Exposition of Job 38-42

JOB was last questioned about the habitation and interchanges of light and darkness: Here the Lord questions him about those two Meteors, the Snow, the Hail. As if he had said; Possibly thou wilt confess thou knowest not how to answer the former question, but perhaps, thou art better skilled in and acquainted with the matter which I shall next propose; well then, I ask again,

There is a twofold entering into any place.

First, In body.

Secondly, In mind.

The body of Job, nor of any man, never entered into the treasures here spoken of; nor could Jobs mind, nor the mind of any man enter fully into them, that is, comprehend how vast, how great they are. We had this phrase, Hast thou entered? at the 16 ^th verse of this Chapter. There the question was put about his entering into the springs of the sea, here about his entering into

The word imports any place or repository where stores of any kind are laid up and kept for use. The Poet calleth Be-hives, the Treasuries of honey; and so may Cellars be called, the Treasuries of Wine and Oil, &c. The Clouds are the Treasuries, which contain the stores or treasures of Snow and Hail. Those places out of which God is said either to bring good for the use and comfort of man, or evil for his hurt and punishment, are usually in Scripture expressed by this Word. Thus spake Moses, encouraging the people of Israel to obedience ( Deut. 28.12.) The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give thee rain unto thy land in his season, &c. And God hath his just and righteous treasures of wrath, even as men heap up and have their evil and unrighteous treasures of sin ( Deut. 32.34. Rom. 2.5.) Thus the Apostle James tells ungodly rich men ( chap. 5.3.) Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Which may be understood of their getting their treasures of riches so unrighteously in their days, as would prove a heaping together of wrath against themselves in the last days or day of the last Judgment.

Treasures of good or evil imply three things:

First, The secrecy of what is laid up.

Secondly, The safety of it, or that it is surely laid up.

Thirdly, That there is store or great quantities of it laid up. A little is not a treasure. The snow may well be called a treasure in all these respects; for 'tis secretly laid up, no man can see it; and 'tis safely laid up, none can reach or take it away; there are also vast quantities or great abundance of it. Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?

As if the Lord had said, Thou O Job, hast often seen the snow fall, and thou mayest easily perceive that it falls out of the clouds; but hast thou ascended, or can any ascend unto those airy regions, where snow is generated and laid up, as in a treasure? If not, surely then no man can ascend to heaven, and there search out or discover the mysteries and secrets of Wisdom and Justice in my works here below, unless by the wings of faith and the light of a spiritual understanding, which sits down satisfied in this conclusion, that all is wisely and justly done, which God doth, whether in heaven or earth. To bring Job to this acknowledgment, was the design and purpose of God (as hath been touched before) in all the questions propounded to him in this and the next Chapter.

What the snow is, the nature and the wonders of it, was spoken of and shown, at the sixth verse of the 37 ^th Chapter.

All that I shall further add for the opening of this question, is, that when God speaks here of the treasures of snow, we are not to understand it, as if he had great heaps of snow formally amassed up together in any place of the air, as men lay up treasures of money or corn, or of any other useful matter; but the words are an elegant Metaphor, the meaning only this, God hath abundance of snow ready at his will and dispose, at his call and command, whensoever or wheresoever he is pleased to make use of it; for 'tis as easy with God at any time to draw out and pour down abundance of snow, as if he had infinite store of it kept always by him. He no sooner speaks the word, but the face of the earth is covered, and its bosoms filled with silver showers. Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?

These treasures of hail are of the same nature with those of snow, and so to be understood as the former; but there is a difference in the form of snow and hail, though not in the matter out of which snow and hail are formed. Hail (say Naturalists) is a hot vapor, drawn up to the middle region of the air, whence falling, it is frozen in passage into lesser or greater stones or grains of ice. These hail-stones are sometimes poured down so great in quantity, and often in such great quantities, that it may well be said, there are treasures of them. And when the Lord puts this question to Job, Hast thou seen the treasures of the hail? he seems to allude to those who inspect the public treasure of any Kingdom or Common-wealth, receiving in and issuing out the revenues of it, as occasion requires, and as they are required. As if the Lord had said, Hast thou, O Job, like some great Lord Treasurer, taken a view of these stores? I know thou wilt confess thou hast not seen them with thy bodily eyes; I know also thou hast not reached them clearly with the eye of thy mind or understanding; even those treasures are greater than thou canst imagine. All that which thou hast any way seen, is less than the least part of that which thou hast not seen. Hast thou seen the treasures of the hail?

