinion, that surely he is some great and potent enemy, against whom such great preparations are made. In this sense you may understand it, that affliction is a magnifying of a man, because the great God comes forth to battle against him, who is but dust and ashes, but as a dead dog, or a flea. The Heathens had such a notion, they looked Hoctamen infoelix miseram solabere: morte. Aenei magni d●xtra cadis, Virg l. 10. Occumbens, I, nunc Herculis armis. Donum ingens semperae tuis memorabile factis. Valer. Flac. l. 3. Argon upon it, as no small privilege for a man to be slain by some famous great Commander; Comfort thyself in this miserable death (said one) thou fallest by the hand of great Aeneas, thou art magnifyed enough in this, that thou hast such a man as Aeneas to fight with thee. And another, To die by the arm of Hercules, amighty favour, and always to be remembered. Some kind of trouble is an honour, as well as a trouble: The magnifying of man, as well as an afflicting of him. Man is so fare from deserving any favour from God, that, as a creature, he is not worthy a blow, though, as a sinner, he is most worthy of death from God. But secondly, we may answer it, that man is (not only thus notionally, but) really magnified by afflictions, and that two ways. First, in this life; the very humblings of the Saints are their exaltations: their afflictions are their glory. There was never any so famous for greatness, for riches, for honours, as some have been for sufferings. Who is there upon record throughout the whole book of God? who is there in any history of the world so famous for greatness and riches and high achievements, as Job a sufferer? All the victories of Alexander or Caesar, yea of Joshua and David, have not rendered them so famous to posterity, as the conflicts of Job. His affiictions have magnified him more, than all his other greatness, or then the greatness of other men hath magnified them. If Job had only been the richest man in the East, I believe, we should never have had a word of any of his acts, or so much as mention of his name in Scripture. That which gave him the honour to have a whole book written of him alone by the pen of the holy Ghost, besides the often mention of his precious name in other books, is this, that he endured so much. That man is magnified really, who is thus afflicted, and comes off holily. Secondly, Afflictions have an influence upon the life to come. The Apostle is express in that, 2 Cor. 4. 17. where he exhorts, not to be troubled with our present afflictions, for they work for us a fare more exceeding weight of glory. That which works for us an exceeding weight of glory, magnifies us. It is not said any where in the Scripture, that man's honours, or his riches, or his greatness in the world, work for him a fare more exceeding weight of glory: There is no such thing ascribed or attributed to outward comforts and privileges; but our afflictions work for us a fare more exceeding weight of glory. Not (as Papists abuse that Scripture) as if afflictions did merit glory: but as the way Duntaxat significatur, quo itinare ad gloriam pervenitur. and course wherein God sets men, and through which he will exalt and lift them up to greatest glory. Glory is the purchase of Christ, and all the heaviest sufferings of the creature are not able to purchase one grain of glory, not the least imaginable weight of glory, much less an exceeding weight of glory; but God brings his people to glory, and makes them (as he did the Lord Christ) in their degree, perfect through sufferings. Hence observe; That afflictions are (if rightly improved) the exaltations and magnifyings of the Saints. The rod of discipline in God's hand, becomes a sceptre of honour in ours. This crosses the common thoughts of the world. The truth is, there is scarce a soul in the world under affliction, but he thinks himself abased by it, and saith, that God hath laid him low. Yet the right use and improvement of affliction, is the best preferment. The Apostle, Jam. 1. is express, Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted. The low have an exaltation; yea their lowness is their exaltation: yet, we are ready to have undervaluing thoughts of ourselves, when the hand of God is upon us; when God takes away that, for which men set a price upon themselves; they scarce think themselves worth any thing. But this especially reaches that sinful contempt of others, a man afflicted is esteemed by most as a man abased. They who have prized a man, and had great thoughts of him, when he had a great estate, etc. let him once fall in temporals, though he continue the same in spirituals, yea, though he increases in them, and his grace shines, as much or more, than ever, yet he is dis-esteemed and laid low in their thoughts. So much for those words, what it is to magnify; and likewise how they may have a suitableness with Jobs condition, he being so afflicted and emptied, when he spoke them. And that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him. To set the heart notes four things in Scripture. First, Great care and intention of spirit, Prov. 27. 23. Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds; the Hebrew is, set thine heart upon thy herds: The heart is set upon the herds in providing and taking care of them, in looking to the welfare of the herds and of the flocks. Samuel uses that language to Saul (1 Sam. 9 20.) when he came seeking his father's asses, As for the asses (saith he) set not thine heart upon them. that is, take no care for them, never trouble thyself more about that business, that care is over, they are found. In this sense God sets his heart upon man; What is man that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? That is, that thou shouldest take so much care of him, and watch over him; As the Lord speaks of his vineyard (Isa. 27. 3.) I the Lord will keep it, lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day; He set his heart upon the vineyard to watch it, lest any should, touching, hurt it. God in this sense takes so much care for man, that he seemeth (as it were) careless of all other creatures, 1 Cor. 9 9 Doth God take care for Oxen? God doth care for Oxen: The Apostle having showed the goodness of God to beasts, providing by a law, that they should not be muzzled, presently he questions, Doth God take care for Oxen? As if he had said, surely there is some what more in it, or, saith he it altogether for our sakes; Not altogether, doubtless God had regard to Oxen, But for our sakes no doubt it was written, that is, chief for our sakes, That he which ploweth, should blow in hope, and he that thresheth in hope, should be partaker of his hope, So, when Christ speaks of the Lilies, Mat. 6. If God so the Lilies of the field, how much more will he you? You shall have the strength of his care to provide for you, to feed and you. thus God sets his heart upon man, he looks to his people, as to his household, to his charge; he will see, they shall have all things needful for them. And so not laying to heart, (which is the contrary) signifies carelessness, Isa. 47. 7. It is reported of Babylon, Thou saidst I shall be a Lady for ever, so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart; that is, thou didst not regard these things, to take care about them. And Ezek. 40. 4. the expression is very full, where God calls the Prophet to attention, and he calleth him all over, Behold (saith he) with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart on all that I shall show thee: He wakens the whole man; See, and see with thine eyes; Hear, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon it, the sum of all is, be thou very intentive, and diligent about this business to the utmost. Secondly, To set the heart notes an act of the affections and desires, A man sets his love upon what he sets his heart; that's the meaning of Psalm. 62. 10. If riches increase; set not your heart upon them; That is, let not your love, your affections, your desires close with these things: when riches abound, let not your desires abound too. It is an admirable frame of heart to have narrow, scant affections in a large plentiful estate, He is the true rich man, who loves his riches poorly. Set your affections on things that are above, Col. 3. 2. Thirdly, To set the heart, notes high esteem and account, this is more than bare love and affection, 2 Sam. 18. 3. when a counsel of war was held by David's Commanders, about going out to battle against Absolom, they all vote against David's person all undertaking, upon this ground, they will not care for us, they will not set their hearts upon us, or value us, their hearts are set upon thee, thou art the prize they look for, and therefore the heat of the battle will be against thee. Again, 1 Sam. 4. 20. When the wife of Phineas was delivered of a son (a son is the woman's joy and glory, yet) the text saith, when the women that stood by, told her that a son was borne, she answered not, neither did she regard it, she did not set her heart upon it, because the glory was departed from Israel. In either of these senses, the Lord sets his heart upon man, he greatly loves man; The love of God to man, is the spring of mercy to man, yea love is the spring of love, love acted, springs from a decree of love (Deut. 7. 7.) The Lord thy God did not set his love upon you, etc. because ye were more in number then any other people, but because the Lord loved you, Love also led in that highest work of mercy, the giving of Christ: God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son. Josh. 3. 16. As love is the spring and root of all the real duty, which man's performs to God, and is therefore called the fulfilling of the law; Our love fulfilleth the will of God: so the love of God is the root of all that good we receive, his love fulfilleth our will, that is, whatsoever we will or ask according to the will of God, the love of God fulfils it for us. Our love fulfils the law of God's command, and God's love fulfils the law of our wants and lawful desires. His heart is set upon us, and then his hand is open to us. Further, God doth not only love man, but his love is great, and his esteem of man very high; and he reallizes the greatest love, by bestowing the greatest mercy: How did God set his heart upon us, when he gave his Son, who lay in his bosom, for us, He set his bosom upon us, when he gave us his Son, who came out of his bosom. Hence let us see our duty. Should not we set our heart upon God, when God sets his heart upon us? the sovereignty of God, calls for our hearts: He, as Lord may use all that we have, or are: And there is more than a law of sovereignty, why, we should give God our hearts; God hath given us his heart first: he who calleth for our hearts, hath first given us his. What are our hearts to his heart? The love of God infinitely exceeds the love and affection of the creature. What were it to God, if he had none of our hearts? But woe to us, if we had not the heart of God. This phrase shows us the reason why God calls for our hearts, he gves us his own; it is but equal among men, to love where we are loved, to give a heart where we have received one; how much more should we love God, and give him our hearts, when we hear he loves us and sets his heart upon us, whose love & heart alone, is infinitely better than all the loves and hearts of all men and Angels. There is yet a fourth consideration about this expression, the setting of the heart. Setting the heart, is applied to the anger and displeasure of God; so the phrase is used (Job 34. 14.) If he set his heart upon man, all flesh shall perish together: that is, if God be resolved to chastise man, to bring judgements upon him, all flesh shall perish together; none shall be able to oppose it. As it is the hightest favour to have God set his heart upon us in mercy and love, so it is the highest judgement, to have God set his heart upon a man in anger and in wrath, to set his heart to afflict and punish. The Lord answers his own people, Jer. 15. 1, 2, 3. that notwithstanding all the prayers and motions of his beloved favourites, in their behalf, his heart could not be towards them: Then his heart was strongly set against them, or upon them in extreme anger; therefore he concludes, they that are for the sword, to the sword, and they that are for destruction, to destruction, etc. If God set his heart to afflict, he will afflict, and he can do it. And there may be such a sense of the text here. What is man that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? that thou shouldest come so resolved, to contest and contend with man, who is but dust and ashes; The words following (though I adhere rather to the former interpretation) carry somewhat toward it. Verse 18. That thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment? Here are two acts more about which the question is put. What is man that thou shouldest visit him every morning? And what is man, that thou shouldest try him every moment? That thou shouldest visit him every morning? To visit, is taken three ways, and they may all be applied to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Visitavit in bonum & in malum. text. To visit, is first to afflict, to chasten, yea to punish; the highest judgements in Scripture, come under the notion of visitations. Exod. 34. 7. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children; that is, punishing them. And in the Prophet; Jer. 5. 9 Shall not I visit for this? shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this? Jer. 48. 44. when God came against Moab with those terrible judgements, it is called the year of their visitation. I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation. And it is a common speech with us, when a house hath the plague, which is one of the highest strokes of temporal affliction, we use to say, such a house is visited. Then observe, Afflictions are visitations. They are called so, because than God comes to search our hearts and lives; afflictions are Gods searchers and examiners. Jerusalem is threatened to be scearcht with candles, and that was the time of Jerusalem's visitation. To search with a candle, notes the most accurate searching, as the woman when she had lost her groat, lighted a candle, and sought diligently till she found it; she visited every hole to find it out. When you see the Lord afflicting, than he is visiting, he lights a candle to search every corner of your lives. And if afflictions be Gods visitations, it is time for man to visit himself, when he is afflicted. We should visit our souls, when God visits our bodies, our estates, our families, or the Kingdom where we live. Woe to those, who do not visit themselves, when God visits them. The Prophet calls to this duty in a time of saddest visitation, Let us search and try our ways, Lam. 3. Yet further, If God in affliction visit us, let us visit God; let us answer his visitation of us, with our visitation of him. Lord in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastning was upon them. Isa. 26. 16. Would you know what the visiting of God is? It is praying unto him, They visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastning was on them. We visit Heaven in our afflictions, when we pray much in our afflictions. When God visiteth us, let us visit him, & never give over visiting him, till he remove his visitation from, or sanctify it to us. That's the first sense. Secondly, To visit, in a good sense signifies to show mercy, and to refresh, to deliver, and to bless; Ruth, 1. 6. Naomi heard how the Lord had visited his people, and given them bread. Gen. 21. 2. The Lord visited Sarah, and she conceived, etc. Exod. 3. 16. The Lord hath surely visited his people, when they were upon dawnings of deliverance out of Egypt: That greatest mercy and deliverance, that ever the children of men had, is thus expressed, Luke, 1. 68 The Lord hath visited and redeemed his people. Mercies are visitations, when God comes in kindness and love to do us good, he visiteth us. And these mercies are called visitations, in two respects. 1. Because God comes near to us when he doth us good: Mercy is a drawing near to a soul, a drawing near to a place. As when God sends a judgement, or afflicts, he is said to departed and go away from that place; so when he doth us good, he comes near, and as it were applies himself in favour to our persons and habitations. 2. They are called a visitation, because of the freeness of them. A visit is one of the freest things in the world. There is no obligation, but that of love, to make a visit: because, such a man is my friend, and I love him, therefore I visit him. Hence, I say, that greatest act of freegrace in redeeming the world, is called a visitation, because it was as freely done, as ever any friend made a visit to see his friend, and with infinite more freedom; there was no obligation on man's side at all, many unkindnesses and neglects there were, God in love came to redeem man, Thirdly, To visit, imports an act of care & inspection, of tutorage Idiotismus est elegans apud Hebeaeos pro eo quod est diligentissime & exactissime rem investigare. Bold. and direction: The Pastor's office over the flock is expressed by this act, Zech. 10. 3. Acts 15. 36. And the care we ought to have of the fatherless and widows, is expressed by visiting of them, Pure Religion (saith the Apostle James) is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, Jam. 1. 27. and Mat. 26. 34. Christ pronounceth the blessing on them, who, when he was in prison, visited him: which was not a bare seeing, or ask, how do you: but it was care of Christ in his imprisonment, and helpfullnesse and provision for him in his afflicted members. That sense also agrees well with this place, What is man that thou shouldest visit him? that is, that thou shouldest take care, have such an inspection over him, look so narrowly to, and provide for him? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Singulis mane, quotidie mane, mane autem fieri dicitur quod quotidie fit, ac diligenter seduloque Drus. That thou shouldest visit him every morning. Fvery morning. The Hebrew is, in the mornings. And the word here used for morning, is considerable: There is a twofold morning, which the Jews distinguished exactly by their watch. One morning was that, which they accounted from an hour before Sun rising, from the very first breaking of the day, till the Sun appeared above the Horizon, which is about the space of an hour: And the word which they use for it is, Shachar, which signifies to be darkish or blackish, because that first morning is somewhat dark: And so the a Latini vocant dilucuium, quasi diei lucula, i. e. parva lux. latin word (diluculum) which is for the first morning, is by Critics called, a little of the day; But their other morning, was the space of an hour after Sunrising, and the root of that word, signifies to seek or to inquire, to inquire diligently. And the reason why they express the second morning so, is, because when the Sun is up, we may seek and search about our business, or go on in our callings and affairs; The height of the day, they call the b Reliquum diei tempus, quasi ob majorem lucis intensionem vocant. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ghetsem Hajom, i. e. corpus, sive robur dici, Bold. body or strength, we, the heat of the day; either morning may be here meant, though the word bears the later properly: Thou dost visit him every morning: that is, as soon as the Sun is up, yea as soon as day breaks, or there is any light, thou art visiting. Man's visits are usually in the afternoon: it is an extraordinary thing to visit one in the forenoon, more extraordinary to visit in a morning, and most, early in a morning. God's visits are extraordinary visits, they are visit in the morning, and visit every morning, as often as the morning returns, so often doth God come to visit: not a morning that we miss him. To do a thing every morning, notes first the doing of it always, or secondly, the certain doing of it; Thou dost visit every morning, that is, as surely and as certain as the Sun riseth, and the morning cometh, so certainly doth God visit man. Or thirdly, it notes the speed, the haste that God makes to visit; He visits in the morning; that is, betimes, God delays not until noon, much less stays till it be night; but he cometh in the morning. Psal. 46. 5. God shall hear her, and that right early; the Hebrew is, God shall hear her in the morning, betimes, speedily. The late coming in to work in the vineyard, is expressed by coming at the eleventh hour; they came speedily, who came in the morning at the first hour. And to show that we ought not to continue in wrath, and keep up our anger, it is said, let not the Sun go down upon your wrath, that is, do not continue all day angry, let your anger go down speedily, even before the Sun. In this sense, Job saith, that God visits man every morning, as a Hic ad conservationem & generalem providentiam pertinet. Metaphora a pastoribus singulis matutinis oves suas recensenntibus, Coc, shepherd his flock, lest any should be hurt or strayed; we may apply it, as before in the several senses of visitation, either to Gods visiting of us in afflictions, or in mercies, he afflicts (if he pleases) continually, speedily, certainly. And as sure as the Sun riseth, and the morning cometh, so sure God visiteth his, with mercies, therefore his mercies are said to be renewed every morning, Lam. 3. 23. or fresh every morning. Unless God bring new mercies every day, the old would not serve: we cannot bring the mercies of one day over to another: The mercies of a former day, will not support us the next, therefore they must come every morning, sufficient for the day, is the evil thereof. Mat. 6. and, but sufficient for the day, is the good thereof. As we are therefore commanded to pray every day for our daily bread: the bread you had the last day, will not serve this day, you must pray for the bread of this day, and for a blessing upon it, that God would visit your bread, and your store in mercy. So if need require, God afflicts every day: And the hearts of some men, want as much the rod every day, as bread every day; they could not be without affliction every day, to keep them in order, & God will be as careful to correct his children, as to feed them. If a man be watchful over his own ways, and the deal of God with him, there is seldom a day, but he may find some rod of affliction upon him: But, as through want of care and watchfulness, we lose the sight of many mercies, so we do of many afflictions. Though God doth not every day bring a man to his bed, and break his bones, yet we seldom, if at all, pass a day without some rebuke and chastening. Psal. 73. 14. I have been chastened every morning, saith he Psalmist: Our lives are full of afflictions; and it is as great a part of a Christians skill, to know afflictions, as to know mercies; to know when God smites, as to know when he girds us; and it is our sin to overlook afflictions, as well as to overlook mercies. Secondly, Take the word, as it imports care and inspection, Then observe; The care of God is renewed every morning: The eye of God is always upon us: He visiteth so as he telleth all our steps, he tells our very wander: He visiteth us so, that we can turn no way but he is with us; his eye of inspection, as a Tutor, as a guide, is ever upon us; he looks to his people as a shepherd to his flock, who knows their wander. And try him every moment. It is of the same sense with the former. Try him. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Periculum fecit, expertus est, tentavit. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Sept. signifies an exact and through trial: Some take it to be an allusion to the practice of those who set the watch in Armies or Garrison Towns; who lest their Sentinels or Watchmen should sleep, use to come suddenly upon them (possibly) divers times in a night, to try whether they are faithful and wakeful; The Prophet Isaiah▪ hints at such a custom (chap. 21.) The watchman is set, v. 6th. Go set a watchman, let him declare what he seethe: The watchman is tried, v. 11. He calleth to me out of Seir, watchman what of the night? watchman what of the night? And it is observed in foreign parts, that their watchmen in Frontier Towns are tried every hour of the night, the token being, their giving so many tolls with the Bell hanging in their Watchtower, as the great City-clock strikes. This is a good sense of the place, the Lord visits ns every morning, and tries us every moment, that is, very, very often, as often as may be, to see whether we keep our watches, and stand duly upon our guard. But secondly, it may note a trial, as a Scholar is tried, by examination: We call it Probation day, when the proficiency of Scholars is examined; God cometh to examine and make probation of men's proficiency; what have you gotten? how have you improved such times, such opportunities for the gaining of spiritual knowledge? what have you learned, what know you more of yourselves? what more of God and Jesus Christ, whom to know is eternal life? Thirdly, It may note trial by affliction: There are three words 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. which signify the troubles, which God brings upon man: They are First, strictly, Judgements, which he sends in wrath upon enemies: Secondly, Chastisements and corrections: Thirdly, Temptations or trials: these are proper to his children. Hence observe; Afflictions are trials. The Lord proves what grace there is in the heart, & he tries what corruption there is in the heart by affliction. There are many graces in the heart of man untried, and there are some that cannot be tried, till God bring him to an hour of trouble. There are many corruptions in the heart of man, which he takes no notice of, nor can, till he is afflicted; many a good soul would not believe that they had such an unbelieving heart, such a proud heart, till God tried him, and then corruption discovered itself. The reason why God brought his people such a way about in the wilderness, was (Deut. 8. 