From both the parts of the verse, Note, First;

Treasures are not made up with a little. Christ saith ( Mat. 12.35.) A good man hath a good treasure in his heart, and an evil man an evil treasure there; because the one bringeth forth good things, and the other evil things out of his heart; there both good and evil persons keep their store of good and evil things, and there good men should have, and evil men always have a great deal in store. For this reason also God is said to bring the wind out of his treasures (Psal. 135.7.) He hath much wind and mighty winds at his dispose. God who hath made all things by his Word or Will, can have as much of everything as he will.

Secondly, Note;

He hath them as in a Store-house or Treasury. Pharaoh built Treasure Cities (Exod. 1.11.) or places of receipt, in which he kept either his public treasure of Gold and Silver, or his Artillery and Ammunition for War, or great quantities of Corn and Grain against a time of need. Christ saith, Every scribe which is instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven, is like unto a man that is an Housholder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things both new and old (Matth. 13.52.) that is, he is not to seek, he hath them in a readiness for use, and so is himself ready to every good word and work, when any have use of him for good. We may be sure God is never to seek, nor (as we say) out of sorts, for any kind of means or instruments to carry on his service, and to effect any purpose of his, whether in wrath against the wicked, or in favor of such as fear him.

Again, In that the Lord saith, Hast thou entered, &c. Hast thou seen, &c.

Note, Thirdly;

( Psal. 90.11.) Who knoweth the power of thine anger? I may say also, who knoweth the power of thy love? that is, it is not known, no nor knowable, what powers God can put forth either in anger or love. Eye hath not seen (saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 2.9.) nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. And as the preparations of God for them that love him, so his preparations against them that hate him, are such as no man hath so much as seen, much less entered into. If the treasures of snow and hail exceed our conceptions, what do the treasures of fire and brimstone in the bottomless pit? what is the pile of fire and much wood in Tophet, which the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone kindleth? ( Isa. 30.33.)

But some may say, why hath the Lord such vast treasures of snow and hail? what are they good for, or to what use do they serve? What the use or usefulness of the snow is, as well as the nature of it, was shown in some particulars at the sixth verse of the 37 ^th Chapter. Here God himself declares what use he hath of snow and hail, or what service he puts them to, in the next words.

As God hath made nothing in vain, so he doth not reserve or lay up anything in vain. The Lord is a God of knowledge (1 Sam. 2.3.) by him, as our actions, so his own are weighed. This verse shows one use or end of his reserving stores of snow and hail, and that an extraordinary one. The ordinary use of snow and hail is for some good or benefit to men indifferently, as the Sun shines and the rain falls, whether good or bad. The use here spoken of is only for the hurt and punishment of bad men. Some restrain the antecedent of this relative which, in the beginning of the verse, to the hail only, because no mention is made (say they) in Scripture of any hurt done by snow; but of hurt done by hail we read more than once there. Yet as ancient histories so later experiences have reported, that both men and beasts have been, not only covered, but smothered with snow, and overwhelmed by floods and great inundations, caused by the sudden melting of it. Therefore I conceive, we may take the word, which, referring unto both.

There are other renderings of the Hebrew Word by us rendered reserved, all which may center in the same sense.

First, The Vulgar Latin saith, Which I have prepared.

Secondly, The Septuagint, Which I have stored up, or which are stored up.

Thirdly, others thus, Which I have prohibited or stayed, retained, detained, or withheld; so the word is used ( Gen. 20.6.) I also withheld thee from sinning against me, said God to Abimelech. Such things as we prepare and store up for some special use we detain, stop or with-hold from all other uses, till our occasions call for that. Thus we may say here, the Lord having as it were stored up snow and hail in his great Magazine or Arcinal, he there detains and reserves them for the uses he hath appointed them unto, that is, as it followeth in the Text,

The Word in the Hebrew here translated time, notes a special season of time, that which we commonly call opportunity, rather than time in general, or as it is a space of so many hours, days or years. David (Psal. 9.9.) calls God a refuge in time of trouble; that is, the Lord marks and hits the fittest time to come in and help his out of trouble. Thus, as they who reserve things, do it till a season of using them presents itself; so God reserves the snow and h • il till he hath a season, an opportunity to use them, what that is, himself (as was said) expresseth in the Text, it is

When trouble comes, straits come, and great troubles reduce us to great straits, and compel us to say as that good King Jehoshaphat did (2 Chron. 20.) We know not what to do. The Septuagint render, The time of the enemies, that is, when I am resolved to punish or destroy my enemies. The word signifies both trouble and an enemy, and both may well be comprehended under one word, seeing no trouble is more troublesome, nor can put us to greater straits than the appearance of a powerful enemy; which was Jehosaphats case, when in a time of trouble he cried out, We know not what to do. And this notion of the word, as taken for an enemy, falls in clearly with the latter clause of the verse.

As if the Lord had said, When my enemies come forth against me, these are the Weapons, this the Ammunition, which I at any time can, and often do make use of in the day of battle and war. The word rendered battle, signifies to a • proach because in a day of battle, enemies or opposites approach one to another, and charge each other. The word rendered war, springs from a root signifying to eat, because the sword of war is a great eater, and devours the bodies of men. Now when God breaks forth in anger against obstinate sinners, his enemies, and brings any sore and destroying judgment upon them, he is said to have war with them, or to make war against them: Who would set the briars and thorns in battle against me, saith the Lord (Isa. 27.4.)

So then, Both the time of trouble and the day of battle and war spoken of in this Text, are the time and day of the Lord's wrath and vengeance declared against his implacable and incorrigible enemies: Snow and hail are treasured up and reserved against this time of trouble, against this day of battle and war.

Hence Note, First;

He reserves or stops them as, and as long as himself pleaseth. He can prohibit snow and hail and command them not to come. As they will surely come at any time, if he commands them to come, so if he commands them not to come till such or such a time, they will not come till then. The sovereignty of God is absolute over the creature. When Nebuchadnezzar's understanding returned to him, then he praised and honored him that liveth forever (Dan. 4.34.) whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and confessed ( verse. 35.) that he doth according to his will in the army of heaven; that is, the Angels, the Sun, Moon, and Stars, as also the Meteors, Snow and Hail, &c. all, or any of these, are the army of heaven, an army raised in the heavens; in this army God doth according to his Will, as well as among the inhabitants of the earth.

Secondly, Observe,

As he retaineth not his anger forever, so he restraineth it long, because he delighteth in mercy (Mic. 7.18.) As mercy moves the Lord speedily to receive repenting sinners into fav • ur, so it prevails with him to be very slow in sending judgments upon those that are impenitent. The Lord reserved or kept back the waters of the flood a hundred and twenty years from drowning the Old World; though, as they provoked and even dared him to do it every day by their presumptuous sinnings against his warnings, so he was able to do it any hour or moment of the day.

Thirdly Note,

There is a time for every purpose under the Sun ( Eccl. 3.1.) Men have times for their purposes, and so hath God (much more) for his; he hath his times for quietness and times for trouble. And as sin is the cause and source of all trouble, so when sin is ripe, trouble is ready. When men have filled up the measure of their sin, then God pouts down trouble upon them, or makes it a time of trouble, that they may taste and see, and be convinced how evil and how bitter a thing it is to sin against the Lord. The Amorites were full of iniquity, when God spake to Abraham (Gen. 15.16.) but their iniquity was not full, and therefore their time of trouble, the time when their Land spewed them out to make room for the Children of Israel, was not till a long time after.