2.) to prove them, to try them, to know what was in their heart. God knows what is in the heart of man intuitively, and he needs not go about; he can go the nearest way into every man's heart; he proves it only to make it known to others, and to make a man know himself. They could not think their hearts were so rebellious, so full of murmuring and unbelief, if God had not taken them about to prove and try them, those forty years. Prosperity and comforts are trials too: whatsoever God doth with a man, he some way or other tries him. Look not only upon your afflictions as trials, your mercies also are trials: God gives you them to see what you will do with them; he gives riches, and honour, and credit, to see how men will use and improve them: as by afflictions, so by outward comforts, he tries both what grace and what corruption is in our hearts. He gives comforts, to see how we can live upon God in Christ, when we have the creature; and that we may show, how much we make of him, without whom we cannot live, when we have all things besides him. Prosperity tries corruption, than pride and creature-confidence break forth, which before were undiscerned: We say, Magistracy shows a man, nature when it is exalted shows itself, as much as when it is vexed. He trieth every moment: A moment is the least part and division 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad momenta. of time: To try every moment, is to try not only frequently, but continually: Hence observe; The temper and state of man's heart is so various, that there needs new experiments of him every moment. Why doth God try us every moment? Because we are one moment in one temper, and the next moment in another: The acting frame of a man's heart this hour, cannot be collected, from the frame it was in, an hour before; therefore there is a continual trial. Some things if they be tried once, they are tried for ever; if we try gold, it will ever be as good as we found it, unless we altar it: as we try it to be, so it continues to be; But try the heart of man this day, and come again the next, and you may find it in a different condition; to day believing, to morrow unbelieving; to day humble, to morrow proud; to day meek, to morrow passionate; to day lively and enlarged, to morrow dead and straightened: pure gold to day, and to morrow exceeding drossy. As it is with the pulse of a sick man, it varieth every quarter of an hour, therefore the Physician tries his pulse every time he comes, because his disease altars the state of his body: so it is with the distempered condition of man's spirit, God having tried our pulse, the state of our spirit, by crosses, or by mercies this day, next day he tries us too, and the third day he tries us again, and so keep us in continual trials, because we are in continual variations: That sickness, and disease within us, altars the state and condition of the soul every moment, Our comfort is, that God hath a time wherein he will set our souls up in such a frame, as he shall need to try us but that once. Having set us up in a frame of glory, he shall not need to try our hearts for us, or to put us to the trial of our selus any more, we shall stand, as he sets us up to all eternity. I must yet come down from the thoughts of this blessed eternity, and show you Job tried out with his time, and earnestly calling, but, for a minutes respire from his pains and sorrows, in the voice of the nineteenth verse. Verse. 19 How long wilt thou not departed from me, nor let me alone, till I may swallow down my spittle. In this verse Job makes application of the two former to himself; as if he had said, seeing man is a creature so weak and unworthy in himself, and I am such among the rest, why dost thou visit me, and try me every moment? How long shall it be ere thou depart from me? or, how long wilt thou not look away from me? The word under another construction, signifies to look upon a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quando construitur cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat, aspicere, respicere cum detectatione, Gen. 4. 5. sed cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat avertere, recedere. man with respect and complacency. So Gen. 4. 5. The Lord had respect unto, or he looked graciously upon, Abel and his offering. But here to look away; and so Isa. 22. 4. Look away from me, I will weep bitterly. And because they who withdraw their eyes from us, are ready also to withdraw their presence from us, therefore it signifies to departed. How long wilt thou not departed from me, etc. But is this the voice of Job? Is he burdened with the presence of God? Or doth he think the time long, till God be gone from him? The wicked say unto God depart from us (Chap. 21. 14.) And the Lord threatens this as the sorest judgement against his own people, Jer. 6. 8. Be instructed O Jerusalem, lest my soul departed from thee; And by the Prophet Hosea (Chap. 9 12.) Woe also unto them, when I depart from them. The promise of strongest consolation to the Saints, is this, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, Heb. 13. 5. And the very offer of a departure, did so afflict Moses, that he was ready to throw up all, Lord, if thy presence go not along with us, carry us no further (Exod. 33. 15.) How earnestly do the servants of God deprecate the hiding of his face, how bitterly have they complained upon those hidings, how importunately have they prayed, that he would return, look on them, behold them, cause his face to shine, and lift up the light of his countenance upon them? And is Job so weary of God's company, that he begs of him to departed? Is the voice of Job? Will a man that is in darkness, bid the Sun go from him? Or will a man that is thirsty, say to a fountain, turn away from me? I answer, the Lords presence may be considered two ways. First, as his pleased comforting presence. Secondly; as his angry afflicting presence. When Job saith, How long wilt thou not departed from me? his meaning is, How long wilt thou not withdraw thine afflicting hand from me. We may expound it by that of David, Psal. 39 10. Remove thy stroke Usquoque non parcis mihi. Vulg. Iram alio converte Jun. away from me, I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. Hence some translate, How long dost thou not spare me? And another glosses, Turn thine anger away from me. Or, as himself speaks of a third person (Chap. 14. 6.) Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as a hireling his days. This sense is given us fully in the next clause of the verse. Nor let me alone, till I may swallow down my spittle. This is not a refusal of support from God in the way of his providence, by which he upholds every creature: For the truth is, if Accipienda sunt haec de Deo affligente non providente, & curante. God should so let us alone, we of ourselves are not able to swallow down our spittle. We are insufficient barely of ourselves, not only for spiritual acts, but also for natural. We can, not only not pray, and here and believe, and repent without the strength of Christ, but we cannot go, nor walk, nor eat, nor drink, nor spit, nor swallow down our spittle without an assistance (suitable to those acts) from him, for in him we live, and move, and have our being. This letting alone, is like the departing before spoken, in the first clause of the verse. As we use to say to a man assaulting or smiting us, Pray let me alone; Such is Jobs meaning, pray give over these bitter chastenings, leave off to wound or smite me any more. The word signifies to loosen or untie that which is bound or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dimit●ere illud quod tenet ligat●m laxare dotores, dissolvere funi mos cruciatuum. straightened, and so to deal more gently and tenderly, then before. The word is used sometimes in a good sense, to note, that the Lord keeps close and strait to his people, as being knit and bound to them, by the tie and knot of his own love and freegrace. (Josh. 1. 5.) I will never leave thee, or, let thee lose from me. And, as it is applied in the negative to the close-keeping of God to us in love; so in the affirmative, to our departure from God by unbelief, Prov. 24. 10. If thou faintest in the day of adversity, or art loosened from God, by fear and want of faith, thy strength is small. If thou faintest thus in the time of straits and poverty, it argues, thou hast a very strait, narrow, poor spirit, That's the elegancy of the original. Si remissus suis●● 〈…〉 ●●gustiae, angusta foritudo tua. When Job desires to be let alone or loosened, his meaning is, loosen the bonds of my affliction, take me off from the rack of these tortures and troubles. As we are girded with strength, so also we are girded with weakness. Job speaks of God in this word (Chap. 12. 21.) He we 〈…〉 the strength of the mighty; The Hebrew is, He looseth 〈…〉 of the strong. The same God, who looseth the girdle of our strength, looseth the bands of our infirmity: and therefore Job prays, O depart from me, loosen me, let me alone, let me go. Hence observe; First, The Lord can make his own presence grievous to his own servants. In his presence, there is fullness of joy, and at his right hand, there are pleasures for evermore (Psal. 16.) Yet he can make his presence to be the fullness of sorrow, and give us pains with his right hand. As he can be to his people like a Sun to warm and comfort them, so like a fire to consume and burn them, as like a shield to defend, so like a sword to wound them. The Lord is a Sun and a shield (Psal. 84: 11.) yea, and he is sometime as a fire, and a sword, even to those, who walk uprightly. The sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with devouring fire; who among us shall dwell with everlasting burn; That is, who shall be able to bear the displeased presence of God, which makes him to sinners, as a devouring fire, Isa. 33. 14. And thus the Saints in Zion are sometimes afraid, and fearfulness surprises the upright in heart: Even they cry out, how shall we dwell with this devouring fire, with this everlasting burning? They especially who have slighted the presence of God, may quickly feel the burden of it. Not only do they so, who say formally and in plain terms, depart from us; but they also do it, in a great measure, who do not prise the presence of God, who do not welcome and entertain him, in all his approaches to them. If a friend come to your house, and you will not look upon him, or speak to him, you bid him be gone, and your silence interprets his non-acceptance with you. Then take heed of neglecting the comfortable, and sanctifying presence of God, lest you fall speedily into his afflicting presence. The angry presence of God is never so terrible to us, as it is, after our undervaluings of his gracious presence. Secondly, note, if the presence of God chastening, be so grievous, what will his presence be punishing and tormenting: If afflictions, which are but for trial, and are all steeped in love, be so grievous; what, will those terrors be, which all steeped in pure, everlasting wrath? If his chastenings be so intolerable to some of his dearest friends, what will his revenges be to all his professed enemies? Wi●●●● men are now burdened with the presence of God, because 〈◊〉 so holy, they say departed, for we desire not the knowledge ●● thy law, but hereafter they shall find the presence of God burdensome to them, because he is so just; O how will they cry out, How long, shall not thy wrath departed from us! How long wilt thou be angry, for ever, and shall thy jealousy burn like fire for evermore? Yes, that it shall, They, who have so often said in their hearts to God, depart from us, shall hear his voice, saying to them, Depart from me ye cursed, etc. Ye, who have not loved my presence, shall be banished from it for ever. Thirdly, observe; Troublesome times are very tedious times to us. How long? The Psalmist under some hidings and eclipses of divine favour, thought himself in an everlasting night, Hath the Lurd forgotten to be gracious, etc. Will the Lord cast off for ever? Psalm 77. 8. Fourthly, observe from the latter branch. That afflictions are bonds. erst, They should bind and hold us fast from sin, and to our good behaviour. It is better to be bound fast with the cords of affliction, then to be lose and at liberty in the ways of sin. Secondly, They will bind us from taking in our worldly comforts; and sometimes they do (which they ought not) bind us from taking in spiritual comforts. Fifthly, observe, That man cannot rescue himself out of the bands of affliction, till God please to loosen him. If he bind none can untie; if he imprison, none can set free; we cannot break his bands, nor cast away the cords of his afflictions from us. He opens and no man shuts, he shuts and no man opens, Revel. 3. 7. Be ye not mockers, saith the Prophet, lest your bands be made strong (Isa. 28. 22.) that is, stronger than they were. So I may say, be ye not strivers or strugglers with God, for your bands are made strong. It is said, Exod. 4. 25, 26. That the Lord met Moses in the Inn, and sought to kill him. The Lord is never to seek to do what he pleases; but thus he speaks after the manner of men, who offer or assay at any business, They seek to do it. But Zipporah having circumcised her son, He let Moses go, It is this word, He slacked or loosened, having before, as it were arrested and attached him, or clapped him in prison for making that great default, the neglect of Circumcision. Sometimes we find the Lord himself speaking, as if he were at the mercy, or under the power of man, and therefore calling (in this word) to be loosened or let alone, Deut. 9 14. Let me alone that I may destroy them. The prayer of faith is as a band upon God's hand, holding him so fast, that he seems, as one that cannot strike or destroy, till a Moses will give him leave, by ceasing to pray unto him. To be sure we are at God's mercy, and under his power so, that nothing but the prayer of faith can loosen us. And therefore Job doth not attempt to break the cords, or cut them asunder, nor seeks he to untie their knots, but desires God himself to do it, let me alone, loosen me: I will be a prisoner, till thou openest the door for my deliverance. As Jephtahs' daughter said to him, (Judg. 11. 37.) when he had bound himself and her, in the bands of a rash vow, Let me alone for two months, or loosen me from the engagement of my vow for two months, as if she had said, I will not lose myself by a wilful refusal, but, do thou give me a willing dispensation. So a godly man bespeaks the Lord in his straits, Loosen me Lord. Unless God be pleased to loosen him, he will be contented, and (when in a good frame of heart, and freeness of spirit) well-pleased with his bands. In some sense he speaks, as Paul and Silas, when they were in prison (Acts 16. 37.) Let the Lord himself come and fetch us out. That is, let us see such means of our enlargement and freedom from trouble, as may assure us, that the Lord hath loosened and enlarged us. A godly man had a thousand times rather be put into a prison by God, than put himself into a paradise. He had rather be bound by God's hand, than loosened by his own. That place touched before, may reach this sense (Prov. 24. 10.) if thou faintest (so we) or loosnest thyself in the day of adversity, Thy strength is small; that is, the strength of thy faith and patience is small. There is nothing discovers our weakness more than striving to break the cords of our afflictions. The stronger we are in faith, in love, in humility, the more quietly we lie bound. Faith seeks ease and release only in God: to say Lord loosen me, is a duty, to loosen ourselves, is both our sin and our punishment. Till I may swallow down my spittle. Some conceive, that from this Hebrew word (Rak) which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saliva, undè quidam deducunt Raca, Mat. 5. 22. quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interpretantur, i. e. conspuendum vel dignum qui conspuatur Alii a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vacum quasi cerebro vacuus & judicio carens. Drus. we translate spittle, Raca is derived (Mat. 5. 22.) as if to call a man Raca, were as much as to say, he is worthy to be spit upon, or, that one should spit in his face: though others spring that word from Rik, which signifies empty, as if it were, as much as to call a man, an empty fellow, without wit or brains, or within one degree of a fool, which is the next word in Matthew. But what is jobs intendment, in desiring God to let him alone, Till he might swallow down his spittle. First, Some refer it to a bodily distemper, as if job were troubled with a (a) Inter caetera mala Synanchen habuisse se perhibet. Hieron. squinsy or sore throat, which hindered the swallowing of his spittle. (b) Dimitta me, ut gustum aliq●em hujus vitae capiam Albert. Another takes it in a Philosophical notion; as if job had said, Lord, let me have some ease, that I may at least taste once more, what it is to live, or how sweet life is. For that sense of taste works by the salival humour or spittle in the mouth, which mixing with the juice or sap that is in meats, affects and delights the palate. Thirdly, these words are taken, as the description of a man ready to die, who is disabled, either to swallow his spittle, or to void it. As if he had said, I am now even at the point of death, let me alone a little; David's prayer comes near this sense, Psal. 39 13. O spare me that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more. Fourthly, It may be taken proverbially, and that two ways. First, To note the shortest time, even so much as may serve a Serno proverbialis talis est, neque ad scalpendas aures mihi otium est. man to spit. As if he had said, O let me have a little intermission, a little respite; such is the sense of that phrase, Chap. 9 18. He will not suffer me to take my breath. And the like are those, used in some countries, I have not leisure or time to scratch my ear, or to pair my nails. My sorrows know no interim: my fever is one continued fit, I have no well days, no nor a good hour; Ne tantillum quidem temporis est quō non tenter a●te. Coc. therefore let me at least have so much time of ease, as I may swallow my spittle, let me have the shortest time. That I may once more know (though but for a moment) what it is to be without pain. To whlch interpretation, that also subscribes, which makes these words to be a circumlocution for silence. For while a man is swallowing his spittle, his speech stops: he cannot bring up his words, and let down the spittle at the same time; so his meaning is, I am forced to complain continually, I would be silent, and forbear speaking, but my grief will not suffer me. The second proverbial understanding of the word, is, that they Elegans proverbialis locutio ad denotandum diligentem in alium intuitum quo minim as in alio discernet actiones. Saliva ferè imperceptibiliter obsorvetur. import, a very strict watch held upon another, in all his motions: so that he cannot stir a finger, or move his tongue (silently) in his mouth unobserved. If I do but stir my tongue, to swallow my spittle (which is one of the most unperceivable acts of man) thou takest notice. O do not hold so strict a hand, and so curious an eye upon me. Let me have a little liberty, do not examine every failing, do not question me upon the least infirmity. From the former proverbial exposition. Observe, first, Afflictions are continued upon some without any intermission. job had not so much whole skin, as one might set a pin on, nor so much whole time, as a man might spit in. Every hour brought a wound with it, and the renewing of every moment, renewed his affliction. Observe secondly; A short refreshing may be a great mercy. Dives in hell desires not a large draught, but a drop of water, which alas! could not have eased him so long, as a man is swallowing down his spittle. The eternity of pain in hell, shall not find so much abatement, as that, either in time, or in degree, Every affliction in this life, by how much it is with less intermission, by so much the more like it is to hell, and every comfort by how much the more it is unbroken, and without stops, by so much it is the more like to Heaven. Consider then your mercies, who have uninterrupted mercies, days and years of ease, and not pained so long, as a man is swallowing down his spittle: your mercies are like the glory, and the joy of Heaven. From the latter proverbial exposition. Note, That God, observes the least, the most secret motions of man. He tells our steps, our wander; and those not only corporal, but moral and spiritual. He knows how many steps our hearts fetch every day, and how far they travel, Thou hast searched and known me, (saith David, Psal. 139. 1, 2.) and this search is not made in the out-rooms only, but in the inner parlour and closest closerts, Thou understandest my thoughts, and those (not only present, or produced, but to come and unborn) thou knowest them a far off. What can scape that eye, which a thought cannot? And he that sees man swallowing down his spittle, how shall not he both hear and see him, coughing up and spitting out the rottenness and corruption, the filth and phlegm of his sinful heart? JOB Chap. 7. Vers. 20, 21. I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself? And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust, and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be. JOB having in the former part of this Chapter contested with his friends, and expostulated the matter with God: now turns himself into another posture, even to humble his soul, and make confession of his sin. He had justified himself against the accusations of men, but now he accuses, and judges himself in the presence of his God. He will a while forget his sorrows, and bethink himself of his sins, I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? The words may be taken two ways. 1. As a confession or a prayer. 2. As a confession or a grant. I shall first open them under the notion of a repenting prayer and confession of sin. I have sinned.] As if he had said, Lord, if thou holdest me thus long upon the rack of this affliction, to gain a confession of me, to make me confess, here I am ready to do it, I do it, I have sinned. The word signifies to miss the mark we aim at, or the way, wherein we would walk. And so it is put strictly, for sins of infirmity, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat errare, aberrare, declinare, deflectere a via vel scope. when the purpose of a man's heart is (like the Archers, when he draws his bow) to hit the white, or (like the honest travellers in his journey) to keep the right way, and yet he miscarries, and is drawn aside. I have sinned. But is this a sufficient confession? What! to say only in general, I have sinned. Did not hardhearted Pharaoh (Ezod. 9 25) Falsehearted Saul (1 Sam 15. 24.) and Traitor-Judas) Matth. 27. 4.) make as good a confession as this. Every one of these said, I have sinned, and what doth Job say more? It is surely no great cost nor pain to sinful nature, to bring up such a confession as this. I answer; First, a general confession may be a sound confession; It is one thing not to express particular sins, with the circumstances of those sins, and another thing purposely to conceal them. I grant, implicit confession may be as dangerous as implicit faith. And to dig in the earth, and hid our sins in the Napkin of our excuses, is worse than to hid our Talents in the Napkin of our idleness. And as it is most dangerous, knowingly to conceal sin from God, so it is very dangerous to do it through ignorance or inadvertency; Some confess sin in general terms only, because they know not what their sins are, or have quite forgot them; As Nabuchadnezzar called the Astrologers, and Sorcerers, and Chaldeans, and told them he had dreamt a dream, but he could not tell what it was, For the thing was gone from him, Dan. 2. 5. Some such there are, who can, or, will only say, They have sinned, they have sinned; but what, they cannot tell, or they do not remember, Those things are gone from them. That which is written of the learned Bellarmine, a great Cardinal, and a Champion for Auricular, particular Confession of sin to man, seems very strange, That when he lay upon his deathbed, and the Priest after the Popish manner, came to absolve him, he had nothing to confess: at last he thought of some sleight extravagancies of his youth, which was all he had to say of his own miscarriages: We see a man may the a Scholar in all the knowledge of the world, of nature, and of Scripture, and yet not know his own heart, nor be studied or read in himself. He that is so, in a spiritual notion, can never want particular matter in his most innocent days to confess before the Lord, and to shame himself for. What though he hath escaped the pollutions of the world, and is cleansed from the filthiness of the flesh? yet he knows that still in his flesh there dwells no good thing, and that in his spirit, there are, at least touches of, many spiritual filthinesses, as pride, unbelief, etc. besides his great deficiencies in every duty, and in his love to Jesus Christ, which is the ground of all. So then, in any of these senses, to confess sin only in general, is a sinful confession. And yet Job made a holy confession here, and so did the Publican (Luk. 18.) when he smote his breast and said only thus, God be merciful to me a sinner. For secondly, though to speak a general confession be an easy matter, and every man's work; yet to make a general confession, is a hard matter, a work beyond man. As no man (in a spiritual sense) can say, jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost; (1 Cor. 12. 