Fourthly Note;

As he reserves his stores of vengeance for those times, so he knows those times. Wise Princes reserve stores against that evil time of war, &c. yet when that evil time will be they know not: but to God all times are known. David said ( Psal. 31.15.) My times are in thy hand, that is, my times of peace and trouble, of joy and sorrow, are at thy dispose; thou cuttest out my times, not only as to the length or shortness of them, but as to the form and condition of them. Now if the Lord disposeth and ordereth our times, what they shall be, whether troublous or prosperous, then he must needs know what times will be times of trouble.

Fifthly Note;

Judgment is but reserved, and the instruments of it, snow and hail, &c. kept up for a while. Prodigals and spend-thrifts may boast, but the date of the bond will come out, and then an arrest comes. Let sinners remember, the instruments of divine vengeance are only reserved, they are not broken nor cast away; and whosoever are found in sin, their sin (that is the punishment of their sin) sooner or later will find them out (Numb. 32.23.) As God sometimes defers to give out mercy to his faithful people, but never denies it them; so he often defers the trouble of the wicked, but never (they continuing to do wickedly) acquits them from it. The Apostle Peter prophesying of false teachers, who shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and shall bring upon themselves swift destruction (2 Pet. 2.1.) saith of them also ( v. 3.) Whose judgment now of a long time lingreth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Though all seems to be well with them at present, and h • th been so a long time, yet their misery is certain; it neither lingers nor slumbers, as to the Lord's time, though it may seem to have done both, in theirs. The wicked, how long soever they escape judgment, are not preserved from it, but only reserved to it, as followeth in the fourth and ninth verse of that Chapter. As the fallen angels are reserved in everlasting chains of darkness, (that is, in chains that will hold them fast enough forever) unto the Judgment of the Great Day, or to the Great Day of Judgment: Which intimates two things concerning the fallen Angels.

First, That their torments are not yet at the greatest, nor their sufferings at the highest.

Secondly, That their punishment is unavoidable, for they can never break nor file off those chains. (As I say the fallen Angels are said to be reserved to judgment in chains of darkness, at the sixth verse of the Epistle of Jude; so at the 13th verse of the same Epistle it is said that to seducers and false teachers (who cause many to fall) The blackness of dareness is reserved forever; they have it not, but 'tis reserved for them. Their present impunity is no assurance of their future indemnity.

From the latter part of the verse, where the time of trouble is called, The day of battle and war,

Observe, First;

Though they send not a Herald formally to defy him, yet a resolved progress in sin (let God say what he will, and do what he will) is a real defiance of him, or a bidding him do his worst. It was said of the old Giants (men of great stature) They were fighters against the God's. We may say, men of all statures, even dwarfs and pigmies for bodily stature, raise war against the great God by presumptuous sinning. Did not men make a war upon God by doing evil, God would never make war upon them, by sending evil. Men are vain when they fall into sin, but they are worse than vanity, when they stand out in sinning. Who (saith the Lord, Isa. 27.4.) would set briars and thorns against me in battle (none but a mad-man will) I would go thorough, or (as the Margin hath it) march against them, I would burn them together. Can briars and thorns abide contending with God, who is a consuming fire? If God send forth an army of his meanest and most contemptible soldiers, flies from the air, lice from the earth, even a mighty Pharaoh must call for a treaty, and beg a parly. If he command snow and hail, much more lightning and thunder out of the clouds to fight against his enemies, how soon are they overwhelmed and confounded! 'It is best therefore never to begin this war, and the next best is, speedily to sue for peace.

Secondly, Observe;

There may be trouble where there is no war, but where war is, there cannot but be trouble. War or the sword, is not only one of those four sore judgments, but the first of the four, with which God threatened Jerusalem, to the cutting off or utter destruction of man and beast ( Ezek. 14.8.) Every battle of the warrior is with c • nfused noise, and garments rolled in blood (Isa. 9.5.) Confused noises are the music of a battle, and bloody garments the bravery of it; then prize peace, pray for peace, That (as the Apostle directs, 2 Thess. 3.16.) The Lord of Peace himself would give us peace always by all means. For though that may be doubted and queried, which some have fully asserted, That the most unequal peace is to be preferred before the justest war; yet the justest war may bring, though peace and honor at last, yet in the mean time innumerable troubles and evils with it.

Thirdly, Note;

Snow is of great use, and serves much to advance the fruttfulness of the earth, and is joined with rain in that effect, ( Isa. 55.10.) As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, &c. (by the concurrent blessing of God) So, &c. Snow as well as rain is a blessing to the earth, not an affliction; yea snow is used by some as a delicacy to cool their drink in hot Countries and seasons; which use of it was first found out by that monster of men Nero, saith Pliny, who thus declaims and p • otests against his intemperance; O the prodigies of luxury! some drink snow, others ice, and so turn the punishments of the mountains (so he calls snow and ice as to present sense) into their own pleasure, or to serve their voluptuousness. Now though the snow, according to God's appointment be profitable to the earth, and is used by some men to serve their pleasures and please their sensual appetite, yet God can make a scourge of it, if he pleaseth, and destroy both our profits and pleasures by it. He can afflict us, not only with strong and stormy winds, not only with dreadful thunder and lightning, but with snow, which is soft as wool, and hail-stones, which usually children sport and play with. He hath destroyed sinners not only by lions and bears, and such like ravenous beasts, but with frogs and mice, with lice and locusts, as was touched before. There are two things which show the mighty power of God in the Creature.

First, That he can make the most devouring and destructive creatures harmless and hurtless to us. Thus he stopped the fiery furnace from so much as cinging a hair, or impressing the least smell of burning upon those three worthies ( Dan. 3.27.) He also shut the mouths of those hungry Lions, not only from tearing and totally devouring, but from touching Daniel to hurt him ( chap. 6.22.)

Secondly, That he can make the most harmless and hurtless creatures to hurt us. How powerful is God, who can crush the strongest man on earth by the weakest of his creatures! There was much of God in it, that some of his people of old, through faith, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant (being 'tis like before, of a fearful spirit) in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens (Heb. 11.33, 34.) And is there not much of God in it, when any sort of creatures weak, and inconsiderable in themselves, are armed by him to conflict with and get the victory over his strongest and proudest enemies!

Fourthly, Note;

He hath a reserve of snow and hail in his treasury against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war. As God can make a day of trouble comfortable to his servants; he can be a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land (Isa. 32.2.) All which metaphors signify one and the same thing, that Christ will be comfortable to his people either immediately or by provision of means in the most troublesome times, there intended by wind and tempest, by a dry place and a weary land. And that he had been all this to his in such a day, the same prophet assures us ( chap. 25.4.) Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. The History of the taking of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, set down by Jeremy, tells us, that he was fully heard and answered, when he p • ayed ( chap. 17.17.) Be not thou a terror to me: thou art my hope in the day of evil. Jeremy found the Lord very favorable to him, and giving him favor in the eyes of the enemy, when that evil day, the day of battle and war came upon Jerusalem. Thus sometimes God stayeth his rough wind in the day of the East-wind (Isa. 27.8.) that is, he forbeareth to show himself rough, harsh or grievous to his people, when great troubles are otherwise upon them, noted by the East-wind, which naturally is a blasting, blustering, and boisterous wind; and therefore a day of great trouble is elegantly expressed or called, a day of the East-wind. When the Psalmist had described the feigned humiliations of the people of Israel in the Wilderness, which he calls their flattering God with their lips, and lying unto him with their tongues; This was enough to provoke God to make their day of trouble terrible to them, yet (saith that Scripture) 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 (Psal. 78.38.) Though they all stirred him to wrath, yet he did not stir up all his wrath (when it was worst with them) that would have made it a terrible day indeed. This is the Lord's way with his people in an evil day.

But when it is a day of battle and war with the wicked world, or with the wicked of the world, he opens his treasures of wrath, and will let them see and feel what stores of snow and hail he hath reserved against that time. And hence it is, that such are represented in the day of the Lord, going into the clifts of the rocks and into the tops of the ragged rocks for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his Majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth (Isa. 3.21.)