3.) so no man can say (in a Holy manner) I have sinned, but by the Holy Ghost; Good and bad, believers and unbelievers, speak often the same good words, but they cannot speak the same things, nor from the same principles; nature speaks in the one, in the other, grace. The one may say, very passionately, he hath sinned, and sometimes almost drown his words in tears, but the other saith, repentingly, I have sinned, and floods his heart with Godly sorrows. Thirdly, to clear it yet more, the general confession of the Saints, have these four things in them. First, Besides the fact, they acknowledge the blot, that there is much defilement and blackness in every sin; that it is the only pollution and abasement of the creature. Secondly, They confess the fault, that, they have done very ill in what they have done, and very foolishly, even like a beast that hath no understanding. Thirdly, They confess a guilt contracted by what they have done, that their persons might be laid liable to the sentence of the law for every such act, if Christ had not taken away the curse and condemning power of it. Confession of sin (in the strict nature of it) puts us into the hand of justice; though through the grace of the new Covenant, it puts us into the hand of mercy. Fourthly, Hence the Saints confess all the punishments threatened in the Book of God to be due to sin; and are ready to acquit God, whatsoever he hath awarded against sinners: O Lord righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day, to the men of judah, and to the inhabitants of jerusalem, Dan. 9 7. And, as in this confession, for the matter, they acknowledge, the blot, the fault, the guilt, the punishment of sin: so for the manner (which sets the difference yet wider between the general confessions of wicked and Godly men) they confess; First freely; Acknowledgements of sin are not extorted by the pain and trouble which seizeth on them, as in Pharaoh, Saul and Judas. But when God gives them best days, they are ready to speak worst of themselves: And when they receive most mercies from God, than God receives most and deepest acknowledgements of sin from them. They are never so humbled in the sight of sin, as when they are most exalted in seeing the salvations of the Lord. The goodness of God leads them to this repentance, they are not driven to it, by wrath and thunder. Secondly, they confess, feelingly; when they say they have sinned, they know what they say. They taste the bitterness of sin, and groan under the burdensomeness of it, as it passes out in confession. A natural man's confessions run through him, as water through a pipe, which leaves no impression or sent there, nor do they (upon the matter) any more taste what sin is, than the pipe doth of what relish water is. Or if a natural man feels any thing in confession, it is the evil of punishment feared, not the evil of his sin committed. Thirdly, they confess sincerely; they mean what they say, & are in earnest both with God and their own Souls. Blessed is the man in whose spirit there is no guile, Psal. 32. 2. The natural man casts out his sins by confession, as Seamen cast their goods overboard in a storm, which in the calm they wish for again. They so cast out the evil spirit, that they are content to receive him again when he returns, though it be with seven worse than himself. Even while they confess sin with their lips, they keep it, like a sweet bit, under their tongues: And wish it well enough, while they speak it very ill. Fourthly, they confess beleevingly; while they have an eye of sorrow upon sin, they have an eye of Faith upon Christ: judas said he had sinned in betraying innocent blood (Mat. 27. 4.) but instead of washing in that blood, he defiles himself with his own, he goes away and hangs himself. No wicked man in the world (continuing in that state) did ever mix Faith with his sorrows, or believing, with confessing, he had sinned. So much for the clearing of the words, and the sense of this general confession. Hence observe, first, While a Godly man maintains his innocency, and justifies himself before men, he willingly acknowledges his infirmity, and judges himself before God. job had spent much time in wiping off the aspersions cast upon him by his friends, but he charges himself with his failings in the sight of God. Secondly observe, God speaks better of his servants then they do of themselves. When God speaks of Job, we find not one blot in all his character, all is commendation, nothing of reproof. He saith (c. 1. v. 21.) in all this Job sinned not: but for all that, Job saith, I have sinned: A hypocrite hath good thoughts of himself, and speaks himself fair; He flatters himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful, Psal. 36. 2. A godly man thinks and speaks low of himself, he accuses himself in his own eyes, though his integrity be found very acceptable with the Lord. Thirdly observe, The holiest man on earth, hath cause to confess that he hath sinned. Confession is the duty of the best Christians. First, The highest form of believers in this life, is not above the actings of sin; though the lowest of believers, is not under the power of it. And if the line of sinning be as long as the line of living, than the line of confessing must be of the same length with both. While the Ship leaks, the pump must not stand still. And so long as we gather ill humours, there will be need of vomits and purge. Secondly, Confession is a soul-humbling duty, and the best have need of that, for they are in most danger of being lifted up above measure. To preserve us from those self-exaltations, the Lord sometimes sends the Messenger of Satan to buffet us by temptations, and commands us to buffet ourselves often by confession. Thirdly, Confession affects the heart with sin, and engages the heart against it. Every confession of the evil we do, is a new obligation not to do it any more. The best in their worst part, have so much freedom to sin, that they have need enough to be bound from it in variety of bonds. Fourthly, Confession of sin, shows us more clearly our need of mercy, and indears it more to us. How good and sweet is mercy to a soul, that hath tasted, how evil, and how bitter a thing it is to sin against the Lord. How welcome, how beautiful is a pardon, when we have been viewing the ugliness of our own guilt? Fiftly, Confession of sin, advances Christ in our hearts. How doth it declare the riches of Christ, when we are not afraid to tell him, what infinite sums of debt we are in, which he only, and he easily can discharge? how doth it commend the healing virtue of his blood, when we open to him such mortal wounds and sicknesses, which he only, and he easily can cure? Woe be to those who commit sin abundantly, that grace may abound; but it is our duty to confess sin abundantly, that grace may abound. Lastly, Though we need not confess sin at all to inform God: he knows our sins, though we will not make them known; and hath an eye to see, though we should not have a tongue to confess. Though (I say) we confess not to inform God what we are, or what we have done, yet, we must confess to glorify God. While we shame ourselves, we honour him. My son (saith Joshua to Achan. c. 7. v. 19) give I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel; and make confession unto him: Every attribute of God, receives this gift of glory by man's confession. Justice is glorified, and mercy is glorified, patience is glorified, and holiness is glorified. Holiness is glorified in opposing sin, and patience in sparing the sinner; mercy is glorified in pardoning sin, and justice in receiving satisfaction at the hand of Christ for the pardon of it. Fourthly observe. Holy confession of sin, leads the way to gracious pardoning of sin, Job gins the next verse with a vehement prayer for pardon. And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity. Sin concealed and kept close, grows upon us: And it grows three ways; First, in the strength of it; Secondly, in the guilt of it; Thirdly, in the terror and vexation of it, Psal. 32. 3, 4. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long. Confession is a means to obtain the abatement of sin, in all three. The strength of it is weakened, the guilt removed, and the terror overcome. Then hear the counsel of the Prophet (Isa. 43. 26.) declare that thou mayest be justified. Thus fare of the words as they are a confession of sin. I shall now handle them, as they are a concession or a grant that he had sinned; and so the sense may be given thus: I have sinned. what shall I do unto thee? As if he had said; Let it be granted, or subpose that I have sinned, and sinned as deeply as my friends have charged me; sup●●●e I have been as wicked as they imagine, what th●n if this were my case, what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men: The later words plainly import a question, What shall I do unto thee? But the sense of the question is not so plain: The question may be taken two ways: Either affirmatively, or negatively. Take it affirmatively; and so the sense is, what shall I do? that is, Lord direct, me, council me, order me, teach me what becomes me to do in such a case, in such a sinful condition as I, either, confess myself to be in, or, am supposed to be in. That's the affirmative sense. What shall I do?] The word which we translate [do] signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice pagnal, respondet Graeco 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, est agere cum energia & effectu, Piscat. working or doing, under a two fold qualification. 1. Working with great willingness and readiness of mind; and hence it is applied to the workings of sin in natural men, who work with the greatest freedom that can be. Man sins naturally, and therefore freely: he is carried on with a full swing, with tide and wind he sins, nothing in himself contradicting or giving a contrary vote: He is a true worker of iniquity, Psal. 5. 5. 2. Working with energy and success, and the doing of a thing not only effectually, but willingly, Numb. 23. 23. What hath God wrought? When God works, he works thoroughly; he doth not his business to halves. So Isa. 26. 12. Thou hast wrought all our works in us; that is, thou hast brought them to pass, they have succeeded through thy help, and the influences of thy blessing. The word being taken in this height of sense, & the question for an affirmation, What shall I do? that is, show me, direct me what to do; we may observe from it, First, That, What to do in case of sin, is a point of the highest consideration, I have sinned, what shall I do? If ever we have need to go and ask counsel, to sit down and debate the matter with our souls or others, it is, when we have sinned. Such is the nature of sin, and such the consequences, that it calls us to highest consideration what to do about it. Matters of great consequence, are matters of great consultation: Sin hath an influence upon an eternity. If any thing be more worthy your thoughts then that, let it have them. Secondly, Look upon the question as following Jobs confession: Observe thence, That sincere confession of sin, makes the soul very active and inquisitive about the remedies of sin. I have sinned; the very next word is, What shall I do? Many make confession of sin, who are never troubled about the cure and redress of sin; Lord what shall I do? is not the next question to, Lord, I have sinned. Nay, it may be the next action is, to sin over the same sin, they have confessed. As soon as those Jews heard of the foulness of their sin in crucifying Christ, and of the sadness of their condition; their question is like this of Job, what shall we do? what shall we do that we may be saved? As Christ speaks to the woman of Samaria (Job. 4. 10.) when he offered her the water of life, If thou didst know the gift of God, and who it is that speaks unto thee, thou wouldst have asked, etc. That is, if thou wert sensible of the excellency and virtue of this water, and thy need of it, thou wouldst be very inquisitive how to get it, how to have a taste of it. As in regard of Christ, and the benefits we have by him; so of sin, and the evils which come by it: When a man hath confessed and acknowledged his sin, we may say to him, if thou didst but know what thou hast confessed, if thou didst but know what thou hast acknowleged, thou wouldst presently be ask, how shall I get free? how shall I get clear of these sins which are so deadly, poisonous, destroying & condemning? He that is but sensible what the wound of sin is, will never be at rest, never give over enquiring, till he hath found a plaster or a medicine for it. He that knows what he saith, when he saith I have sinned, will resolve, as David in another case, that his eyes shall not have a wink of sleep, till he sees where to have help against it. Thirdly, In that he saith, what shall I do? Observe, That a soul truly sensible of sin, is ready to submit to any terms which God shall put upon him. What shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? Put what terms thou wilt upon me, I am ready to accept them. That was the sense of their question (Acts 2. 32.) what shall we do? show us the way, let it be what it will, we will not stand making of conditions, we will not pick and choose, this we will do, and that we will not do, this we will submit unto, and that we will refuse; no, let the Lord write what articles he pleases, we intent not to debate, but yield and subscribe unto them. When the Jailor found himself in the bonds of his iniquity, he was ready to enter into any bonds of duty, Acts 16. 30. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Lastly, From the question in the affirmative, Observe, That God is to be consulted and enquired after in all doubtful cases, especially in our sin-cases. I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? He calls upon God, to know what he should do, and to learn what course he should take. Though, when we have opportunity to speak to men, that's good, and a duty; yet we must not rest in the counsels of men, what to do in sin-cases: God must be consulted. After the people had committed idolatry in making the Calf, you have sinned (saith Moses) and now I will go up unto the Lord, that I may make an atonement for you; I will go up to the Lord, that I may understand from him, what course to take for the removing of this sin, though we have not such a mount to go up unto, as Moses then had to speak to God; yet there are ways for the soul in all sin-cases, to make addresses unto God; A sinner may say, I will go to the Lord, and make my atonement: whatsoever advice and direction we receive from men, we must inquire whether it be an advice and counsel established in Heaven. And the reason is clear, God is the person offended in every sin, and therefore he must be consulted about the remedy of sin. Again, God only can resolve us what will please him; we may pitch upon a wrong course, and take a wrong way; we in stead of pacifying God, may provoke him? in stead of satisfying, further displease him: Therefore we must say, when we have sinned, Lord what wilt thou have us to do? his advice will lead us to Christ for ease and peace. So fare for the question taken in the affirmative sense, What shall I do unto thee? show me what I shall do, and I will readily submit unto it. Secondly, Take the question negatively, what shall I do unto thee? And so I find two senses of it. First, Some render it thus, what have I done against thee? and Quid tibi neevi antony's quid te lasi, Olymp. then the meaning is this, I have done nothing against thee, or I have not hurt thee by sinning: What have I done against thee? wherein have I injured thee, that thou layst thy hand thus severely upon me in these grievous afflictions, both upon my soul and body? I am hurt, what have I hurt thee? There is a truth in this: though I take it not for the truth of this place. A man may say Paeecana nostra beautm illam naturam tabefactare non possunt. when he hath sinned what hurt have I done unto God? and yet all the hurt and wrong which God receives, he receives by sin. Our sins are no hurt unto God, by abating any thing of his happiness, or fullness, or intrinsical essential honour; take it thus, and our sins cannot hurt God: All the darts of our sins, fall infinitely short of God, they cannot reach him, so, as to annoy him: And we have that language expressly in the 35 Chapter of this book of Job, for 6. If thou dost sin what dost thou against him? (that is, thou dost nothing against God, as a real damage to him) or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what dost thou unto him? Sin as many sins as you can, you cannot impair the happiness of God, or diminish his greatness: he is out of the reach of the creature in that sense. As on the other side, if a man be never so holy and good, or do never so many acts of righteousness, yet God hath no good or gain by it, we cannot advantage God by our holiness; and that is the language of this Scripture too, Job 35. 7. If thou be righteous, what givest thou him; or what receiveth he of thine hand? We make no addition to the happiness of God by all our holiness, Job. 22. 3. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? Or any gain unto him that thou makest thy ways perfect? That which is infinite cannot increase, neither can it be increased. God is a above all gain and loss, above all accesses of pleasure or pain. When the Scripture saith, he is delighted in the services of the Saints, and takes pleasure in his people, we must understand them in the same sense, as those Scriptures, which describe him displeased with the sins of men, angry and grieved, because of their provocations. All the motions of God's delight or grief, pleasedness or displeasure, are only expressions towards the creature, not any impressions upon himself. But I shall let that sense pass. Secondly, in the negative, take the question thus, What shall I do unto thee? Or, as the Septuagint reads it, What can I do unto thee? That is, I can do nothing to thee? Lord I have sinned, and if thou seekest for satisfaction at my hands, I am able to make none. And so he speaks like a poor, undone, broken man, to his rich creditor arresting him for a dept, which he is unable to pay. The poor man falls down at his feet, and saith, Sir, I confess I own you a great sum, you have my bonds, I confess my hand and seal, but what shall I do unto you? I cannot pay you a penny, I have nothing, I have lost all, I am not worth a groat, what will you have of me? This sounds such a kind of melting, pitiful language, I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee; O thou preserver of men? Lord, when I look into my stock, into my treasure & revenues, I see I have nothing to satisfy this debt of sin, I have run in, and stand engaged to thy Majesty for; what can I pay thee? And so the word [do] signifies a retribution or recompense; so it is used in the second verse of this Chapter, where he speaks of the hireling, waiting for his work, that is, for the reward of recompense of his work, the payment of his wages. What shall I do? is as much, as, what shall I pay, or what shall I render? This is a due debt, but I have nothing to pay, no way of making satisfaction, for all the damage I have put thy holy Majesty to, by my sins. Or thus, there may be a threefold negation in the Question, What shall I do unto thee? First, I can do nothing to escape thy power, I cannot get a way from thee, I cannot rescue myself from under thy hand. Secondly, I can do nothing to satisfy thy justice. Thirdly, I can do nothing, to pacify thine anger. I cannot only not pay the dept, but I cannot appease thee, or turn away thy displeasure in the least degree. From the Question taken in this sense, we may observe. First, That, The holiest man on the earth by all his sufferings and do cannot satisfy the justice of God for one sin. I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee? When the Angels had sinned, what could they do unto God, in this respect? These three negations lay upon them, and do lie to this day, and shall to all eternity. They sinned but once, yet could they not escape out of the hand of God. Though spirits and powers, yet they could not maintain their state against the power of God, and are therefore cast into prison, and reserved in chains of darkness to the judegement of the great day. They could not pacify the wrath of God towards them, God is as highly displeased, and his wrath burns as hot against them, as ever. Now if sinning Angels could do nothing to God, what can sinful man do? The Question is put Micha 6. 6. Where with shall I come before the Lord? And bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings? with calves of a year old? will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams? or with ten thousand rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression? the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? These Questions are denials; come not before God with any of these. Then what is it, that God doth require? He hath showed thee, what is good, to do judgement and righteousness, to walk humbly with thy God. But why these things? What, though I cannot make a price for my sin with calves and rams, and rivers of oil, though my children will not be accepted as a ransom for my transgressions, yet can I make a price for them, out of justice and righteousness and humble walking? No, not out of these neither. The Lord doth not require these, for the payments of our debt, as we are sinners, but for the payments of duty, as we are creatures. There is a double debt to God: a debt to the justice of God for sins committed, and a debt to the law of God for duties enjoined. The former no man is able to pay, but with eternal sufferings. The latter, the Saints (through grace) do pay by their daily holy actings. There is a threefold deficiency in all that man can do, to satisfy the justice of God. Frist, all is imperfect and defiled, our services smell of the vessel, through which they pass, and taste of the cask into which they are put. There is a stamp of our sinfulness even upon our holy things. And can that which is sinful satisfy for sin? Secondly, whatsoever we do is a debt, before we do it. All our duties are owing before we perform them. And can we pay the debt of sin, by those duties which were due, though sin had never been committed? Thirdly, The greatest deficiency is this, our works want the stamp of God's appointment for that purpose. God hath no where set up man's righteousness, as satisfaction for man's unrighteousness. Hence, if it should be supposed, we had performed perfect righteousness according to the whole will of God commanded, yet we could not satisfy the justice God offended, unless God had said, that he would accept that way of satisfaction; it is the appointment and institution of God, which renders what we do acceptable unto himself. Surely, all that Jesus Christ did or suffered for us in the flesh, had not satisfied the justice of God, if God had not appointed that Christ should come to do and suffer those things for the satisfying of his justice. It was the compact between Christ and his Father, which made him a Saviour, Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. Sacrifices were refused by God, it being impossible, that they should purge sin (Heb. 10. 4.) Then the ear of Christ was opened or bored; as a servant, according to the law in that case, Exod. 21. 6. to receive and do the will of his Father. Or, as the Seventy interpret, which the Apostle follows, God prepared him a body. Then Christ undertakes the work, And said, lo I come to do thy will O God. Why? In the volume of the book it is written of me. That is, thou hast decreed and ordained from everlasting; The record is clear for it, that I am he, whom thou hast ordained to do thy will: Hence the Apostle concludes at the 10th verse, That we are sanctified (that is, saved) by that will through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all: As inserting, that the very offering of the body of Jesus Christ could not save us, but by the will and ordination of God. His hanging and dying on the cross had not delivered us from death, unless it had been written in the volume of the Book. There is nothing satisfactory, but what the law, or the will of the Lawgiver makes, or agrees to accept, as satisfactory. In the volume of the book, there is nothing written, which appoints man such a work, and therefore he cannot do it. There is some what to be done by way of thankfulness, but nothing can be done by way of payment. That question (Psal. 116. 12.) affirms as much, What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? We must render unto the Lord for his benefits; but we cannot render to the Lord for our sins. We ought to take up the Cup of Thanksgiving: but Christ hath, and he alone was able, and he alone was ordained to take and drink the Cup of Satisfying. Secondly, observe (which depends upon the former.) That pradon and forgiveness of sin, come in at the door of freegrace. Freegrace doth all. What can I do? I can do nothing, O thou preserver of men; I can only (nor that without thy help) acknowledge my sin: it must be thine infinite goodness to pardon it. When a man hath travelled through all duties and do, he must at last sit down in God's love, and rest in this, that God is merciful to poor sinners, Isai. 55. 