Lastly, Note;

The Lord of Hosts hath such instruments of war in his Armory, as no Prince can produce nor make use of, either to offend his enemies, or to defend himself. An ancient Poet said of Theodosius the Emperor, O thou greatly beloved of God, for whom the heavens sight, and at the sound of whose trumpets the winds, the confederate winds, present their service and assistance. The Thundering Legion in the Army of Aurelius the Emperor, is famous in the Church History, and hath been mentioned before, upon other passages of this Book, together with the occasion of that honorable Title bestowed upon them in that age. The Scriptures give frequent instances of the Lord's avenging himself upon his and his people's enemies, by storms of hail. This was one of the ten grievous plagues which God sent upon Pharaoh and the Land of Egypt (Exod. 9.17, 18.) As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go; behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof, and until now. It was with hail-stones that God fought against and discomfited the Army of five confederate Kings in the days of Joshua (Josh. 10.11.) The Lord cast great stones from heaven upon them, and they died, they were more which died with the hail stones, than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. There are two things singular and extraordinary, if not miraculous in this passage of providence: First, The magnitude and weight of these hail-stones, together with the violence of their motion was such, that like bullets discharged from Canon or great Ordnance, they slew them out-right or dead on the place, upon whom they fell. Secondly, That the Israelites, being in pursuit of these Canaanites, and doubtless mixed with them (as in a barrel, where they come to handy strokes, it must needs be) that yet none of them were hurt by the hail stones, but the Canaanites only. God, who, • o show his goodness, causeth his Sun to shine and his rain to fall indifferently upon the good and upon the bad, knows how, that he may show his Justice, to cause his hail to fall distinctly upon the bad, and not upon the good. Deborah saith in her song ( Judge. 5.20.) The stars in their courses fought against Sisera. It is reported by Josephus, describing this battle, that as soon as the armies joined battle, God sent a violent shower of hail, which (say some) being naturally caused by the influences of the stars or heavenly bodies, the stars may be said to have fought in their courses, like soldiers drawn up in battalia against Sisera and his army. And thus by great thunder the Lord discomfited the host of the Philistines in the days of Samuel, (1 Sam. 7.10.) The prophet gives out several threatenings under the notion of hail ( Isa. 28.17. chap. 30.30.) and so doth that last prophesy ( Rev. 16.21.) And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent. All which places, though not taken literally and properly, but metaphorically and symbolically for great and sore judgments of one kind or other, yet are a clear proof that proper hail stones have sometimes been the instruments of God's sorest revenge upon his hardened enemies.

So then, sometimes God doth, as it were, pitch his Military Tent or R • yal Pavilion in the Air, there he seems to muster his Army, to bring forth his weapons, and from thence to confound his foes. God useth the clouds both as his shield to protect his people ( Exod. 14.19.) and as his bow to shoot at and wound the wicked. From thence ( Psal. 11.6.) He rains upon the wicked, snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup; That is, they shall have nothing else in their cup to drink but this, and of this they shall drink deep, even the very dregs, and wring them out (Psal. 75.8.) A heathen Poet called the Clouds the Armories or Arcenals of Heaven; and the Scripture, both in this Text of Job, and in several other places, besides those which have been mentioned, showeth what Ammunition, what instruments of the Lord's fierce anger and fiery indignation are stored, laid up, or reserved there against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war with the rebellious world.

Now, Forasmuch as snow and hail, &c. are at once the Lord's Host and his Arms, by which he fights against the wicked, we may take notice of these five following inferences for the help of our meditations about this matter, and to make all that hath been already held forth from these two verses, more profitable to us.

First,

If he doth but speak the word and declare his will, it is enough; The heavens, the clouds of heaven will b • ing him Armies and Arms without number. He that covers the earth a foot deep with snow, can cover all (as we say) over head and ears with it. He that pours down showers of hail, no bigger than a pease, can send it of a talent weight, as 'tis expressed, ( Rev. 16.21.) God cannot want Armies at any time, for his day of battle and war, who can make anything serve him effectively as an Army; and therefore they who being in distress see no more help in man, than David, when he said ( Psal. 142.4.) I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me (how well soever I was known to him) refuge failed me, there was no man that cared for my soul; that is, that regarded what became of me: I was left at six and sevens, to sink or swim, to shift for myself as well as I could: they, I say, who are thus distressed, having an interest in God, need not despair nor despond, seeing the Lord can charge or press any creature for our aid and help, yea can help us without the aid of any creature.

Secondly,

'It is dangerous meddling wi • h a prepared enemy. God can never be su • prised not taken unprovided. As the wicked bend their bow, and make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart (Psal. 11.2.) So the Lord hath his bow always bent, and his arrow made ready upon the string, openly to shoot at the false in heart. Though it be usually long before he takes revenge, yet 'tis not because he is unready and cannot, but because patient, and will not take it sooner. He is always able to avenge himself, not only speedily, but presently. As he will do what he hath spoken, so he can do what he will with a word speaking.

Thirdly,

No creature moves but by direction from God; and surely he will never direct them to the hurt, though often to the affliction and correction of those whom he loves. As such are in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field are at peace with them; so also are the stars of heaven, and all the meteors (snow and hail, &c. ) in the air.

Fourthly,

Every judiciary shower of hail, though it break not our heads, yet it should break our hearts. That hail which doth any hurt to the works of our hands, should work good upon our hearts. And therefore the Lord complained when his hail-stones left no more sign or impression upon his people's hearts than they did upon a rock or stone ( Hag. 2.17.) I smote you with blasting and with mildew, and with hail, in all your labors, yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord. This Scripture teacheth us two useful lessons,

First, When God smites anything that is ours, or belongs to us, he smites us. If our fields or gardens be smitten, we are smitten.

Secondly, God expects we should, and even wonders, if we do not turn upon such smitings. He looks upon them as hardened sinners, who melt not by every afflictive fall of hail from heaven. They are even resolved to be bad, who mind not being good or better, when evils fall upon either them or theirs.

Fifthly,

God had no sooner said to Israel (Amos 4.12.) Therefore, (that is, because thou hast not taken the alarm by former judgment, therefore) thus will I do unto thee, O Israel (that is, I will bring some sorer judgment upon thee than any of those already brought) but he adds, and because I will do this unto thee (unless prevented by speedy repentance) prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. As if God had said, Consider (as Christ adviseth on another occasion, Luke 14.31.) whether thou art able with thy ten thousand to meet me with my twenty thousand (all the power of man is not only less by half, as ten thousand to twenty thousand, but indeed nothing at all to the power of God) and if not, as I know thou art not, then I counsel thee, while I only tell thee I will do thus unto thee, but am yet a great way off (possibly) from coming to do it, prepare to meet me, send an Embassage of prayers and tears, and desire conditions of peace. It will be too late to call for a composition, or to think of a treaty, when the trumpets have sounded, and the battle is joined. If we get not (through Christ) our peace made before the day of battle and war in this world, I mean before temporal judgments a • e actually come upon us, and have taken hold of us, we may smart soundly before we have our peace, and pay dearly for it, before we have it: But if we prepare not to meet God, and get our peace made through Christ, before the day of battle and war in the next world, I mean before Death and the Eternal Judgment come upon us, we shall not only smart soundly and pay dearly for that wretched neglect of our season, but must perish forever, under an impossibility of having our peace made. The Day of God's battle and war with the wicked in the next world, is Eternity. Here in this world God saith to the worst of sinners, to him that is but briars and thorns ( Isa. 27.5.) Let him take hold of my strength (that is, of my Grace, or of my Son, which are my strength to save sinners) that he may make peace with me, and (I assure him his assay shall not be in vain) he shall make peace with me: I am no inexorable God, yea, I am easy to be entreated, if treated with, when, and in whom, and in such a way as I have offered myself to sinners, to be treated with for peace. But if any think to make peace with God in any other way than faith and repentance, by any other person than Christ Jesus, at any other time than the time of this life, we must receive another Gospel, before we can give them any (assurance shall I say, or) the least shadow of a hope that they shall do so.