1. Come unto me, O all ye that are thirsty, come without money or without price: There is nothing in the creature that God requires as a price of his favour: his milk and his honey, his bread and his water are all gifts and bounties unto his people. He calls us to buy these because we shall have them, as willingly from God, as any things from man, for our money; & he calls it a buying without money, because no value can be set upon it high enough, nor any heart receive it freely enough. To offer money, that is, to think to obtain any of that favour, by what we do, is the most dangerous offer in the world. We read how dreadful the issue was to Simon Magus, when he offered money, for the gifts of the holy Ghost, and yet those gifts were such, as a man may have, and go to hell with them, for they were but gifts of miracles and of healing, and the like: But this gift of the favour and love of God in the pardon of sin, is such a gift, as whosoever hath it, is sure and safe for ever: And therefore (the gift being much more precious than that of Simon Magus) Take heed of offering this kind of money for it, your works and do. To do so is the worst Simony in the world. Better offer literal money for those gifts of the holy Ghost, than this figurative money for the favour of God in the pardon of sin. What Peter threatened Simon Magus, may be affirmed of them. Their money must perish with them, That is, their prayers and tears, their sorrows and their humblings, their alms and good deeds, forasmuch as they have thought, that this gift of pardon may be obtained by such money. They have neither part nor lot in that mercy, for their hearts are not right in the sight of God. A good work trusted to, is as mortal, as a sin unrepented of. Again, There is somewhat to be done, when we have sinned but nothing to be paid. That's Gospel-language, when a man hath sinned, to say, What shall I do? Those converts in the Acts who enquired, What shall we do? were told by the Apostles of some what to be done, Repent and be baptised, believe and thou shalt be saved. These are ways wherein salvation is tendered, not works for which it is bestowed. It is a dangerous error, so to lift up the grace of God, as to deny the industry of man through grace, & because he can do nothing by way of satisfaction, that, therefore he must do nothing. The Apostles gave Gospel-counsell, yet when men asked them, what shall we do to be saved? They said not, ye must do nothing, God will save you by his freegrace: no, they called them to repent and believe, etc. Take heed, when ye have sinned, to say we need not mourn for sin, we need not be humbled, we need not repent, for, Lord, what can we do unto thee, O thou Saviour of men? These are the inferences of our own spirits, not of the Spirit of Christ. They who lift up the grace of Christ, to lessen the necessity of gracious actings in themselves, show they know not the meaning of his grace, and have not indeed tasted how gracious the Lord is. To deny our own righteousness, and to be very active in the ways of righteousness is the due Gospel-temper. The Apostle, Phil. 3. 8. counts all things but loss and dung; all duties and humblings, all legal righteousness and obedience, not that he refused righteousness, or neglected duties, but he would not mingle them with Christ, or bring them in as contributions to the purchase of blessedness. Our righteousness and holy duties are dung and dross in justification; but they are gold and precious things in sanctification: without these, we cannot walk worthy of our holy calling, or, as it becomes the Gospel of Christ. So much for these words, what shall I do unto thee? O thou preserver of men! Here is the Compellation, or the title, under which Job bespeaks the Lord (and it is a royal one) The preserver of men. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Narsar conservavit, observa. vit, custodivit, dise dit, de qualibet custodia dicitur & significat etiam se ris vectebasque elaudere licet proprie custos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur, sed confundi scias. Drus. The words signifies, both to preserve and to observe; and hence it is applied to our keeping the law of God, Psal. 119. 22. I have kept thy testimonies, I have kept them, by observation, that is, I have obeyed thy Commandments. The word is often applied to God, in reference to man's protection and preservation, Deut. 32. 10. Moses describes the care of God over his people Israel, He found them in the wilderness (as a people wand'ring and going astray) and he kept them as the apple of his eye; that is, he looked to them and had a continual tender care over them. So Psal. 17. 8. Keep me as the apple of thine eye. The Septuagint render it, O thou observer of men; What shall I do unto thee, O thou who art the observer and looker into the very hearts of men? Lord saith he, what wilt thou have me to do? Thou lookest quite through me, and seest all that is in me, I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, qui prespectam habis mentem hominum Sept. need not declare myself unto thee, thou knowest me altogether, Thou who art the searcher of the heart, and the trier of the reins; Thou who art a most vigilant watcher over all my ways, what have I done, or spoken, but thou knowest and canst easily observe. Thus Job speaks at the 14th of this book, vers. 16. Thou numberest my steps; a man observes another curiously, when he tells how many steps he treads, it is an expression, noting the exactest observation. Solomon joins the act of keeping with observing, Prov. 24. 12. If thou sayest, behold he knoweth it not (this is the refutation of an Atheist) doth not he that pondereth the hears, consider it, and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know? He that preserves us in our ways, must needs see us in all our ways. Again, Preserving or keeping may be understood two ways. First, There is a preserving or keeping of man, that he shall not escape. And Secondly, A preserving or keeping of man, that he shall not Custos hominu, sc. qui homine talibus malis quasi quadam custodia includis it non sit effugium. take hurt. Some understand it in the first sense, O thou preserver of men! that is, O thou, who art so strict a keeper and watcher over men, that they cannot escape thine hand. A man is said to be in safe custody, when he is a prisoner, and so the sense is thus given, Lord, thou hast me fast enough, I cannot break away from thee, I am locked up within irongates and bars, what wouldst thou have me do unto thee? Thou mayest put what conditions thou pleasest upon me, I must submit. Such language we have (Lam. 3. 5, 7.) which may illustrate this, He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travel, he hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out, he hath made my chain heavy. You see, he speaks of God (as we may speak with reverence) as of the master of a prison, who saith to his under-officers, there is such a one, look to him well make his chain heavy, that he may not get a way, put him in a place, where there is a strong wall, lest he break prison. This sense of the word makes Job speaking like Jeremy, He hath builded against me, he hath compassed me about, he hath made my chain heavy upon me. But the second sense, according to the letter of our Translation, is most clear and apt, O thou preserver of men! Thou, who keepest man, lest he take hurt or fall into danger; As if Job had bespoke God, thus, Thou art the Saviour and protector of men, thou hast not only given man a being, but thou providest for his well-being: thou art a preserver of our outward estates, and a preserver of our spiritual estates; A God, in whom we live, move, and have our being, as well, as we receive being, life and motion from thee; and therefore seeing such is thy nature, and this thy office, to be a preserver of men, what wouldst thou have me to do unto thee? Why dost thou thus destroy me, and break me to pieces? Why dost thou follow me with affliction upon affliction, till I am utterly ruined and undone? Thus Jacob (Gen, 28. 15.) If thou wilt keep me in the way that I shall go, he makes a vow to God, and indents or articles with God to be kept and preserved by him, The word there is Thomer, but that and this are used promiscuously, as Psal. 121. 4. The keeper of Israel, In the word of the text, and Psal. 31. 23. The Lord preserveth the faithful; he preserveth them, from the reach of dangers and troubles encompassing them on every side. So then in this title, we have the work and office of God held forth, the second act of his power. The first is the act of creation, the second is this act of preservation or providence. Preservation or ptovidence is a continued creation. Observe from this title; First. Man wants a preserver. If God having made man, and set him in the world, had left him to his own keeping, what would become of him? When God trusted man to go a little alone, and did not hold a special hand of preservation over him, to keep him from or in temptation, how quickly did he fall and lose himself? Man like a little child (which if the mother or the nurse leaveth alone unwatched or uneyed) runs into dangers and deaths every moment. Man is a weak creature, therefore he needs a preserver. Again, man (as fallen especially) is a foolish creature, he hath no understanding to guide himself, he is as ignorant as a child (if God leave him) how to dispose of his own ways, and order his go; The way of man is not in himself, neither is it in him that goeth to direct his own steps. Lastly, Man walks in the midst of enemies. He is beset with dangers, therefore he needs a protector; what would become of a man, living in a throng of adversaries, were it not that he hath a God, whose name is the preserver of men? It is good for us to know God by this Name in every letter of it, in the full extent of it. First, Immediately, his own hand and outstretched arm, is our safety, Zech. 2. 5. I will be unto Jerusalem a wall of fire round Mirus sane Dei amor in populu suum, mira previdemia Sanct. in Zech. 2, about; If you want a wall, I will be your wall, my immediate providence shall be your defence, rather than you shall not be defended. Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh brass? was Jobs question, Chap. 6. 12. We may resolve it, the strength of God is more than the strength of stones, and he, The Spirit is more firm than brass. The Romans in their wars used to call out the Tutelar gods of those Cities they besieged, etc. as believing them a stronger defence to those places, than walls or forts. And yet our God is more than a wall of stone or brass, he promised to be a wall of fire. Now, who can batter down a fire, that is it's own fuel, or who can set up ladders to scale the flames? And as the Lord is a wall of fire, so a wall of water for the safety of his people, Isa. 33. 21. there will I be a place of broad rivers, and of streams; that is, I will be their preservation; the broad river preserves a place from the invasion of enemies: waters are stronger than bulwarks of stones. And lest any should object, though broad rivers keep of Foot or Horse, yet they give advantage to ships; therefore it is added, I will be such a river to thee, as wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant Ship pass thereby. But if any shall venture their Navies upon these streams to thy annoyance, then know (as the 23. vers. intimates). Their tackle shall be loosed, they shall not well strengthen their masts, they shall not spread their sails; They shall be so ruffled and entangled, that the lame shall take the prey, that is, the weakest resistance shall subdue them and make prize of their whole fleet, even of their invincible Armadoes. I love the Lord my strength, my rock, my tower, my fortress, my buckler, the horn of my salvation; Ps. 18. 1, 2. all these titles meet in this one, The preserver of men. Secondly, God is a preserver of men mediately by instruments: he preserves man by man, and man sometimes by the beasts of the earth, and fowls of the air, but chiefly he preserveth men by Angels; Are they not ministering spirits, sent out for the good of those that shall be heirs of salvation? (Psa. 91.) He shall give his Angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways, they shall bear thee up in thy ways, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. A promise so full of sweetness for faith to feed on, that the devil hath no way to elude it, but by tempting us (as he did Christ) to overact it, & surfeit faith into a presumption, by a wilful needless throwing ourselves into danger. And there is a necessity that God himself should thus take upon him the preservation of men: This necessity is threefold. 1. None are strong enough to preserve us without him, our enemies would break through all strength below God: so that, if he were not our preserver, none could: In vain is salvation hoped for from hills, and from the multitude of mountains; truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. Jer. 2. 2. None are wise enough to preserve us, except the Lord. As evil spirits are powers, for strength; so likewise serpents, for policy and craft; this craft of hell cannot be discovered, much less disappointed, without wisdom from Heaven. 3. None but God are patiented enough to be the preservers of men, I believe if the Angels left to their natural temper, were set to be keepers of men, they had all given over this charge long before this time, as it is supposed, they who fell, refused to undertake, or take it up, at first, Angels have not the patience to keep such a froward piece as man. It is a wonder God doth not give over that care, and in stead of preserving dash him in pieces. When the Lord told Moses, he would send an Angel before him, and drive out the Canaanite (Exod. 34. 2.) For I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiffnecked people, lest I consume thee in the way. The text saith, when the people heard this evil tidings, they mourned, and no man did put upon him his ornaments. Why, what was it that troubled them? was it that the Angel is sent now to conduct them to Canaan? That was told them (Chap. 23. 20.) and they well satisfied with it, Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. I answer, The Angel in the 23. Chapter is by all (that I meet with) agreed to be the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Angel of the Covenant; but the Angel, chap. 33. appears to be a created Angel and rather threatened them, than promised them. And though the Lord is pleased to signify a reason of sending this Angel in favour to them, namely, lest he himself consume them in the way, for their stubborness. Yet the people are not satisfied with this tidings; surely they thought if the Lord was not able to bear their provocations, much less could an Angel, and therefore if he should send an Angel, and withdraw his own presence from them, they must perish; A mere Angel could not have borne their manners as the Lord did; receiving provocations from them, and continuing preservations over them those forty years. It is yet further observable, that the Hebrew is not only singular, but a particular: The preserver of Adam, or, of that man, which hath some speciality in it, We translate in general, the preserver of men; but the preserver of man, or of that man, is more emphatical. God preserveth all, but he hath a special eye of preservation upon some, Thou preservest man and beast, saith the Psalmist, the beasts of the earth are preserved, but man is preserved more: And among men, some are more preserved. It is a truth, the great God preserveth his greatest enemies; a wicked man were not able to lift up a hand or a tongue against him, if God did not uphold him: but God is the special preserver of that man, that is, the preserver of a godly man, or of godly men. As Christ is the Saviour of all men, but especially of those that believe; so the preserver of all men, but especially of those that believe; he hath a care of them, beyond the care he hath of the world. The care which God hath of the rest of the world, compared with that towards his own, is but carelessness, and he (as it were) neglects the whole world to look to his own people. As it was said of Constantine, that for the love he bore to Constatinople, he undressed and unadorned all the other Cities of the Empire, to beautify and adorn that: God seems to take off from all men in the world, to lay it on, upon his people; The very glean of those mercies which his people have, are better than the whole vintage of the world: And the Lord is therefore a special Saviour to his people, because, First, They are more precious than the rest of the world: and that calls for most care, which hath most worth. A man takes more care of his jewels, then of the lumber in his house; These are my Jewels, saith God (Mal. 3.) A man carries his jewels about him, or keeps them in a safe cabinet. Secondly, Nearness of relation calls for that care; will not a man perserve his wife, his spouse? The Church is the spouse of Christ. Will not a man preserve his children? if his house be on fire, bring my children out saith he: The heart of God is towards his children, he must provide them a porton. Yea they are his portion, he makes a revenue of them (Deut. 32. 9) A man will preserve his revenue, that wherein his estate lies: All that God hath on earth (though he hath such a fullness in himself, that he needs nothing from his Church, yet, all that he hath) he is pleased to say, he hath it from his Church: and therefore God is said to be great in Zion; He is the same great God all the world over, but it appears not so, what he is, to the men of the world, as to the Saints in Zion it doth: yea he is little in the eye of the world, in comparison of what he is in Zion, therefore he takes great care to preserve his Zion. Lastly observe. The preserving care of God over man, especially over that man, over his own people, is a perpetual care. Preservation is a continued act, if God should leave us one moment, and stop providence, creation would be dissolved: This continuance of his care, is eminent towards his Church; Isa. 27. 3. Lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. Night and day divide all time between them: to do a thing night and day, is to do it continually. Psa. 121. 4. He that keepeth Israel, neither slumbreth no● sleepeth; A slumber is less than sleep; but God will not so much as slumber in his thoughts towards us, all his, are waking thoughts. Further, his love is without intermission, that knows no stops nor breaches, therefore his care is so too. His people's dangers are without intermission, therefore his preservation is so too. Enemies oppose his people without intermission, therefore he protects them so too. The Devil goeth about like a roaring lion, he is ever in motion, he goeth about as an Abaddon or Apollyon, the destroyer and devourer of men: The care of Christ prompts him to a like vigilancy, He goeth about preserving; his act of preservation runs parallel with that of the enemy's opposition: God watches that his people may have some quiet rest and sleep. As the story reports of Alexander the great, that he told his Soldiers, I watch more Certo scio me plus vigilare quam vos, ut ipsi somnos quietos capere possitis, Arian. l. 8. than any of you all, that you may sometimes have quiet sleep: his care dispensed with some of their carelessness. It is most true of God, he wakes for ever, and he watches for ever, to preserve us, that, we may sleep in quietness and confidence. Solomon reproves some secure ones, who are as they, who sleep on the top of the mast (Pro. 23.) But the Saints may sleep (in regard of fear, though not of endeavour) on the top of the mast, while they remember that both the helm and the winds are in God's hands. As our spiritual estates, so our temporal are kept (as with a garrison in their degree) by the power of God through faith unto salvation. So much for the title, O thou preserver of men. Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself.? Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee?] The word signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Occurrit obviam factus fuit. Quare posuistime contraium tibi, Vulg. In occursum tibi, Pagn. Objectum tibi; Tygur. Offendiculum in quem semper impingas Vatab. to meet one, to come the opposite way; Hence some translate this, why hast thou set me contrary to thyself? because he that meets another, comes the contrary way, the way opposite to him: Why hast thou put me as an object against thee? or, as an enemy to thee? the object stands directly before us, and we desire to have an enemy right before us. And the word may be taken simply for an enemy, or adversary, who stands opposite to us, both in his actions and designs, and against whom we direct both ours. We render, wherefore hast thou set me as a mark? and that suits the sense of the word fully, because a mark at which a man aims, is set in direct opposition to him; we level our atrowes or bullets at the mark right before us, Job thought himself thus placed, why hast thou set me as a mark to meet with, or intercept thy shot, thy arrows, thy bullets, thy blows upon my breast? Wilt thou make the bosom of thy servants, like the breast of an enemy, a But to receive all thy arrows? A mark is as a standing enemy; and an enemy is a moving mark to shoot at: a mark is a liveless enemy, and an enemy is a living mark: his meaning then is; Thou hast set me against thee, as if I were an enemy, as if I were one, against whom thou resolvest to direct all thine arrows, and aim every stroke: so the word is used, Judg. 8. 21. where Zeba and Zalmunna, two Kings taken captive by Gideon, said to him, rise thou and fall upon us; it is this word, set us before thee as a mark for thy victorious sword: So the Prophet (Amos 5. 19) tells us that a man in hopes to escape the hand of God, shall be as if a man did flee from a Lion, and a Bear met him, such a man is but a mark for a Bear, who thinks to outrun this Lion. That expression (1 King. 5. 4.) is very clear to this sense, where the peacefulness of Solomon's reign is described, thus, there was neither adversary nor evil occurrent; the word we translate, evil occurrent, it is that in the text, no evil met or befell them. So then the sum of all is, That Job expostulates or complains before God, that he was as it were, the man chosen out amongst all the men in the world, to be as the mark and But against which God shot his afflictions, and levelled all his arrows: As if he had said; There are many more about me, and thou dost not so much as touch one of the hairs of their heads, there are men that receive not so much as one shot from thee, but I am made thy standing mark, why is it thus Lord? So he expresseth himself, in other words, but to this very sense, chap. 19 11. chap 13. 24. Wherefore holdest thou me for thine enemy? or (according to the letter of the Hebrew) among those who straighten thee, as an enemy straightens a City, in the time of a siege: And this he doth to move God to pity and compassion; Lord, saith he, I am set as a mark against thee. You would be much moved (a tender heart would) to see a man bound fast to a post, and another standing off with his bow bend, and his arrow on the string, with his gun or pistol cocked, aiming at his breast: Job presents himself in such a posture, as if the Lord had bound him fast to a post or to a tree, and were pouring volleys of shot, and sending showers of arrows upon him continually. Observe, first the manner of the language, which is by way of a vehement question, or expostulation, Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee? Man is very inquisitive to know the reasons of God's deal with him. That's one thing. And secondly which is near the same, It is some satisfaction and ease to the mind smitten by the hand of God, to know the reason why he wounds, why he smites. Why hast thou set me as a mark? as if he had said; if I could but learn this, and see the reason of it, surely I should receive thy wounds as kisses, and take thy strokes as embraces. When Gideon saw so many evils and troubles upon Israel, Jud. 6. and the Angel told him, the Lord was with him, Then, why is it thus (saith he) Can you give me a reason, why God being with us, it is thus with us? To know the reason of our pain, is a great ease, and almost the care of it. If the people of God did but know what infinite reason he hath (reason of the highest temperament of wisdom and goodness) why he lays affliction upon them, and makes them as his marks, they would be abundantly satisfied with it. What is the reason why the Saints coming out of great affliction, are willing to confess, it is good for us that we were afflicted, and blessed be God that we were chastened. It is, because than they see more clearly the reason why God afflicted them, and they then begin to taste the fruit of those afflictions. If while the affliction is upon us, we knew what good God meaneth us, what honour he intendeth us, we should bear it, not only with courage and with patience, but, with joy. If job had been but fully acquainted with this, that God therefore set him up as a mark to shoot at, that he might be to all the world a mirror of patience: that God intended him this honour, that his name should be upon record in his Book so long as there was a Church, surely he would have borne all with more patience and ease than he did; But he was groping in the dark, and therefore inquires, wherefore hast thou set me as a mark against thee? The words are not only, or not so much, an expostulation, because he was set as a mark, as an inquisition, why he was set as a mark. Thirdly note, God sometimes seems an enemy to his faithful servants. For one to be before God as a But continually shot at, what other interpretation can sense make of it, but this, that God looks upon him as an enemy? jacob saith of joseph (Gen. 49. 23.) the archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him. Joseph was as the common mark of his Brothers envy. But in this case, as it is said of Joseph (Gen. 42.) when his brethren came to him, he made himself strange to them. (Joseph strained himself, and used his art, to overcome his nature, he made himself strange: Joseph was of a meek and loving disposition, and therefore like a Player upon a stage, he only acted the part of a rigid master or governor.) Thus many times the Lord takes upon him the posture of an enemy, and forces a frown upon a poor creature, whom he loves and delights in with all his heart; he makes him as his mark to shoot at, whom he lays next his own heart. Thus the Church speaks, Lam. 3. 12. He hath bend his bow, and set me as a mark for his arrows; And (Job 16. 13.) that, you may see how his language agrees with other Scriptures; His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare. He poureth out my gall upon the ground. How exactly he speaks! A man shoots at a hair's breadth that shoots thus; when God sends his archers, their bows shoot so true, that they cleave the reins asunder: the reins are in the midst of a man, and to cleave the reins, is to shoot level: as pouring out the gall, or unboweling, imports to shoot dead. Fourthly observe this, Why hast thou set me as a mark? God takes the most eminent and choicest of his servants, for the choicest and most eminent afflictions. He makes a Job the white. Why hast thou chosen me? There was great reason, God should choose him, he was the most eminent in holiness and grace of all about him: he was the most remarkable man for grace and goodness, therefore he must be the mark. They who have received most grace from God, are able to bear most affliction from God. God doth this in infinite wisdom: as the Apostle, Rom. 14. 11. gives an excellent advice in reference to weak brethren, such as are weak receive, but not to doubtful disputations; take heed how you engage your weak brethren in doubtful disputes, you may lose them so; take those that are strong and able, such as have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil, such as are well ballasted for a storm, take these men, if you will, to doubtful disputations, but do not take weak brethren. If God will not have us take a weak Christian to a doubtful disputation; surely then, he calls such to sufferings, of whose strength he is well assured: A man under great affliction, is brought to a very doubtful disputation; therefore the Lord will not bring a weak one, one low in grace to it, but he takes out the strong: As the General of an Army chooses out the valiantest and most experienced veterane Soldiers, to put them upon hard adventures, it is not wisdom to venture a freshwater Soldier upon difficult services. God will not put new wine into old bottles: as it is in acting duties, so in sufferings. And as Christ order the word in such wisdom, that he will not have counsel given, to any soul, who is unprepared to receive it, or unable to bear it. john 16. 12. I have many things yet to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now; therefore I will defer, until you have got more strength: So God saith of a young Christian, one that is newly come in; thou hast great afflictions to undergo before thou diest, but thou art not fit to bear them yet, I will defer thy trial till thou art grown more hardy, through more communion with me, to fit thee for that encounter. As our Lord Christ told Peter (Joh. 21. 18.) When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldst; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whether thou wouldst not. That is, when thou wast young and unexperienced thou enjoyest thy liberty; but when thou shalt be grown older in years, and stronger in grace, thou shalt willingly stretch forth thy hands, and quietly suffer thyself to be bound to the Cross (Peter was not nailed as Christ, but tied to the Cross) and there die in witness of my truth; for this Christ spoke, signifying by what death he should die and glorify God, ver. 19 Fiftly, In that he saith, Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee? Why dost thou run thus against me? Observe, Man in sinning, runneth contrary to God, and God in afflicting seemeth to run contrary to man. Every act of sin, is a direct opposition unto God: we set God as a mark, and shoot arrows of disobedience against him; sin is a missing the mark of duty, but it ames to hit the Lord, as a mark, who charges us with that duty. In affliction God runneth upon us, and makes the trangressor his mark. Moses (Levit. 26. 41.) speaks both ways; If your uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and ye acknowledge that ye have walked contrary unto me, and that I have walked contrary unto you, that I have made you a mark, and shot at you by my judgements, and that you have made me a mark, shooting at me by your sins; then I will remember, etc. So that our sinning is a walking contrary unto God, and Gods corrections are his walking contrary to us: There is an excellent expression, noting how sin strikes, (and as it were) shoots at God (job 15. 25, 26.) He stretcheth out his hand against God speaking of a wicked man) and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty; (here this word is used) he runneth upon him; even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers. See how he describes a wicked man in his natural course; what doth he? he runs upon God, he runneth upon him, even upon his neck; as a man that encounters an enemy, runs upon him, and sets his feet upon his neck; he runneth upon the thick bosses of his bucklers, a warrior hath bosses upon his arms, both for beauty and defence. The enemy runs upon the very bosses and fears nothing: such is a wicked man He runs against God; will not God run upon him? He will certainly be upon the bosses of their bucklers, and upon their necks too, one time or other, till they shall be forced to cry out, that as they have been burdens unto God, so now they are burdens to themselves. Thus Job concludes in his own case. So that I am a burden to myself. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tulit onus à tollendo ac ferendo dictum. Sum super te onus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, alii vertunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, overosus, molestus quo alluditur ad importunos peccatores, qui auribus judicum perstrepunt. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, tibi, quod scriba mutarunt in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mibi, quòd indignum divina majestate arbitrarentur, ut homuncio et oneri ess●t. Abe Ezr. Drus. The former words, are the cause, and these the effect. Thou hast set me as a mark; what follows? O, I am a burden to myself! The Septuagint read thus, so that I am a burden unto thee, or, so, that I am burdensome to thee. And then his meaning may be conceived thus, Lord thou settest me as a mark, so that I become burdensome unto thee; I have such a weight of afflictions upon me, that I am forced to complain and expostulations wherein I am afraid, I am burdensome to thee; as poor Suitors when they cry long in the ears of a Judge or Magistrate, he saith forbear, you are very troublesome, very burdensome to me. The Rabbins observe, that this was the ancient reading of the Text, I am a burden unto thee, and that the Scribes, who wrote out the Bibles in Hebrew, made this alteration, a burden to myself; because they conceived it was unbecoming the Majesty of God, that Job should say, he was a burden to him. There is a general truth in that translation, a burden unto thee; The sins of man are burdensome to God, the frowardness and impatience of men, are burdensome unto God: But I conceive our translation carries the sense fairer, in a reflection upon his own tired spirits, So that I am made a burden to myself, that is, thou dost even throw me upon myself, whereas heretofore thou wast wont to bear me, and take my burden upon thyself. Alas I faint, I cannot stand under myself, I am weary of my life, because I am left alone to bear it, I know not what to do with myself, I am so burdensome to myself. Hence observe. First, Outward afflictions, poverty, sickness, want, etc. are burdens, and they make a man burdensome to himself. It is a great burden to have our comforts taken away from us. The removing of comforts lies like a heavy weight upon the spirit: the removing of health from the body is a weight upon the soul; fear is a burden, care is a burden, and so is pain. Therefore God calls us to cast all those burdens upon him, Psal. 55. 22. Secondly, observe, Man left to himself, is not able to bear himself. Man is much borne down by the weight of natural corruption. Hence the Apostle calls it, A weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, (Heb. 12. 1.) or dangle about our heels, to burden us, as long garments do a man that runneth. Our ordinary callings and affairs, left upon our own backs press us to the earth, much more do our extraordinary troubles and afflictions. And therefore he adviseth, Cast thy burden upon the Lord (he assures in the next words) and he shall sustain thee. As implying, that man cannot sustain or bear his own weight. And though, it should seem we have strength to spare for others, and are therefore commanded to bear one another's burdens, (Gal. 6.) yet no man of himself, no not the holiest Atlas, nor the spirituallest Porter on earth, is able to bear his own self, unless Christ be his supporter, who is also, therefore, said to uphold all thiags by the word of his power, Heb. 1. 3. Because no creature in a natural, or man in a spiritual capacity can bear his own weight. Thirdly, From the connexion between these two phrases, Thou hast set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself; what is it that makes my life to be so burdensome to me? It is this, because I am set as a mark before thee, that is, because thou seemest to be an enemy to me: And so the note from the connexion is this. That which presses and burdens the soul ahove all, is the apprehension that God is against us. Job in many things looked unto God under these temptations, with sad thoughts, as if he were his enemy: so he expressed himself in the sixth Chapter, The poison of his arrows drinks up my spirits, he setteth himself in battle array against me. In these temptations and desertions, this was the burden of his spirit, that God appeared as an adversary, Why dost thou set me as a mark against thee? Let the Sabians and the Chaldeans shoot at me as much as they will, let fire and winds contend with me, and make me the mark of their utmost fury; I can bear all these. Job was light hearted enough, when he thought he contended only with creatures, and that creatures only contended with him; but in the progress of this trial he finds God against him, withdrawing comforts from, and shooting terrors at him; now he is a burden to himself, he can bear this no longer. As Caesar said in the Senate (when he had many wounds given him, yet this wounded him most, that he was wounded by the hand of his son) What thou my son? So when a believer looks this way and that way, and fees many enemies, Satan and the creatures, all in arms against him; he can bear all their charges and assaults, but if he apprehend God opposing and wounding him, he weeps out this mournful complaint, What thou my Father? What thou my God? Thou who hast so often shined upon me, dost thou darken thy face towards me, and appear mine enemy! These apprehensions of God, will make the strongest Saint on earth, a burden too heavy for himself to bear. That which causeth the most burdensome thoughts in the Saints, is the inevidence of their pardon; Sin unpardoned is in itself a burden: and our not knowing sin to be pardoned, is a greater burden: but our jealousies and fears, that it is not pardoned, is the greatest burden of all, and that which adds weight, yea an intolerableness to all other burdens. Hence Job in the next verse, and with the last breath of his answer, points directly at that which pinched him. Verse 21. And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust, and thou shall seek me in the morning, but I shall not be. In the former verse we found Job humbly confessing his sin, and earnestly enquiring of the Lord a reason of his sorrows, why he had shot him so full of arrows, that now he was not so much wounded as loaded, And become a burden to himself. In this verse he sues for the pardon of those sins, and so for the removal of those sorrows. That the bow might speedily be unbended, and not a shot more made at his bleeding breast. In the answer of which suit, he desires speed and expedition, lest help being retarded, come too late: for he professeth that he cannot hold out his siege long, he must needs make his bed in the grave, and then being sought for, he shall not be found. And why dost thou not pardon my transgressions? We may consider the words two ways. 1. In the Form of them. Matter 2. In the form, they are a vehement expostulation. Jobs spirit hath been heated all along with the fire of his sufferings, and here he speaks in the heat of his spirit, and with fiery desires after mercy: He keeps up his heart to the same height and tenor still, There it was, Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee? Here's another Why, and why dost thou not pardon my transgression? As before he was grieved to be set up as a mark for afflictions to aim at; so now he desires to be made a mark for mercy to aim at. I shall note one thing from hence, before I come to open the words; They who are sensible of the evil of sin, will pray hearty for the pardon of sin. Expostulation is earnest prayer; expostulation is a vehement postulation, a vehement enquiring after or desiring of a thing, Why dost thou not pardon my sin? may be resolved into this, O that thou wouldst pardon my sin! Or, Wilt thou not pardon my sin? The matter of this prayer requires such a form, such a vehemency of spirit in him that prays. If there be any petition in the world about which the spirit should be fired, it is in this, when we pray for pardon of sin. Will not a man whose body is defiled by falling into the mire, call hastily for some to cleanse and wash him? Will he not say, if it come not speedily, why do ye not bring away the water there, sin is the defiling and bemiring of the soul, and pardon is the cleansing of it. If a man be deeply and deadly wounded, will he have only some few feeble desires, or make cold requests for a Chirurgeon. Will he not call and call aloud? Call and call again for help and healing? Sins are the wounds of the soul, and pardon is the only cure of it. If a man hath broken his bones, will he not be very earnest to have them set again? Sin is the breaking of the bones, and pardon is their setting. How doth David cry to the Lord (Psal. 51. 8.) That the bones which he had broken might rejoice; Sin had broken his bones first, and the hiding of God's favour from him, was a second breaking. If a man's peace, or the peace of a Nation be disturbed, is there not earnest crying (as at this day) to have it repairs and reestablished? Sin troubles our peace, the peace of the soul, and the peace of Kingdoms, Sin is the great makebate, and pardon is the returning of our peace, and quieteth all again, and therefore no marvel, if we cry out, Why dost thou not pardon our sins? He that is greatly in debt, and fears every hour to be arrested and cast in prison, is trying all friends to get security, and protection. Sinning is a running in debt with God, and it brings us under the danger of his arrest every-moment: forgiveness cancels the bond, when the sin is pardoned, the debt is paid, and the soul discharged; And therefore no wonder if in this case, we hear or make strong cries, Why dost thou not pardon our sins. My son (saith Solomon, Prov. 6. 4. speaking about suretyship) if thou be surety for thy friend (if thou hast engaged thyself for another) Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids, deliver-thy self as a Roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. Not to give rest to the eye, nor slumber to the eyelids, notes the hottest pursuit and greatest intention of spirit about a business; Thus busy Solomon advises a man to be, who becometh surety for another. Then what should we do, who have contracted huge debts ourselves? How should we in this sense give our eyes no rest, and our eyelids no slumber, till our souls be delivered, as a Roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fouler; that is, from all the power and challenge, which the Law without us, conscience within us, Satan pursuing us, and the justice of God threatening us, can any way make or have against the peace of our souls. That's the first thing from the manner or form in which Job sues for the pardon of sin. His spirit doth not fall, he grows not flat upon this point, but is as high and earnest here, for the pardon of sin, as in any of his requests for the ease of his pained body, or the dissolution of it. Why dost thou not pardon my sin, and take away mine iniquity? I shall first show what is meant by pardoning and taking away; and then, what by transgression and iniquity, and so put the sense of all together. Why dost thou not pardon my transgression? The * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. accipiunt. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tanquam à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oblitus fuis. Septuagint reads it, Why dost thou not forget my transgression? Or bury it in the grave of oblivion: and the word may signify to forget, as well, as to take away. But generally it imports the lifting up or taking away of that which lies heavy upon us, either in a moral or in a natural notion, Hos. 11. 4. I was to them, as they that take off the yoke; And because pardon is the taking away or lifting off of sin, therefore it is often put for the act of pardoning. Hence also it is applied to that gesture of the Priests, when they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tollere, levare; per Metaphoram donare, cò quòd munera & donaria in altum elevari solerent, sicut sacrificia cum Deo offerebantur. received gifts and sacrifices, because they were wont to elevate and lift them up. Hence Christ the substance of all the Sacrifices, is said to be lifted up, himself saith, As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, (Joh. 3. 14.) we may say, as Aaron lifted up the Sacrifices at the altar, so the Son of man was lifted up. This lifting up, noted also the acceptance of those Sacrifices, and the favour of God to those who brought them. When Pharaoh bestowed a great favour upon his chief Butler, Gen. 43. 30. according to his dream, he lifted up his head: joseph expounded so, After three days Pharaoh shall lift thine head; that is, he shall freely pardon thy offence, and bestow some great honour, gift or reward upon thee. And in this sense it is proper to the text, when sin is pardoned, a man's head is lifted up himself is advanced indeed. The Lord proclaims his name in this tenor, (Exod. 34. 7.) The Lord, the Lord, forgiving (or lifting up) iniquity; and Psal. 32. 1. Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven or lifted up. Further, this word signifies, not only, to take or lift off a burden from another, and lay it down: but so to lift it off from another, as for a man to take it upon himself, and bear it in his stead, from whose shoulders it was taken. And in this strict sense, we are especially to understand it in the point of pardon; for pardon is not the taking away of sin from a man, and laying it, none knows where: but sin being taken off from man, some other shoulders are prepared to bear it, even the shoulders of our Lord Christ, on him our sin is laid, All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all, Isa. 53. 6. when the burden of dept was taken off from us it was charged on Christ. He did not take or lift the burden of sin from us, and throw it by, but he bore it himself; nothing but this could complete the work of pardon: therefore it was also prophesied, Isa. 53. 4. Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows, And (1 Pet. 2. 22.) who his own self bore our sins in his body on the tree; that is, in his humanity or humane nature, while he dwelled with us in the body. Body is not here opposed to Soul, but includes it; as sometime the whole work is laid upon the soul of Christ, not excluding his body, Isa. 53. 10. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. By the whole man this offering was made, and the whole man bore our sins on the tree. That passage, Mat. 8. 17. (where the first prophecy of Isaiah is quoted, is very emphatical) when Christ had healed many of their outward distempers, this reason is added, That it might be fufilled, which is written (sc. Isa. 53. 9) himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses. Now Christ took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses, when he took and bore our sins: when he took sin, he took that which was the necessary fruit of sin, our sicknesses and our sorrows; For as in Scripture Christ is said to be made sin for us; that is, with the sin he bore those affiictions and sorrows, which are the consequents of sin; so here, when it is said, He bore our sorrows and our sicknesses, it takes in the bearing of those sins, which procured and produced those sorrows. The Greek words used by the Evangelist are full with this sense, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assumpsit sccum, atque recepit, quasi ad se transtulit. He took them to him, he received them upon himself; he (as it were) translated them from poor sinful man, to his own body. The word also imports his taking our sins and sicknesses upon him, as a vesture or a garment, and so wrapping himself in them. We know our sins by nature cloth us as a garment, ours, is not only a burden, but a clothing of sin and filthiness, Take away his filthy garments (saith the Lord concerning Joshua the high-Priest) then follows, and unto him I said, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will thee with change of raiment. Man saw not his own nakedness, till he was clothed with sin, Gen. 2. Christ to answer that, and wraps himself with our sins, as we ourselves were wrapped about and clothed with them; he cloaths himself with our sorrows, as we ourselves were clothed with sorrow. In which sense (among others) Christ may be called a man of sorrows; as we may call a man clothed with rags, a man of rags; and a man clothed with silk, a man of silks. The second word of the Evangelist, Mat. 18. 17. signifies to bear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Porter bears a great burden; Christ took up that burden onder which all the Angels in heaven would have sunk, he took it up like a mighty Samson, and carried it out for us. The scape-Goate was a type of this, Levit. 6. 22. And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited; or a land cut off and separated from other lands and people, figuring hereby the total abolishing of our sins, which being carried into a land, where no man dwells, shall be as lost and gone for ever, not to be found when they shall be sought for: who can find that, which is, where no man ever was; pardoned sin is carried and (as it were) hide out of the sight both of God and man, for it is not; and that which is not, is not (according to man) to be seen. In allusion to all which, Christ (Jo. 1. 29.) is pointed at by the Baptist, with, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Behold the Lumb of God that takes away the sins of the world; he takes sin off from the world, upon himself, and carries it away no man knows whither. That for the first word, pardon, why dost thou not pardon my sin. The second word is rendered by our Translatours, Take away, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est, 1. simpliciter praeterire, 2. interire, perire, evanescere, mori. why dost thou not take away mine iniquity? Others thus, Why dost thou not cause mine iniquity to pass away? Or, Why dost thou not put away mine iniquity? So we rranslate, 2 Sam. 12. 13. where assoon as David confessed his sin, saying, I have sinned, Nathan answers, and the Lord hath put away thy sin; he hath made it to pass away. The word signifies, first, simply, to pass away or to pass by. Secondly, to die, perish or vanish away, that which passes by us is vanished, as to us: So the word is taken, Psal. 37. 36. where David speaking of the flourishing estate of wicked men, saith, I have seen the wicked in great prosperity, flourishing as a green bay tree, yet he passed away and lo he was not: A man unpardoned, sees, or should see, his sins growing up as a mighty tree: sin unpardoned, flourishes like a green bay-tree, it roots in the soul, and guilt nourishes it; but when pardon comes, sin passes away, and it is not, because, that which gave it sap, is not. Further, this word (which is very considerable) is applied to Quando dicitur de mandato pacto, juramento, significat transgredi, violare, peecare. the committing of sin, as well as to the pardoning of sin: For, when it is joined with those words, The Commandments of God, the Statutes of God, the Word of God, or the like, it signifies to violate, to break the bounds, to transgress: for in sinning a man passes by the Word and Commandment of God, the precepts which God hath given, and the charge God hath laid upon him, he goeth away from all; when man sins he passeth by the Commandment of God, and when God pardons, he passeth by the sin of man, or he causeth his sins to pass away. So that this word, Take away, put away, or cause to pass, Transire facis, e. i impunitum retir quis, condonas. notes the removing of sin, both in the guilt and punishment; When sin is passed by, all the punishments due to sin are passed by, the sinner shall never be touched, or feel the weight of God's little finger in judgement; when God comes with his revenges, he passes such by, as in that plague of Egypt, the slaying of the first born, which was therefore called the Lords Passeover, in memorial whereof, that great ordinance was appointed the Jews, of keeping the Passeover, and eating the Pascal Lamb, Exod. 12. 13, 14. In this sense the word is used, Amos 7. 8. when God was resolved to punish and charge the sins of that people upon them, he saith, Behold I will set a plumbe-line in the midst of my people, Israel, and what follows? I will not again pass by them any more. God came before, once, and again, armed to destroy them, but when he came, he passed by them, he put up his sword, he unbent his bow, he stopped up the vials of his wrath; when a cloud of blood and judgements hung over their heads, he sent a breath of mercy, and caused it to pass over them; but now (saith he) I will not again pass by them any more; that is, I will surely punish them, so the next words interpret, the high places of Isaac shall be dissolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waist. Some translate that in Amos, I will not any more dissemble Verbum Ebraicum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quoties in scriptures sanctis ex persona Dei ponitur pro poena accipiendum est, ut ncqu●quam apud eos maneat sed pertranseat, Hieron. in Amos 5. Non ultra dissimulabo ei scelera tua, Pang. Merc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. your wickedness or your sin; and that carries a fair sense, for when a man pardons or will not punish an offence, he seems to take no notice of it, for that (properly) is to dissemble a thing; (as simulation is to pretend that which is not, so dissimulation is to take no notice, or not to hold forth that which is;) God passeth by and dissembles the sins of men, in a gracious way when he will not observe or look upon them to question or punish them. The Greek word (Matth. 26. 39) answereth this Hebrew, where our Lord Christ ptayeth earnestly about the removal of the cup, Father (saith he) if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me; In the same sense that sin is said to pass away, the cup of God's displeasure and wrath passes also away, when sin is pardoned: therefore Christ prayed thrice, that the cup might pass away from him, that he might not be dealt with as a sinner, but that there might be a course found out to spare him, and save the glory of his father's justice: Yet (he submits) not my will but thy will be done, if it must not pass away, I am contented it should not pass. Thus far we have seen, what is meant by pardoning and taking away. A word upon those two terms, transgression, and iniquity (which are the objects on which pardoning mercy works) Why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and put away mine iniquity? Trangression and iniquity, are words of great significancy: for in them all manner of sins, especially sins of a greater stature are comprehended. The former transgression, notes a violation of the Commands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propriè rebellio peccatum ex superbia. Non simplex & qualiscunque sed malitiosa & temeraria transgressio. of God with a high hand, or a rebellion of the mind, when pride of spirit shows itself very much. There is a spice of pride in every sin: Because of pride (saith Solomon) cometh contention; all the contentions we maintain against the word and will of God, rise from the pride of our own hearts, because we cannot submit to the will of God; but in some sins, pride holds up her head more proudly. Such sins this word notes, it is not (simply) any sin, but sin very proudly and rebelliously committed. The latter word Iniquity, imports the crookedness and inequality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Incurvationem, declinationem à recta via & ad animum translata, significat per versitatem & melitiam. Curvi mores. of a thing; when it turns this way or that way, and extends not in a strait and right line. Hence it is applied to the vitiosity and perverseness, to the crookedness and inequality of man's nature. Our nature is a crooked piece, and that makes all the crookedness in our lives. The Latins speak so, in a moral sense, they call ill manners, and ill mannered men, crooked men, and crooked manners. David, Psal. 51. 5. bewaileth his birth sin under this notion, I was born in iniquity: And he that was first borne in the world, applied this word to himself, saying; my iniquity (the Peccata denotat quae fiunt ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, & destinata malitia seu proposito, cum sc. mens videt quod aequum est, & tamen indulgens cupiditatibus sequitur deteriora. Moller. in Psal. 106 6. perverseness, the crookedness of my ways) is greater than can be forgiven, or made strait, Gen. 4. 13. So that this word also (take it strictly) implies more than a bare act of sin, arising from infirmity, weakness or inanimad vertency; it rather notes those sins which are committed from a crooked purpose, from an ill or false bent of the heart: when the mind sees that which is right and good, just and straight, and yet turns to crooked paths, and follows that which is perverse and worse. Take one thing further. This word in Scripture, signifies not only the act of such sins; but secondly the punishment of them, Psal. 31. 10. Gen. 19 15. And thirdly, it is put for the means of expiation or pardon, Hos. 4. 8. They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity. But how did the Priests eat up the sin, and set their hearts on the iniquity of the people? Sin can make us but a hungry banquet. The text bears variety of interpretations. But to the point in hand, sin is here put for the sacrifices offered up for sin, out of divers of which, the Priests had a portion for themselves to eat; so that the Prophet here describes the horrible profaneness of those degenerate Priests, who set their hearts upon the sacrifices, because themselves were fed by them, not because the people came to seek the favour of God, and make their peace by them, when they had sinned. As Physicians may be said to eat the diseases of the people, and set their hearts upon their sicknesses, when they (because their own gain is in it) are pleased to hear of spreading sicknesses, etc. Or as Lawyers, eat the contentions and quarrels of the people, when they are glad to hear of Suits, etc. because they grow rich by it. So those base-spirited Priests were said to eat the sins of the People, and set their hearts on their iniquities, because they were glad to have of a multitude of sacrifices, their provisions being enlarged by them. So that then, iniquity is the sacrifice for iniquity, in which sense also Christ is said to be made sin for us, namely, a sacrifice for sin, 1 Cor. 5. 21. From the words thus opened, we may observe; First, to whom Job addresseth himself for pardon: is it not unto God? And why dost not thou pardon my transgression? God only can, pardon sin. Pardon is his act, his proper and peculiar act, he can do it, and none can, but he. We read it among his royal Titles (Exod. 34. 7.) the Name of God is proclaimed in this stile, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and in truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression an sin. Pardoning sin, is put the last of those seven attributes, in which the Lord manifested himself to Moses, as being that, wherein all the former are summed up, and into which they convey their several blessings, to make man completely blessed; or to show that none can be a pardoner of sin, but he who is vested with all those foregoing glorious titles, and therefore none, but God alone. Hence the Prophet Micah (chap. 7. ver. 18.) puts the question, and challenges all the world; Who is a God like unto thee, pardoning iniquity? Show me one if you can, there is no sin-pardoning God besides thee. Who is a God like unto thee, pardoning? As if the Prophet had said, some will be, or have been offering at this work, but they all have been, or will be found mere bunglers at this work. None can pardon as thou dost. None can pardon, 1. So freely. 2. None so fully, 3. None so continually, 4. None eternally, 5. None so indifferently, whether in respect of sinners or sins, as thou dost. It is all one to thee, what the sins are, and all one to thee, whose the sins are, so they come to ask thy pardon. And that which is a disadvantage to ask pardon of man, is an encouragement to ask it of God, the greatness of our sins. The Psalmist did, and any man may make that his plea, Lord pardon my sin, for it is great. Dare any be a competitor with God in this work? The Pharisees put the question right, if they had not mistake the person to whom they put it, Mark 2. 7. Who is this that forgiveth sins? none can forgive sin but God alone. Again sin (in one sense) is committed only against God, and for that reason also, God only is the pardoner of it: Psal. 51. Against thee only have I sinned. Only the creditor can remit the debt, and he the offence, to whom we have done the wrong. God is wronged in all sins chief, and the wrong is so much his, that it may well be called only his, therefore without him no pardon. But man is charged to forgive his brother: Luke 17. 4. Forgive thy brother seven times; and Christ hath taught us to pray for the forgiveness of our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us, Mat. 6. 12. I answer, there are two things in all second-able sins; First, disobedience against God; Secondly injury to man; That which man can, or is required to forgive, and be a pardoner of, is only the injury done unto himself, so as not to revenge it; he cannot take off the sin against God, or stay him from taking vengeance. But other Scriptures speak of a power committed to man, to remit and forgive sin, John 20. 23. Whose sins ye remit are remitted, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained. I answer, This power is not authoritative and magisterial, but ministerial and declarative. God hath set up such an institution, that man should pardon man, because many men, yea most men are not competent judges of their own estates, whether they be fit for pardon or no: Many wicked men, would remit and loosen themselves when as their sins are to be retained; they see not their sins, as another man may and doth see them: The Apostle Peter could say to Simon Magus, Acts 8. 23. I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity; Simon Magus did not perceive it, he did not know his own condition, he flattered himself, and thought all well, because lately sprinkled with the water of Baptism; therefore some must declare these men bound, and hold them still under sin. Again, There are others, whose hearts are upright and sincere, such as are indeed reconciled to God, and all whose sins are pardoned; but they are not able to make it out, and they cannot clear up this thing from the word to their own hearts: therefore they need a helper, to declare them pardoned, for they cannot speak or declare it to their own souls: in such cases, both for the conviction of presuming sinners, and the help of upright-hearted, yet weak and doubting Christians, God hath left this power with his Ministers, whose sins ye remit they are remitted, and whose sins ye retain are retained. As in the case of leprosy, Leu. 15. The Leper was brought to the Priest, and set before him as a Judge in that point; many were not competent Judges of their own diseases, they could not resolve it, whether they had the leprosy or no; some perceiving a scab or a sore rising upon them, thought (presently) it was the leprosy, when indeed, it was not, and so wronged themselves; Others who were indeed infected, would not be persuaded that they were, therefore the Priest's office was, to determine these cases, to bind and restrain, to loosen and let them go, as he saw cause: In which ceremonial practice, we have the shadow of this Gospel practise, in the power of remitting or retaining, of binding or of losing sin, according to the various conditions of men. Yet all this while God keepeth the great work in his own hand, he is the pardoner, and therefore Job (as the whole tenor of the Scripture rules it) made his address to him, why dost not thou pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? Secondly, From these expressions about the pardon of sin, we may learn what the pardon of sin is; Pardon of sin, is the removing or the lifting off, the passing away of sin from the sinner; that properly is pardon of sin. Scripture language is very various and copious about this thing, and yet all runs into this general; I shall instance some of them. First, Pardon is often expressed by a Metaphor from paying of a debt, 1 Joh. 2. 12. I writ unto you little Children, because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. your sins are forgiven you; the word notes, your sins are paid, your debts are satisfied; the same word the Apostle useth, Rom. 8. 32. in reference to the sufferings of Christ, God spared not his Son; He did not spare him the debt, that is, he neither forgave the whole, nor compounded with him to take half, or a part, and remit the rest; no, he made him pay all fully down. So, to be pardoned, notes the sparing of the debt, letting the debt pass, without calling us to account about it. Secondly, Pardon of sin, is the removing it out of sight (Isa. 38. 17.) Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back, saith Hezekiah, that is, thou hast put them out of thy sight. As when man is said, to cast the Word of God behind him, Psal. 50. 17. or behind his back, Neh. 9 26. The meaning is, he regards it not, at all to obey it; so when God casts the sin of man behind his back, the meaning is, he will not regard or see it all, to punish it. That phrase used by the Prophet Micah, is of the same importance, though of a deeper sense, chap. 7. 19 Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Who can live thither to fetch them up? But, may they not rise up or swim, out of themselves? Surely no; our sins are not cork or wood, but they are iron or lead, they are like stone, or like a millstone. To show how irrecoverably the Egyptians were destroyed in the red-Sea, it is said, they sank like lead in those mighty waters (Exod. 15 10.) and to show how irrecoverably Babylon shall be destroyed, the holy Ghost saith, that, Babylon shall be like a great millstone cast into the Sea by a mighty Angel (Rev. 18. 21.) The casting of a stone, iron, or lead into the sea, * Phocenses ferream mass●m in mare demerserunt, & jurarunt non prius sc in Pho●aean reversuros, quam hac massa è fundo maris emergerit, atque in summa aqua extaret, Herod. l. 1. b Montanus ex iib. Mifna cap. de phase. was anciently the Emblem of everlasting forgetfulness, or of a resolution, never to recall that which was resolved. † A learned Hebrician observes, that it was a custom among the Jews, to take those things which they abominated as filthy and unclean, and cast them into the sea; which act, noted either the purging of them, or the overwhelming them out of sight for ever: And a like usage is noted by * josephus Aeosta, l. 5. de Historia Nature & Moral. Novi orbis. a reporter of the manners of the Americans, that those barbarous people either desciphering some wicked thing upon a stone, or making a symbol or sign of it, used to throw it into a river which should carry it down into the sea, never to be remembered. Thirdly, Pardon of sin, is noted by washing and purging, to show that the filthiness of it, is removed from us, Psal. 51. 2. Fourthly, By covering, Psal. 32. 1. and by not imputing, ver. 2. Fifthly, By blotting out, Isa. 43. 25. and blotting out as a thick cloud, Isa. 44. 22. All these notions of pardon concur in this one, that sin passes away, is lifted up and taken off from the Conscience of the sinner, when it is pardoned: The sum of all which is read in that one text, Jer. 50. 20. In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none, etc. (why?) For I will pardon them, whom I reserve. So that pardoned sin, in God's account is no sin; and the pardoned sinner, is as if he had never sinned: Forgiveness destroys sin; as forgiving a debt destroys the debt, and cancelling a Bond, destroys the Bond. Thirdly observe, When sin is pardoned, the punishment of sin is pardoned. Both words signify both the punishment, and the sin; and Job having complained that he was set up as a mark, and wounded by sharp afflictions, now seeks ease in the surest and speediest way, the pardon of sin, why dost not thou pardon my transgression, etc. There are three things in sin; The inward matter, the foul evil, the stock, the root of sin, which is natural corruption dwelling in us, and flowing out by actions. Secondly, The defilement and pollution of sin: Thirdly, The guilt; when we say sin is pardoned or taken away, it is not in the former (though in pardoned persons corruption is mortified, and the actings of it abated) but in the latter, the guilt is taken away, which is the Obligation to punishment, and so the punishment is taken away too; nothing vindictive or satisfactory to the justice of God, shall ever be laid upon that soul, whose sin is pardoned: Hence Isa. 33. 24. the Prophet foreshowing, how happy a pardoned people shall be, assures them; The inhabitant shall n●● say, I am sick, the people that dwell therein, shall he forgiven their iniquity; When iniquity is forgiven, our infirmity is cured: When the soul is healed, the body shall be recovered, Both the body natural, and the body politic. Plague, and sword, and famine, and death, all these evils go away, when sin goes; Judgements are nothing else but unpardoned sins; sin unpardoned, is the root which giveth sap and life to all the Troubles which are upon man or Nation: And as sin committed, is every judgement radically, that is, there is a fitness in sin to produce and bring forth any evil upon man; so pardon of sin is every Mercy radically; when you have pardon, from thence every other particular Mercy springs; you may cut out any blessing, any comfort out of the pardon of sin; particular Mercies are but pardon of sin specificated or individuated, brought into this or that particular Mercy; of all blessings you may say, this is pardon of sin, that's pardon of sin, and t'other is pardon of sin. Forgiveness destroyeth that wherein the strength of sin lies, it destroyeth our guilt, and to us abolisheth the condemning power of the Law: in these the strength of sin lies. Hence when the people of Israel had committed that great sin in making the golden Calf, the first thing Moses did, was, to pray for the pardon of sin, and he did it with a strange kind of Rhetoric, Exod. 32. 32. Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of Gold. And now if thou wilt forgive their sin; what then Moses? There's no more said; Moses is silent in the rest, it is an imperfect speech: a pause made by holy passion, not the fullness of the Sentence. Such are often used in Scripture, as Luk. 13. 9 And if it bear fruit, what then? Our own thoughts are left to supply the event: Our translators add, well. The Greek translators supply that in Exodus, thus; If thou wilt forgive them their sin, forgive them: We may supply it with the word in Luke, If thou wilt forgive them, well. As if Moses had said, Lord forgive them, and then though they have done very ill, yet, I know it will be very well with them; God cannot withhold any mercy, where he hath granted pardon, for that with the antecedents and requisites of it, is every mercy. Moses knew what would follow well enough if they were pardoned, and what if they were not: therefore he adds; And if not, blot me I pray thee out of thy book which thou hast written: If their sins must stand upon record, Moses would not; he knew, if they were an unpardoned people, they were an undone people, all miseries would quickly break in upon, yea, overwhelm them, and he desired not to outlive the prosperity of that people. If Israel must bear their sins, they must also bear the wrath of God, and if their sin be but taken off, than his love is settled on them: God gives quails sometime, but he never gives pardons in anger. Fourthly observe, The greatest sins fall within the compass of Gods pardoning mercy. The words in the text are of the highest signification. Job speaks not in a diminutive language, he is willing to lay load upon himself; they whose hearts are upright will not stand mincing the matter, and say they have sins, but theirs are small ones, sins not grown to the stature of other men's. As the sins of a godly man, may be very great sins, so (when they are) he acknowledges that they are. I know not where to set the bounds, in regard of the nature or quantity of sin; what sin is there which a wicked man commits, but a godly man (possibly) may commit it, excepting that against the holy Ghost? These Job did, and the Saints may put to God in confession: and as he did not, so they need not be discouraged to ask pardon for them, because they are great. The grace of the Gospel is as large as any evil of sin, the Law can charge us with. The grace of the Gospel is as large as the curse of the Law; whatsoever the Law can call or show to be a sin, the Gospel can show a pardon for it; whatever the Law can bind us with, the Gospel can unloose. The Mercy-seat covered the whole Ark; The Mercy-seat noted the forgiveness of sin; and if you read the description of it (Exod. 25.) you shall find that it was exactly, to a hairs breadth, of the same dimensions with the Ark, wherein the Law was put: intimating, that there was mercy and pardon for sin, let it come out of any part of the Law laid up in that Ark. As the least sins must of necessity have a pardon, so the greatest sins are in a possibility of pardon: And the truth is, there is no sin, as it is an Anomy, a transgression of the Law, without the compass of pardon. It is not the malignity of the sin, but the malignity of the sinner, that makes it incurable; the sin against the holy Ghost is not unpardonable, because there wants mercy large enough to pardon it, but because it refuseth the mercy which should pardon it, and the medicine that should heal it. Fifthly, Observe, who it is that here presseth thus for pardon; it is Job, and was Job never pardoned till now? Or was this, (think you) the first time that ever Job prayed for pardon? Had not Job thought of this business before? Without question he had; he was one of whom God gave this testimony, that he was a just and an upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil; He that did all this, and was all this, must first be in favour with God, and yet Job cryeth out, Why dost thou not pardon my transgression? Whence observe, They whose sins are pardoned, must yet pray for the pardon of sin: Yea, they who, upon good grounds, have assurance, that their sins are pardoned, must yet pray for the pardon of their sins, 2 Sam. 12. 13. When Nathan told David, God hath put away thy sin; he assured him that he was pardoned, and doubtless the heart of David opened by Faith to let in that gracious Message; he was not faithless, but believing. Yet David in his penitential Psalm penned afterward, prays, (O how earnestly!) for pardon, again and again? That which a man is assured he hath, he may pray to have and enjoy: make it so high, which some make the grand objection against this point. Why should we pray (say they) for that which we have already: I say, a man may pray for that, which he hath already, and is assured he hath. Christ himself was assured of the love of his Father, and that his Father would stick to him for ever, and he knew God was near unto him, yet he cries (Mat. 27. 46.) My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Which Question may be resolved into this Petition, My God, my God, do not forsake me. When David had received a Message by the Prophet concerning a great temporal Mercy, the establishing of his house, that, God would settle him and his Posterity in the Throne for ever; the text saith (2 Sam. 7. 15.) he presently went in, and sat before the Lord, and there makes a most earnest Prayer; and what is it about? He prayeth that God would settle and establish his Kingdom, vers. 25, 26. And now, O Lord God, the thing which thou hast spoken concerning thy Servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said, etc. and let the house of thy Servant David be established before thee. Might not the Lord answer (according to this Objection) why dost thou trouble me about this? Did not I send thee a Message even now, that I would establish thy Kingdom? Dost thou think I have forgotten my Promise, or will be unfaithful to it? We find not David thus chidden for praying thus. Nay at v. 27. you shall see how David makes this the very ground of his prayer, Lord (saith he) thou hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house, therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee, etc. Even because thou hast revealed this unto me, that thou wilt build me an house, therefore upon this very ground I make this prayer, that thou wouldst build it. And to show, that he was full of Faith, the thing should be done, before he prayed it might be done, he adds, v. 28. Thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant. Now therefore let it please thee, to bless the house of thy servant. No man could be fuller of Assurance, or fuller of Prayer than David was. Likewise Christ knew and was assured, that his sheep, his elect people, should continue for ever, and that none should be able to take them out of his hand, yet how abundantly doth he pour forth his Spirit in prayer about these things, Joh. 17. Again, Christ was assured he should be delivered and upheld in death, Yet in the days of his flesh he offered up prayers and supplications with strong cries and tears to him that was able to save him from death, and he was heard in what he feared, Heb. 5. 7. He was not afraid of the event, whether he should hold out and prevail or no, whether he should conquer and obtain the victory or no, he doubted not the success of this war, though it were with principalities and powers; His fear was only a natural passion, which he took upon him, when he took our nature upon him. He was certain of the issue, and knew he should carry the work through against all the armies of hell, he would never have undertaken it else: yet he prayeth with strong cries, that he might be strengthened. So then, it is no argument, because a Believer knoweth his sin is pardoned, that therefore he should not pray for pardon; for many things, of which there was clear and certain evidence, that they were, or should be, have been prayed about; it is our duty, for it hath been the practice, both of Christ, and of his people to pray in such a state. Further we may Answer: Matters of Faith are of Two sorts: First, Such as are fully accomplished, acted and completed in all the parts and circumstances of them: for, and about such things, we are not to pray. No man is to pray for the Redemption of the World, for that is a thing past, and yet it is a matter of Faith: But the pardon of sin, though it be complete in itself, and a matter of Faith to us, yet it is completing and perfecting every day more and more. Pardon is given us, yet we feel not all, which pardon gives. It is a settled act on God's part, yet it is in motion on ours; that is, in a perfective motion. Therefore, though we are assured that our sins are pardoned, and shall stand pardoned for ever, yet we may pray about the pardon of them. Thirdly, Suppose a man know his sins are pardoned, yet he may pray to know it more, and that his evidences may be made yet clearer to him; for though sin cannot be more pardoned in respect of God at one time, than at another; yet in regard of man it may. He apprehends the pardon of his sin more now, than before, and may hereafter apprehend it more, than now: And it is worth the while to bestow pains in prayer for pardon, to have the pardon a little more enlightened: The degrees of any grace or favour, as well as the matter and substance of them, are worthy all our seekings and most serious inquiries at the throne of Grace. Fourthly, He that hath assurance of the pardon of sin, is to pray for the pardon of sin, because he continueth still to sin: And though it be a truth, that sin uncommitted is pardoned in the decree and purpose of God, yet we must not walk by the decrees of God, but by his commandments and rules. His decree pardons sin from all eternity; but his rule is, that we should pray for pardon every day, as we pray for the bread we eat every day, Matth. 6. 11, 12. We must not say, God hath pardoned all sin at once, therefore no matter to ask it again: or I have once had the sight of pardon, and therefore the sight of sin, shall never trouble me; seeing we are directed to search our hearts for sin, and to seek to God for pardon continually. So long as we sin it becomes us to be suitors for the pardon of sin. He that hath ceased to sin, may cease to ask the forgiveness of sin, till then, I know neither rule nor promise, that gives a dispensation for this duty. To close this point, there are two Cases wherein believers are especially to renew their suits about the pardon of sin. First, (which though it be lamentable, yet it is possible) in the case of falling into scandalous and gross sins: These not only weaken assurance, and benight the soul, but exceedingly dishonour God, and grieve the holy Ghost. This caused David to pray and cry for the pardon and purging of his sin, as freshly and as strongly, as if he had never received a pardon, or any evidence of God's love (of which yet he had great store) before that day, Ps. 51. Secondly, In times of great troubles and trials, whether personal or National, the Saints reinforce prayer about pardon: This was Jobs case, his personal afflictions occasioned him to beg the remission of sins; and not only remission for sins, then committed, but for all the sins, he had committed either before or after Conversion. Even our formerly pardoned sins, need pardon, when we lose the sight of pardon, and when the soul hath no visions, but visions of terror, it must seek visions of peace, in the freegrace of God, renewing and sealing pardon in the blood of Jesus Christ. Job having thus breathed his spirit in arguings, complaints, and prayers, moves the Lord, for a speedy end and gracious answer: otherwise he sees no way, but he must breathe back his spirit into the hands of the Lord who gave it, and lay his body in the dust, from whence it was taken. For now shall I sleep in the dust, and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be. Now shall I sleep in the dust. What he means by this sleep, hath been handled, (Chap. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propriè est cubare, hinc mortui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocantur, ut etiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 13.) where it was showed that death is called a sleep, why, and in what manner, death is a sleep. The word here translated, to sleep, signifies properly to lie down: but the sense is the same, because men lie down, when they compose and fit themselves to sleep. And the dead are called down-lyers, as well as sleepers in the Hebrew. The Septuagint reads it, now shall I go to the earth. David speaks near this language, Psal. 22. 15. Thou hast brought me to the dust of death. Observe hence, whether we are travelling, and where we must take up a lodging for our bodies, ere long. They whose heads are highest, they who lie in beds of Ivory, must lie down in a bed of earth, and rest their heads upon a pillow of dust. Most sleep in the dust, while they live, but all must sleep in the dust, when they die; Earthly men have earthly minds, and they cannot rest, but in earth, for it is their Centre. Only he who hath laid up his heart in Heaven, can comfortably think of laying down his head in the dust. Further, it is remarkable in how pleasing a notion Job speaks of death, when his life was most unpleasant to him. He complained of restless nights in the third, fourth, thirteenth, and fourteenth verses of this Chapter: yet he could think of a time, when he should lie quietly in his bed, and not have so much as a waking moment, or a distracting dream. And when he was once gone to this bed, the curtains of darkness being close drawn about him, he should open his eyes no more, till the eyelids of that eternity-morning opened, therefore he concludes; Thou shalt seek me in the morning, (sc. of time) but I shall not be. In the Hebrew, Thou shalt seek me in the morning, is but one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Si dilucula veris me, ficto verbo. word. And some cut out a latin word fit to serve it. We may English it strictly to the letter▪ If thou morning me, that is, if thou comest to seek me (as the force of this word hath been formerly given) with never so much diligence and care, I shall not be found, thou wilt not have Job alive upon the earth to bestow thy mercies upon, For I shall not be. The Hebrew is, And not I, that is, I shall not be alive, I shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non ego, subaudi sum, vel ero. Cum jam in isto not be to be had, he means a nonexistence, not, a non-essence: a being he should have, but he should not appear to be. It is as if he had said, Lord I shall not be a Subject capable of outward deliverances and bodily comforts, unless they come speedily, Lord if thou wilt give me any help, give it, for death hastens upon me, as if it hoped, to be too nimble for, or, to outrun thy succours. Mr. Broughtons' translation seems to intent another sense, pulvere decumbam? aut quid non tempesti iuè requisivisti me, ut non essem. Jun. which others of the learned Hebricians favour too. He renders the latter part of the verse thus, Whereas I lie now in the dust (referring it to his present condition; I am now lying in the dust, to be pitied of the keeper of men, so he himself expounds, Lord I lie in the dust, a pitiful object, then) Why dost thou not quickly seek me out, that I should no more be, which he interprets, I would by a quick death be rid from these pains. As if in these words Job had again renewed his former desire of death; concerning which, many things have been spoken from preceding passages of his reply, and I will not double upon them here. But I take the former reading and meaning of the words, as most proper to the coherence, & conclusion of Jobs discourse: and so they are but a repetition or re-inforcement of what he spoke at the 7, and 8. verses: There he said, O remember that my life is wind, mine eye shall no more see good, the eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more, Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. Here he speaks the same thing in some variety of words, Thou shalt seek me in the morning, and I shall not be. The severity of my sickness threatens to prevent thy earliest preparations for my relief. Thus (through the strength of Christ) some discoveries have been made about this first congress, or charge between Eliphaz and Job. But Job hath not yet done; Behold a second and a third Combatant, ready to enter the list against him; And when these three have once tried their skill and strength upon him, they all three charge him a fresh, a second time, and two of them, a third: Was ever poor soul held so hard to it, as he! How much doth the life of grace make him exceed man, when he (as a man) could scarce be reckoned among the living? Truth and grace will triumpth and prevail, notwithstanding all the disadvantages of flesh & nature. Is it not strange, that a man should not be weary with arguing, while he often professes he was wearied with living? That while he could scarce fetch his breath for pain, he should do so much work (in a manner) without a breathing. For, as the Messengers of his troubles gave him no rest; But while one was yet speaking, there came another also and said, etc. And while a second was yet speaking, a third came and said, etc. So neither did these disputants about his troubles. While Eliphaz and Job were yet speaking, Bildad answered and said, etc. While Bildad and Job were yet speaking, Zophar answered and said. What Eliphaz said, and Job answered in this first undertaking, you have heard: The opening of what Bildad had to say, and Job to answer, waits (till the Lord shall be pleased to vouchsafe it) a further opportunity. What is now (as himself hath pleased to enable his unworthy instrument) offered, waits upon him for his blessing. To him all blessing is for ever due; on him let praises ever wait, for all his blessings. Amen. FINIS. A TABLE, Directing to some special Points noted in the precedent Expositions. A ADvancement is from God, pag. 267. The difference between Gods advancing his own People and enemies, pag. 270 Afflictions. Sore afflictions indispose for duty, p. 15. Affliction often disturbs the seat of reason, p. 17. Times of affliction, special seasons for the use of our graces, p. 23. Affliction discovers our hearts, and our graces to ourselves, p. 28, 29. Afflictions good for the Saints, p. 115. They are but trials, 116. Affliction is a cleanser, how? p. 117. They are sent to humble us, ib. To bring the Saints nearer God, p. 118. Man naturally seeks the reason of his afflictions out of himself, p. 220. Every affliction hath a cause, pa. 221. It comes not by the power of any creature, ib. It is from the Lord, p. 222. It is our wisdom and our duty to seek God in times of affliction, p. 230. We are to seek him about four things in affliction, ib. It is a great ease to the soul to do so, p. 231. Affliction and happiness meet in the same person, p. 309, 310, 312. Yet every one that is afflicted is not happy, p. 313. The best of God's children, sometimes entertain afflictions unwillingly, p. 321. They sometime apprehend them as unuseful, p. 323. As disgraceful, p. 324. The least affliction ought not to be slighted, p. 324, 325. We ought highly to prise them, 326. Afflictions of others are to be throughly weighed, and wherein that consists, pag. 315. It is an addition to a man's affliction, when others are not sensible of it, pag. 416. Afflictions are heavy burdens, p. 420. They come by multitudes, 433. Afflictions are the higher services of grace, p. 487. They are measured out by the hand of God, 589. Man apt to think he needs not so many or so great Afflictions, p. 630, 631. It makes a little time seem very long to us, 643. Affliction is the magnifying of a man two ways, p. 659, 660. Why called visitations? 665. They are trials, 668, 669. They are bands, and such as man cannot break, 674. It is a great ease to an afflicted mind, to know the reason why afflictions are sent, p. 699, 703. God brings his eminentest servants to the most eminent trials by afflictions, pag. 701. Angels are the servants of God, p. 129. Their several services for the Church, 129, 130. And against the wicked, 131. Angels how chargeable with folly, p. 135. Pride and self-confidence, the sins of Angels, p. 138. Angels as creatures mutable, ib. Yet now confirmed by Christ, 139. God hath no need of Angels, p. 141. Answering, how taken in Scripture, p. 409. It is the duty of a man, to answer when he is questioned or charged with any fault, ibid. Application of general truth very necessary, p. 403. Arrows, how taken in Scripture, p. 425. Arrows of God why so called, p. 427. Afflictions like arrows in four things, ib. 428. Poisoned arrows, p. 429. Assurance, To be assured of a mercy, is better than the enjoyment of a mercy, p. 383. B Beast's, in what sense put for men in Scripture, pag. 368. Beasts of the earth, hurtful to us three ways, p. 369. Beasts how at peace with us, p. 378. Sin hath made the beasts and all creatures hurtful to man, 379. It is from special providence that the beasts hurt us not, 380. Beasts complain not without cause, p. 440. Man in passion worse than beasts, p. 628, 630. Behold, a note either of derision, or of asseveration, p. 8. Belial, wicked men, why called sons of Belial? p. 47. Blast and breath of God, what they signify in Scripture, p. 55, 56. Blessedness, three degrees of it, p. 384. Body of man compared to a house, in two respects, p. 145. Why called a house of clay? 146. How it should humble us, 147, 148. Much care of the body, is usually joined with neglect of the soul, p. 148. Bread the staff of life, p. 345. It is a precious comfort, to have bread in a promise, when we have none upon the board, p. 347. Brethren, many sorts of them, p. 497. Brethren deceitful, 499. The deceit of a brother, is double deceit, especially of a brother in the faith, ib. Burial, A comely burial is an honour and a blessing, p. 394. C CHarity, Four acts of spiritual charity, p. 8. Spiritual charity best, p. 13, 14. Charity, especially spiritual charity is open handed, p. 14. Chastning, see Afflictions. What is properly a chastning, p. 326. How we may improve this notion, that Shaddai God Almighty chastens us, p. 329. Children of wicked parents, often wrapped up in the same judgement with their parents, p. 200. Children of godly parents nearest the blessing, p. 389. Blessings upon children are the parents blessings, p. 390. Chirurgeon, Three necessary qualifications for him, either in a natural or mystical sense, p. 337. Christ confirmed the good Angels, p. 139. No stability in any estate out of Christ, ib. Christ is not only a principle, but a pattern of holiness, 175. Faith can live upon nothing but Christ, p. 487. Cloud, what, p. 613. Dying man like a cloud, ib. Commendations with a But, wound, p. 17. Committing our cause to God, what it imports, p. 228. Committing our cause to God, a great ease to the soul, 231. A caution about committing our cause to God, p. 232. Complaining, when sinful, 622. Concealing the word of God sinful, four ways of concealing it, p. 462, 463. Confession of sin: a general confession may be a sound one, p. 679. Divers ingredients of it, p. 680. The holiest have cause to confess sin, and why? p. 682. Sin not confessed, gets strength three may's, p. 683. It makes the soul very active about the remedies of sin, p. 684. Confidence, Holy confidence what it is, p. 21. Confidence in God, settles the heart in all conditions, p. 30. Conscience, the testimony of it, the best ground of willingness to die, p. 465. Correction, what it is, p. 313. The greatest afflictions upon the children of God, are but corrections, 314. How a correction differs from a judgement, ib. 315. A child of God is happy under all corrections, 316. What it is to despise corrections, opened, 319, 320 Crafty men, who they are, 273. Craft, wisdom of natural men is craft, 275. Crafty men Satan desires to get to his side and service, why? pag. 276, 277, etc. Crafty men full of hopes, 279. and industry, ib. They want power to effect what they devise, 279. It is a wonderful work of God, to stop the devices of crafty men, p. 281. In what sense any of their devices prosper, 282. How God takes the wise in their craftiness, p. 284, 287. No craft of man can stand before the wisdom of God, p. 286. Creatures, a book wherein we may learn much both of God and ourselves, 618. Creatures cannot give us any comfort without God, 633. He can make any creature helpful to us. ib. Counsel, in counselling others, we should show ourselves ready to follow the same counsel, p. 233. God turns the counsels of wicked men against themselves, p. 287. What counsel is? 290. Rash, hasty counsels are successless, pag. 292. Curse, What it is to curse, p. 190 The Saints in Scripture, rather prophesy of, then pray for curses upon the heads of wicked men, 191 No creature can stand before the curse of God. p. 196. D DAlilah, What it signifies, pag. 303. Darkness in the day time, what it signifies, p. 293. Death consumes us without noise, p. 153. Man cannot stand out the assauts of death, p. 154. We are subject to death every moment, 155. Death hastens upon us all the days we live, 156, 157. What death is? p. 162. In death all natural and civil excellencies go away, p. 162. Greatest wisdom to prepare to die well, 164. How man is said to perish for ever when he dies, 157, 158. Few of the living observe how suddenly others do, or themselves may die, 159. Thoughts of death laid to the heart, are a good medicine for an evil heart, 160. A happy death, what? 390. A godly man is a volunteer in death, 395. When a godly man dies, he hath had his fill of living, 396. In what sense a man may be said to die before his time, and in the midst of his days, 397. Assurance of a better life, carries us through all the pain of death with comfort, 457. So doth the testimony of a good conscience, 465. No evil in the death of a godly man, 480. Death the end of worldly comforts, pag. 618 Deliverance is of the Lord, pag. 341. The Lord can deliver as often as we can need deliverance, 341. God delivers his people from evil while they are in trouble, pa. 344. Despair, A godly man may think his estate desperate, p. 545. Devices, what? p. 272. Discontent at the deal of God with us, a high point of folly, 182. Discontent at the afflictions of God, afflicts more than those afflictions, p. 183. Dreams, The several sorts, and causes of them, p. 636, 637. Our dreams are ordered by God, 638. Satan makes them terrible, p. 639. E EGg, White of an egg, what it emblems, p. 443 End, two ways taken, p 599. Envy, what it is? p. 180. Fnvy a kill passion, ib. 181. Envy a sign of folly, p. 184. Error, he that is showed his error, should sit down convinced, 529. He is in a fair way to truth, who acknowledges he may err, p. 533. What is properly called an error, as distinct from heresy, 533. Upon what terms an error is to be left, p. 534 Eternity, how the longest and the shortest, p. 644. Example of God and Christ, how our rule, p. 175. Exhortation a duty, p. 229. It must be joined with reproof, ib. The best Saints on earth may need brotherly exhortations, ib. Exhortations must be managed with meekness; p. 230. Experience the mistress of truth 186. Experience works hope, pag. 305. F FAll, A threefold fall in Scripture, p. 12. Family, To order a family well, is a great point of wisdom, p. 387. A family well ordered, is usually a prosperows family, ib. Famine, A very sore judgement, the effect of it, p. 345, 346. How many ways the Lord redeems from famine, p. 347. Fatherless, who, p. 546. Such in a sad condition, 548. A grievous sin to oppress them, p. 549. Faith ought to be great, because God can do great things, p. 224. We must believe not only what we cannot see, but what we cannot understand, 248. Faith should increase in us, when God works wonders for us, p. 253, 254. Fear, Natural what, p. 92. It is natural for man to fear at the appearances of God, & why, ib. Four effects or symptoms of natural fear 93. It is a strong passion, 98. From what kind of fear God exempts his people in times of danger, p. 358. Fear, Holy fear what it is, pag. 19, 20. They who have most holy fear in times of peace. shall have most confidence in times of trouble 27. It keeps the heart and life holy 30. Fear of God ever joined with love to our brethren, p. 495. Fearful persons cannot be helpful, p. 516. Eellow-feeling of others afflictions, a duty, p. 415. It adds to a man's affliction, when others have no feeling of it, 416. We cannot be truly sensible of the afflictions of others, till we troughly weigh them, 417. He that hath not been afflicted, seldom feels the afflictions of others, ib. Fool, who, and what a fool is, p. 177. Every wicked man is a fool, 181, 186. A fool ever worst when he is at ease, p. 186. Foundation is the strength of the building, p. 149, 164. Friend, An unfaithful friend fails us most, when we have most need of him, 516. A faithful fricnd who? p. 518. Froward men who they are, pa.. 290. G GArments, testify man's perfidiousness against God, p. 498 Glory of God promoted, promotes the good of man, p. 576. God can easily destroy his enemies, showed in particulars, p. 57, 58. He can do it suddenly, 58, 59 Secretly, ib. Vnavoidably, ib. Man is not able to bear the presence of God, 95. Reasons why men tremble & fear at any greater manifestations of God's power or presence, 92. Man naturally prefers himself before God, 110. It is high presumption for the best of men to compare with God, 111. God in himself is most just and pure, 112. Holiest men compared with God, are unholy, 113. God is so just and pure in himself, that he can do no wrong to any creature, 114. Objections against this, answered, 115 etc. It cannot be ill with him, with whom God is, 119. To consider God in his greatness, is an excellent means to humble man, 236. The consideration of God's greatness, should provoke us to seek him, ib. God can do great things as easily as the smallest things, 243. God can do the same things as often as he pleases, 256. God appears sometimes as an enemy to his best friends 433, 700. When God appears an enemy, man cannot bear it, ib. 4. 34. 704. Best to turn to God for comfort in distress, p. 607 Godly, can be in no condition wherein God doth not love them, p. 193. A godly man hath help within him, when all worldly help fails, 486. A godly man hath a light within him in the greatest outward darkness, p. 488. Good done is a reproach to us, when we do the contrary evil, pag. 18. Grace, False grace fails when we have most need of it, p. 24. Our graces should be made visible in our actions, 29. Grace acts not always alike, 30, 31. how failings in grace consist with sincerity, 31. Grace must not be trusted to▪ we may make Idols out of our own graces, p. 487. Grass of the field, how man is compared to it, p. 389. Greatness of God's works, p. 240. The least works of God, have a greatness in them, because they are his, 240. A twofold greatness in the works of God, p. 242. Groping at noonday, what it imports. p. 294. H HAllelujah, what it signifies, where first used in the Scripture of the old and new Testament, p. 132. Hand of God, how said to be loosened, p. 455. If God stretch out his hand of power, all creatures are helped or destroyed by it, p. 456. Hands hanging down, what meant by them, p. 9 Weakness of the hands arises four ways, p. 10. Happiness, what it is, p. 310. Many opinions about happiness, and whence they arose, ib. Why the Hebrew word for happiness is in the plural number, p. 311. Hearing is more than a work of sense, p, 400. Heart, a judiciary hard heart is the greatest judgement on this side hell p. 121. Setting the heart upon any thing, magnifies it, 657. Setting the heart, notes four things, 661. Our duty to set our hearts upon God, 663 Heart of man full of changes, 670. Heresy, Three things concur to make a heresy, p. 533. High, God can set us high and safe, p. 269. Hirelings, who, p. 573. His eye upon his wages, more than upon his work, p. 582, 583. Holiness, better than peace in our dwellings, p. 385, 388. What the holiness of the creature is, 469. We must go to God for holiness, 471. To despise holiness, is to despise God, p. 472. Holy One, God is called the holy One in five respects, p. 467. The excellency of the holiness of God, above that in men or Angels, shown divers ways, 468. None are fit for communion with God, but holy persons, p. 472. Hope, What it is to hope, p. 22. Hope taken two ways, 304. The people of God have hope in the worst times, ib. It is no vain thing to hope in God, 305. Experience breeds hope, 305. Hope, is better to the people of God, than all their possessions, 306. Hope that troubles will end supports the heart in bearing present troubles, p. 461. Hopes deceived, trouble us more than wants, p. 511. Deceived hopes fill with shame, ib. Hope the last refuge, 601. A godly man's hope may lie prostrate, p. 602. Humble, The apprehension of God's great goodness, humbles man, p. 655 Hypocrites profession, grounded upon hope to gain by it, p. 25, 26. They cannot hold out in profession, because they want an inward principle, p. 505. Hypocrisy paints the face as well as pride, p. 266. I INnocency, or an innocent person, whence called, p. 37. A man is bound to defend his own innocency, p. 409, 410. Innumerable, a threefold sense of it, p. 255. Instruction, To instruct others, is a man's duty and his praise, p. 13. Such as know God aright, are ready to instruct others in his knowledge, ib. An honour to great men to instruct others, 14. It is easier in some cases to instruct than to learn, 18, 528. It is a shame when our actions cross our teaching, ib. Invocation of Saints confuted, p. 171. K KNowing, Three sorts of knowing men, p. 401. Knowledge, or to know, taken five ways in Scripture, p. 381. A man may know much, and yet get no good by it, p. 403. L LAbour, It is a sore affliction when we cannot enjoy our labours, p. 202. Except we labour, we have no right to eat, p. 574. we must not be displeased at our labour, ib. Laughter, what it is, p. 360. To laugh, how taken in Scripture, with the kinds of it, 361, 362. A godly man laughs at, or triumphs over all outward evils, 364. Yea, though brought at once to charge against him, p. 366. Lie, To lie taken Two ways, p. 552. A lie cannot be long hid, p. 553. Life, No strength in man can give him assurance of long life, p. 479. The life of man a warfare, 568. etc. The life of man is measured out by the will of God, 571. The decree of God concerning our lives, no ground for any to abate their care of preserving their lives, 572. Life short, 576. It is good for man that it is so, ib. Light, A double light necessary to seeing, p. 294, It is a sore judgement not to see when light shines, p. 295. Lions, their several names, p. 60. How they shadow several sorts of men, 61. How Tyrants resemble Lions, p. 62, 63. Lowness, twofold, p. 266, 268. Low, They that are lowest, are nearest exaltation, 268. It is a wonderful work of God, to set on high those that be low, p. 270. Lusts, Several lusts hast in several ages of man, p. 177. M Magnify, signifies 3 things, p. 650. God magnifies man four ways, 651. Especially by setting his heart upon man, p. 657. Man's natural constitution, makes him sensible of affliction, 482. Man's worth is out of himself, 652. God bestows many thoughts upon man, p. 654. Marvellous things what, p. 249. They are separated from man three ways, ib. Ordinary works of nature and providence are marvellous in two respects, 251. Marvels are a token of God's presence, 253. Many marvels wrought in our days, ib. Marvels should work faith in us, ib. 254. Christ will wonder at our unbelief, if we believe not, when he doth wonders, 254. Mass, a Popish conceit about the Name of it, p. 489. Memory, and to remember, what, p. 33. The Works of God are to be remembered, ibid. Mercy, A threefold mercy in God, p. 460. Mercy of God most moved towards us by telling him our misery, 609. Miracles, Signs and Marvels, how they differ, p. 250, 251. Morning, To do a thing in the morning, and every morning, what they import, p. 667, 723. Moth, How man is crushed as a moth, a threefold meaning of it, p. 152, 153. Mourners described, p. 266. Such nearest joy and exaltation, 268. Murmuring or complaining, To murmur at the deal of God, is to make ourselves juster than God, 123. complain to God, but not of God, 124. Musing men no great talkers, p. 527. N NOstril of God, what meant by it, pag. 56. Numbers, Three, six, and seven, how used in Scripture, 337, 338. Twice and thrice, three and four, six and seven, seven & eight, what they signify in Scripture, 339, 340. O OLd-age, a full old-age, what? 390, 391. A perishign old-age, & a flourishing old-age, 392. A godly man ever dies in a full age, 394. A blessing to live to Old-age, 395. Oppression, To oppress the poor and fatherless, a grievous sin, p. 549. P PAssion carries us out of ourselves, p. 556. Pardon of sin, God only can do it, p. 713. Why pardoning or remitting sin is committed to men, & in what sense, 714, 715. How pardon of sin is expressed in Scripture, 715, 716. When sin is pardoned, the punishment of sin is also pardoned, 717. Greatest sins pardonable, 718. They whose sins are pardoned, may and aught to pray for pardon, 719. In two cases prayer for pardon is especially to be renewed, p. 712. Peace with beasts, how? p. 378. When God is at peace with us, he can quickly make all Creatures at peace with us, 379. Peace a great mercy, 380, 383. Perishing, or to perish taken five ways in Scripture, p. 35, 36. How righteous persons may, or cannot perish, p. 38, etc. Persisting in evil most dangerous, p. 557. Pity what it is, p. 490, etc. It is a duty to pity the distressed, 494. Ploughing of iniquity, etc. p. 44. Ploughing referred to good actions, p. 45. Poor. Some Gods poor, and some the Devils poor, p. 297. Poor are full of desires, because full of wants, 298. Poor most subject to oppression, 301. Wicked men plot against the people of God, how poor soever, and why, 301. God delights to help the poor, 302. Poor must take heed of greedy seeking the creatures, 522. Poor that are modest in ask, should be soon supplied; 522. Prayer, Some wicked men thrust out of the prayers of God's people, p. 192. A dreadful thing to be so, 193. Prayer is the putting of our case to God; 228. They who pray much, expect much, 452. God often keeps prayer by him unanswered, 453. The return of prayer is the solace of the soul, 453. Presence of God twofold, p. 671. God can make his own presence grievous to us, 673. Preservation of man the work of God, p. 692. Man wants a preserver, and why, 693. How God is a preserver, 694. A necessity that God should be man's preserver, 695. He preserves his own people in a special manner, and why, 696. His preserving care is perpetual, 697. Pride grows in the best soil, 117. God resists the persons of the proud, and he will resist pride in his best friends, p. 118. Pride in apparel and beauty, p. 596, 597. Probability of finding, is ground enough for seeking, 507. Promises are the portion of Believers, p. 403. Providence, the common blessing of God, not dispensed without a special providence, p. 260, 261. Providence watches over all creatures, most over such as are hurtful to man p. 627. Prudence goes softly, p. 292. Punishment may come long after the sin, p. 49. It shall be proportionable to the degrees of sin, 50. It shall not exceed the desert of sin, ibid. It is often like the sin in kind, 51. The strongest sinner shall not escape punishment, 65. Punishment is gradual, 66. Reasons why the Lord suspends punishment, 69. Wicked punished by those whom they have oppressed, 204, 206. God can punish the strongest by the weakest instruments, 207. Q Quections in scripture, sometime heighten the sense, and sometime abate it, p. 649. R RAin, the benefit of it, p. 259. 260. How it is a special gift of God, 261. It is a wonderful work of God to send rain, 262. The giving of rain a motive to fruitful obedience, and a conviction of the disobedient, 263, 264. Rain of Doctrine, 523. Reason is the souls taster, pag. 562. Redemption, what it is, p. 341, 521 Remembering, what it imports, when ascribed to God, p. 602. Reproof must be sweetened with friendly insinuations, p. 6. It is no easy thing to bear a reproof, 7. in some cases we must reproove, whether men take it well or no, ibid. Returning, what it imports in Scripture, p. 554. Return, return, what it imports, 555. Reward, every man shall have a reward, p. 577. Riches, worldly men very careful to secure their riches, p. 209. Ill gotten riches cannot be secured, 210. Riches, why called strength, 213. Righteous, men so called in a sense, p. 37, 38. S SAints, what a Saint is, p. 173. It is our duty to look upon and imitate the examples of the Saints, 175. When God forsakes a man, the Saints on earth forsake him too 177. Salvation or safety is of the Lord, p. 300. Salt in our speech what, p. 442. Ministers of the Gospel, why called Salt, 449. Sanctify, how man sanctifies God, 473. Sand of the sea applied three ways in Scripture, p. 419. Satisfaction for sin cannot be made by man, p. 688. A threefold deficiency in all our works for that end, 689. Scandal, what? 546. Scourge of the tongue, vide Tongue. Sea, three things in it most considerable, p. 624. How like man in his natural condition, 628. Especially to covetous oppressors, 629 Season, every thing (even pale death) is beautiful in it, 397 Seeking implies four things, p. 227. We must seek God especially in times of affliction, 230 Sense of want carries us to lo●k for a remedy, p. 507. Shame, how caused, p. 511. Shaddai, One of the names of God what it signifies, p. 327, 328. Shadow, How taken in Scripture, p. 580. Sheol, How taken in Scripture, p. 615. Shekel, Whence so called, it's use, p. 411. Shiggaion, What it means, p. 532. Sight of the eye, much comfort comes in by it, p. 606, 607. Silence or stopping of the mouth caused two ways, p. 307. Mouths of wicked men stopped two ways, 308 Silence becomes learners, 529. Sin, the material cause of it, is in ourselves, p. 219, Sin is the meritorious cause of suffering, ib. We need no teaching to sin, 223, 224. Sin and sorrow the portion of man by nature, 224. They are contained virtually in our nature, ib. To sin is no burden to a natural man, 225. Not to sin, how taken, 386. To be kept from sin is better than all outward blessings, 384, 387. Sin the greatest evil, 388. Sin contrary to the nature of God, 472. They who are sensible of sin, will pray hard for the pardon of it, 706. Sinners expect benefit by sin, 48. Sin persisted in, shall have a sorrowful reward, 48, 49. Sleep, the ease of trouble and cares, p. 591. Bed cannot give sleep 592, 634. Smallest matters fall under providence, p. 241. Sorrow, we ought to give a reason of our sorrows, as well as of our hopes, p. 409. Great sorrow stops our speech and makes broken language, 423. Not to be able to express our sorrow is an increase of it, 424. Soul of man is the man, p. 151. Man's excellency, 161, 162. Souls being separate from the body, 603, 604. Sowing, How applied and taken in Scripture, p. 45, 46. Speaking, when the heart is full of matter, it is a hard thing not to speak, p. 7. Stones of the field, what it is to be in league with them, p. 370, 371 etc. How God turns stones into bread, and how man may be said to do so, p▪ 376. Sword, Two swords of the mouth p. 199. The hand of the Sword, Sword in the hand, what they import, p. 349. T TEaching compared to raining, or holy doctrine to rain in four respects, p. 523, 524. Teachable, a gracious spirit is teachable, and a teachable spirit is an excellent spirit, p. 528. Unteachableness more dangerous than ignorance, ib. Temptation by way of assay or trial, p. 5. Temptation, prayer and meditation, the three great exercises of a Christian, 568. Terrors, after terrors God usually sends comforts, p. 104. Terrors of God what, why so called? 430, 431. Divers sorts of terrors sent from God. 431, 435. Spiritual terrors, as spiritual joys are known to few, 436 Thoughts compared to boughs or branches of a tree, and why, pag. 80. Thoughts the flrst-borne of the soul, 81. A godly man's top-branches or highest thoughts, are about highest things. 81. God never lost any one of his thoughts, or ever shall, pag. 281 Time, The shortnesso and speed of it, p. 600. Time past irrecoverable, 601. Tongue, a scourge, and what the scourge of the tongue is, p. 351. etc. What it is to be hid from the scourge of the tongue, 354. It is most sad, when Christians scourge each other with the tongue, 356. It is a great mercy to be delivered from the scourge of the tongue, 357. The tongue discovers the iniquity of the heart, 561 Troubles afflict them most, who supposed themselves beyond trouble, p. 192. Truth is infused not borne with us, p 76. God sometime (as it were) steals a truth into the hearts of his people 76. Why he is said to do so 77. Holy truths are very pleasant to the care of a holy person. 78. Our hearts too narrow to take in or h●ld all the truths of God, 79. A godly man ●ver receives somewhat, when truth is revealed. 79. God usually humble● man, before he shows him his truth. 97. Truth deserves our most diligent search, 401 We are to search and make truth our own, before we distribute it unto others, ibid. 402. Truth may challenge credit, ibid. Truth is the portion of the Saints, 403. Truth mis-applied is very unsavoury, and may be dangerous, 449 Truth must be made known 465. It is the study if a godly man to do so, 466. Dangerous to conceal truth, ib. The strength of truth, naked truth is too hard for armed error, 537. Common truths seriously to be studied. 601 V VAnity gradual, Months of vanity, what, 585, 586. The vanity of man's life, shown four ways 644, etc. Visions and revelations feigned often by false prophets, and why, p. 72 and Heathens, 73, 74. Four sorts of visions or divine revelations observed among the Rabbins. 82. Three forts noted from Scripture, 83. Visions five ways distinguished, 85, 86. A further sort of visions. 636. Visit, To visit, what it imports, p. 385. Visitation of God three ways, 664, etc. Understanding the work of it attributed to the tongue and senses, why. p. 559. unsearchableness of God in his works two ways considered, p. 245. 246. Uprightness, what, p. 22. It makes us confident in saddest times, 28. It hath boldness, 553. and steadfastness, 554. an upright heart, the more it is searched, the better it proves. 558 Useless, to be useless is in Scripture account, to be essenceless, p. 515. W War usually accompanied with famine, and why, pag. 348. Warr a devourer. ib. Warfare The life of man is a warfare, showed in six particulars, pag. 565. &c Weavers shutle, life of man like it, 598. etc. Whale, why God sets a watch over him. 625. etc. Wicked man may flourish in great outward prosperity, 188. The patience of God glorified in the prosperity of wicked men, 188. Two other reasons why they are permitted to prosper, 189. Wicked men may flourish a great while, ib. They are under a curse while they flourish. 193. Wickedness is very laborious, p. 47. There is an art in wickedness, 48 Wife, good wife the beauty and ornament of the house, p. 385. Wind, vain winds compared to wind, 543, 544, How the life is a wind. 502. etc. Wisdom, is the stability of things 274 Wise men to whom plain things may be dark and obscure, p 296. Wit often abused by Satan, 266, etc. 〈…〉 works, p. 34. A caution about it, ib. word of God, how it may be hid, and how not. 462. Words the conceptions of the mind, as hard to keep them in as children ready for the birth, p. 7, 8. Words of the wise very powerful, 15. Right words very strong, three things in right words, 5●5, 536 Works of God are perfect works, 238. work of man put for his reward, 582 World, when we are most retired from the world, we usually have and are most fit to have communion with God, 88 worldly men would live always in the world, 644. Worldly good things not good in themselves, p. 189. They are no argument that a man who hath them is good, 190 No evidences of the fovour of God, 194. The best of worldly things loathed, if long used, spiritual things, the more used, the more desired, 310. Best of worldly things fading, 384. The world is but for this life, 610 Wound by the hand of God are often preparatoric to a cure. 332. God never makes a wound too big for his own cure. 334. And he can easily cure all the wounds which the malice of man can make, 335 Wrath, what it is, p. 178. Wrath kills three at once, 180 Y YE● and nay what they signify in 〈…〉, 51● A Table of those Scriptures, which are occasionally cleared and briefly illustrated in the foregoing EXPOSITIONS. The first Number directs to the Chapter, the second to the verse, the the third to the page of the BOOK. Genesis. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 2. 585 1. 4. 43 1. 9 22 1. 16. 242 2. 7. 604 2. 25. 274 3. 1. 273, 374 3. 3. 344 3. 22. 8 6. 5. 219 9 27. 180 11. 3. 145 11. 5. 417 14. 14. 14 16. 12. 438 17. 13. 92 17. 17. 362 18. 12. 361 18. 14. 250 18. 21. 417 22. 17. 419 25. 8. 392, 395 25. 25. 237 29. 25. 512 30. 8. 290 32. 2. 129 32. 24. 89 34. 1, 2. 43 35. 5. 430 35. 11. 328 40. 30. 708 47. 6. 212 47. 13. 17 48. 14. 560 48. 17. 248 49. 3, 4. 161 49. 9 546 Exodus. Chap. Verse. Pag. 4. 25, 26. 674 8. 18. 249 8. 22, 23. 345 12. 13, 14. 711 14. 24. 58 14. 31. 128 15. 10. 716 20. 20. 27 22. 6, 209 28. 8. 272 32. 1. 509 32. 32. 718 33. 2. 695 33. 16. 250 34. 7. 708, 713 Leviticus. Chap. Verse. Pag. 10. 3 472 13. 3, 8. 191 16. 22. 710 20. 17. 490 26. 41. 702 Numbers. Chap. Verse. Pag. 11. 20. 319 12. 6, 7, 8. 83 14. 9 205 14. 19 258 21. 8. 102 23. 21. 46 Deuteronomie. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 18 255 4. 15. 16, 102 7. 7. 663 8. 2. 669 9 14. 675 11. 8, 11, 12. 264 13. 14. 125 17. 8. 250 17. 13. 516 19 18, 125 22. 4 332 24. 15. 582 28. 67. 592 32. 2. 524 32. 13. 374 32. 21. 208 32. 31. 648 34. 7. 392 Joshua, Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 5 672 1. 8. 559 7. 19 683 21. 45. 122 23. 13. 35 23. 14. 122 Judges. Chap. Verse. Pag. 5. 2. 569 5. 28. 509 8. 21. 699 9 15. 208 6. 54. 207 10. 13. 256 10. 10, 14. 342 15. 19 439 16. 29. 504 20. 16. 386 Ruth. Chap. Verse. Pag. 3. 8. 504 1 Samuel. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 16. 621 1. 27. 305 2. 5. 338 3. 1. 85 3. 12. 238 7. 12. 375 9 9 85 14. 6. 243 16. 14. 430 20. 19 372 24. 14: 301 15. 41. 656 27. 12. 157 28. 21. 17 2 Samue. Chap. Verse. Pag. 2. 14, 26. 365 7. 15, 25, etc. 720 9 8. 655 15. 25. 232 ●6. 10, 11. 500 16. 21. 11 ●8. 3. 662 19 25. 158 19 35. 256 23. 9 44 1 Kings. Chap. Verse. Pag. 2. 8. 535 4. 29. 4●0 5. 4. 699 6. 19 5 1 Kings. Chap. Verse. Pag. 14. 12, 13. 391 17. 1. 262 18. 21. 81 19 12. 103 22. 29. 520 2 Kings. Chap. Verse. Pag. 15. 5. 545 1 Chronicles. Chap. Verse. Pag. 17. 16. 655 23. 25. 157 Ezra. Chap. Verse. Pag. 9 13. 242. 272 Nehemiah. Chap. Verse. Pag. 9 26. 716 13. 14 22. 609 Job. Chap. Verse. Pag. 9 9 152 12. 21. 673 15. 3. 543 15. 25, 26. 702 14. 14. 157 16. 2. 49 16. 13. 701 20. 17. 604 24. 25. 552 27. 16. 205 29. 6. 374 29. 14. 594 30. 2. 392 31. 8. 203 32. 14. 432 34. 3. 223 34. 15. 35 34. 14. 664 35. 6▪ 7 686▪ 687 36. 22. 524 38. 25. 263 41. 29. 365 Psalms. Psal. Verse, Pag. 2. 1. 280 2. 12. 56 4. 4. 89 4 6. 605 5. 3. 437 7. 14. 279 8. 4. 651 9 18. 133 10. 18. 30● 11. 4. 553 16. 10. 605 18. 26. 191 19 12. 531 22. 15. 489 23. 5. 203 33. 6. 257 25. 16. 174 30. 6. 7. 192 32. 1. 312 32. 2. 8 32. 9 627 34. 6. 298 34. 10. 68 35. 10. 640 37. 10. 618 37. 16. 194 37. 25. 41 37. 35. 187 37. 36. 502 37. 37. 480 38. 2. 424 39 2. 626 39 4. 164 39 5. 157 39 10, 11. 154 39 6. 647 39 13. 461 40. 9, 10. 465 41. 3. 635 44. 4. 341 45. 5. 425 46 5. 667 49 13. 20 49. 20. 35 50 17. 716 50. 21 437 51. 4. 110 51. 13. 13 52. 2. 459 55. 12. 4●9 55. 23. 397 56. 2. 212 58. 7. 426 58. 11. 239 62. 9 415 62. 10. 583, 662 64. 8. 288 64. 9, 10. 305 68 9 261 68 9, 10. 525 68 10, 30. 368 68 12. 385 68 12, 13, 14. 366 72. 17. 152 73. 12. 39 73. 14. 668 73. 22. 441 74. 11. 457 74. 19 298, 368 75. 1. 253 75. 8. 322 76. 4. 428 56. 5. 280 78. 20. 256 78. 27. 419 78. 38. 608 79. 12. 51 84. 1. 535 84. 11. 673 86. 13. 615 88 5. 545, 594 89. 39 552 90. 9 597 90. 20. 653 91. 5. 426 91. 7. 350 91. 11. 373 95. 11. 56 102. 23, 24. 397 102. 25. 393 103. 8. 56 103. 16. 157, 618 160. 15. 193 111. 2. 34 111. 4. 33 111. 7. 34 112. 7. 352 112. 10. 179 116. 3. 626 116. 6. 181 118. 22. 323 119. 59 273 119. 113. 85 125. 2. 340 126. 4. 501 127. 2, 445 127. 2. 634 127. 4. 349 130. 5. 475 131. 1. 252 133. 1. 498 136. 4, 5, 6. 251 139. 1, 2. 677 139, 8. 615 139. 23. 553 141. 3. 626 142. 2. 231 144. 4. 647 149. 6. 346 Proverbs. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 27. 99 3. 29. 44 4. 27. 45 5. 19 531 6. 11. 521 6. 18. 44 7. 22. 327 9 12. 400 12. 27. 202 13. 15. 213 14. 3. 354 14. 17. 16 17. 17. 518 17. 26. 134 18. 1. 227 18. 10. 267 18. 14. 421 19 24. 457 20. 8. 553 21. 4. 44 21. 15. 179 21. 30. 286 22. 22. 546 23. 2 478 23. 5. 648 23. 7. 420 23: 10, 11. 549 24. 10 672, 675 24. 16. 12 27. 3. 183 29. 18. 84 30. 15, 18, 21. 339 31. 10, 11. 127 31. 21. 363 31. 31. 199 Ecclesiastes. Chap. Ver. Pag. 2. 10. 202 3. 13. 202 3. 19, 20, 21. 604 7, 2, 160. 8. 8. 266 9 1 40 9 10. 158 10. 19 173 11. 8. 340 12. 1. 33, 392 12. 2. 341, 616 12. 13. 151 Canticles. Chap. Verse. Pag 7. 4. 27 Isaiah. Chap. Verse- Pag. 1. 1. 500 1. 6. 202 1. 24. 315 1. 29. 511 2. 4 349 3. 1. 345 3. 6, 7. 331 3. 9 510 5. 2. 374 5. 2, 5. 375 5. 6, 261 5. 19, 308 6. 5. 473 6. 8. 191 6. 9, ●0. 295 6. 13. 486 7. 13. 257 8. 19 103 9 6 3●8 〈…〉 〈…〉 〈…〉 10. 18. 489 10. 19 255 11. 4. 358 11. 7, 8. 9, 378 14. 18. 344 16. 14. 574 19 6. 303 20 5. 512 21. 6, 11. 668 25. 9 305 26. 9 444 26. 11. 307 26. 16. 665 27. 9 316 28. 18, 19 35● 28. 21. 252 29. 4. 103 29. 6. 205 ●0. 5. 512 30. 20. 441 30. 33. 56 3●. 4. 292 33. 9, 10. 268 33. 16. 169 33. 18, 20. 383 412 33. 21. 303, 412 33. 21, etc. 694 32. 24. 7●7 38. 2. 608 38. 3. 609 38. 11. 607 38. 12. 156, 599 38. 17. 716 38. 18. 158 40. 6. 162, 389 40. 15. 244 43. 2. 344 〈◊〉. 7▪ 23● 44. 22, 613 45. 7. 222 51. 6, 7. 153 53. 2. 188 53. 3. i0, 418 53. 5. 327, 332 53. 6. 708 530 15. 588 56. 3. 390 56. 12. 572 57 1. 35, 159 57 15. 454 57 16. 15, 482 57 19 198 58, 1. 621 58. 7. 332 59 1, 2. 220 59 6. 280 65. 11, 588 65. 17. 243 65. 22. 331 66. 24. 595 Jeremiah. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 10. 537 191 2. 5. 648 2. 25, 542 2. 34. 5●0 4 18. 47 5, 13. 54● 5. 24. 264 6. 11. 391 8. 7. 440 9 4. 518 ●2 ●2 〈◊〉 12. 2. 188 15. 1, 2. 664 17. 6. 605 18. 18. 352, 275 358 20. 9 6, 7 22. 29. 653 33. 22. 419 38. 4. 10 50. 20. 717 50. 43. 352 Lamentations. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 12. 416 2. 14. 442 3. 1. 605 3. 23. 667 Ezekiel. Chap. Verse. Pag. 7. 17. 11 13. 10. 449 16. 14. 653 18. 2. 200 23. 4. 382 34. 4. 178, 331 39 2. 338 40. 4. 662 Daniel. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 10. 585 4. 4. 187 4. 13, 14. 166 7. 15. 181 10. 3. 445 11. 33, 34, 35. 116 Hosea. Chap. Verse. Pag. 2. 6. 209 2. 14. 180 4. 4. 376 4. 8. 712 5. 10. 376 5. 12. 153 9 2. 552 11. 8 9 315 12. 1. 543 13. 9 2●0 14. 5. 187 Joel. Chap. Verse. Pag. 2. 14. 508 2. 26. 510 Amos. Chap. Ver. Pag. 1. 3. 339, 340 3. 6. 221 3. 8. 7 4 6. 37 4. 8. 261 5. 21. 641 7. 8. 711 9 1. 201 Jonah. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 17. 589 3. 9 508 Michah. Chap. Verse. Pag. 5. 5. 341 6. 6, 688 6. 15. 203 7. 19 716 7. 3. 234, 559 7▪ 9 183 7. 16▪ 307 7. 18. 713 Habakkuk. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 8. 598 3. 1. 532 3. 14. 190 3. 17. 552 Zachariah. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 8. 131 1. 15. 193. 1. 10. 537. 4. 7. 649. 8. 9, 13. 10 9 12. 304 11. 15. 178. 11. 17. 294. 14. 6▪ 102. 2. 5. 794 Malachy. Chap. Verse. Pag 3. 17. 697. Matthew. Chap. Verse. Pag. 4. 6 373. 5. 22. 676 5. 45. 263. 6. 12 714 6. 33 194, 317. 7. 22. 512. 7. 29. 538. 8. 9 568. 8. 17. 709. 11. 29. 176. 13. 21. 189. 21. 19 507. 23. 2, 3. 538. 23. 4. 224. 24. 40, 41. 345. 26. 39 711. 27. 19 637 27. 46. 720 Mark. Chap. Verse. Pag. 6. 2, 6. 253. 6. 16. 266. 9 49. 223 Luke. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 46 650. 1. 51. 268. 1. 63. 665. 6. 25. 362 6. 38. 364. 12. 19 572. 12. 20. 186. 13. 9 718. 13. 26. 605. 15. 32. 515. 17. 4. 714. 18. 8. 271. 18. 14. 107. 23. 31. 101. 24. 37. 94. John. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 5. 296. 2. 23, 24. 128. 3. 14. 708. 3. 16. 36. 5. 17. 237. 9 4. 276. 9 27. 400. 12. 19 279. 10 13. 583. 13. 7. 247. 14. 18. 302. 20. 23. 714. 21. 18. 702. Acts. Chap. Verse. Pag▪ 8. 23. 714. 13. 10. 275. 13. 22 470. 13. 46. 533. 13. 9 553. 14. 17. 295. 17. 27. 264. 28. 27. 296. Romans. 1. 18. 464. 2. 14. 140. 2. 23, 24. 539. 4. 18. 477. 5. 4. 306. 5. 6, 7. 491. 8. 32. 460, 715. 8. 35, 36. 364. 367. 9 33. 510. 11. 13. 650. 11. 33. 245. 1 Corinthians. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 25. 287. 3. 2. 561. 3. 19 285. 4. 4. 140. 7. 20. 575. 5. 1. 150. 6. 20. 521. 7. 31. 384. 8. 2. 528. 9 9 661. 9 22. 448. 10. 13. 344. 13. 9 77. 15. 32. 369. 15. 50. 96. 15. 55. 364. 2 Corinthians. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 17, 20. 514 3. 18. 471. 4. 3, 4. 295. 4. 7. 145, 475. 4. 8, 9 41. 4. 17. 660. 4. 12, 17. 316. 5. 11. 434. 5. 4. 321. 5. 21. 381. 9 6. 45. 10. 4, 5. 77, 284. 11. 14. 130. 12. 1. 86. 12. 10. 304. 13. 8. 225. Galathians. Chap. Verse. Pag. 6. 1. 6, 12. Ephesians. Chap. Verse. Pag. 2. 13. 198. 5. 15. 273. Phillipians. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 28. 521. 2. 16. 463. 3. 21. 596. Colossians. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 20. 139. 2. 15. 521. 4. 6. 449. 1 Thessalonians. Chap. Verse. Pag. 5. 20. 326. 2 Thessalonians. Chap. Verse. Pag. 2. 2. 74. 2. 3. 36. 3. 12. 574. 1 Timothy. Chap. Verse. Pag. 3. 3. 354. 3. 4, 5. 387. 4. 12. 326. 6. 16. 136. 2 Timothy. Chap. Verse. Pag. 2. 3. 459. 2. 15. 448. Titus. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1. 7. 354. 2. 15. 326. 3. 10. 533. Hebrews. Chap. Verse. Pag. 3. 11. 551. 3. 13. 229. 4. 15. 417, 418. 5. 7. 721. 6. 7, 8. 524. 10. 4. 689. 11. 8. 248. 11. 10. 149. 12. 1. 176. 12. 2. 175, 324. 12. 6 11. 12. 10. 317, 318. 12 5. 325. 12 14. 473. James. Chap. Verse. Pag. 1 2. 367. 1. 17. 645. 1. 15. 490. 1. 27. 495. 4. 14. 614 5. 17. 262. 1 Peter. Chap. Verse. Pag 1. 6. 323. 2. 22. 708. 4. 14. 364. 2 Peter. Chap. Verse. Pag 1. 4. 469. 2. 18. 544 1 John. Chap. Verse. Pag 2. 12. 715 2. 16. 180. 2. 20. 225 3. 9 225 Judas. Chap. Verse. Pag. 00. 12. 515. 00. 22. 449. 00. 22, 23. 527. 00. 16. 544. Revelation. Chap. Verse. Pag. 4. 6 368. 5. 8 9 368. 7. 6. 255. 9 12. 36. 11. 5, 10. 357. 14. 13. 47. 16. 15. 76. 18. 6. 51. 18. 21. 716. 21. 27. 48. FINIS.