THe Lord still proceeds by way of interrogatory with Job. In this Context he puts many questions,

First, About the Light.

Secondly, The Wind.

Thirdly, The Waters.

Fourthly, The Thunder.

Job was questioned at the 19th verse concerning the light, here the question is renewed or repeated, yet surely no needless repetition.

There are many things considerable in the light, chiefly these four:

First, The Nature of it.

Secondly, The Original or Spring of it.

Thirdly, The Communications or Effusions of it.

Fourthly, The Effects of it, or what it works.

The former two were chiefly intended in the former question at the 19th verse, namely, the Nature of the Light and the Original of it; here the Lord enquires of Job about the Communications or Effusions of light, as also about the Effects of it, which are the two latter.

As these things, both singly considered and laid together, a • e an argument of the divine power and providence, so of m • ns weakness and ignorance, who as he is not able to withstand them, so not to understand fully what they are, or how cau ed, as this question doth imply.

The word which we translate parted, signifies to put things into distinct portions. As if the Lord did give ou • several portions of light to several parts of the earth, or upon several occasions. By what way or means (saith he) is this done? There is a twofold interpretation concerning the light:

First, Some understand it of the lightning, so the Tygurine Translation, In what part doth the light of the lightning break forth? Mr Beza renders, By what way doth the fire break out? Lightning breaks out like fire. One of the ancient Rabbins calls the light here intended, A dry and hot exhalation, which (saith he) is therefore called light, or receives the name of light, because it doth easily conceive light, or take fire as tinder and touchwood; such a kind of light is the lightning. And the lightnings come often from the East, Christ assures us, while he saith ( Matth. 24.27.) As the lightning coming out of the East, and shineth even unto the West, so shall the coming of the Son of man be. Taking light to lightning, the sense is, Knowest thou how it comes to pass th • t the lightning should so forcibly break out of the cloud in a thunder-storm, and raising the East-wind, make such a hurry, such a tempestuous confusion in the air, by diverting t e course of that strong Wind, and suddenly scattering it all abroad into the several corners of the World? Knowest thou how these mighty commotions are made, unless by me, by my power and orders? Some insist much upon this Interpretation, taking the light for the lightning, of which the Lord speaks expressly afterwards, at the 35th verse of this Chapter, and of which Elihu had spoken before in the 37th Chapter.

Our Translators and many others take light here strictly for the light of the Sun, Knowest thou by what way the light is parted? either from the clouds, or from the darkness; Knowest thou how the light is parted into several Climates and Coasts of the World? This parting of the light may be considered,

First, As there is a new proportion of the light provided every day; for, as it was shown before, we never have the light two days together in the same state, but more or less, shorter or longer. The light is longer in one part of the year every day, and sho • ter in another part of the year every day. This change or parting of the light is a glorious work of God, who so divides the light according to the time of the year, that every day hath a portion, and yet no day hath the same portion.

Secondly, The light may be said to be parted by the power of God at the same time, or upon the same day, while in one Coast it is cloudy and in another clear; yea within our own view we may behold the Sun shine in one place and not in another. Some judge this the most profitable s • nse, because so there is a clearing of this Text from what went before. Nor is it an easy thing, taking this meaning of the words, to answer the question here put to Job. How the Lord parts the light in the same day and at the same time in our view, making it shine in one place and not in another. But whether we understand the Text of parting light from darkness at the Sun rising, or of parting the light at any time of the day after the Sun is risen, the matter is not of much importance. By what way is the light parted?

Having observed several things about the light ( verse. 12.) I shall only give these two brief notes from the words under hand.

The light is a most sweet, pleasant creature to behold, and the Lord takes the guidance of it into his own hand, he parts it, he proportions it out as himself pleaseth. And as this is true of aerial light, so of a better light than that which shines in the air, (though that be an excellent light) the light of the Gospel. The work of God is as wonderful, I may say, much more wonderful in parting and dividing, in distributing and proportioning the light of the Gospel, than it is in distributing and giving forth the light of the Sun. Doth he not at the same time cause that light to shine upon one place, while it is darkness in another? As he made aereal darkness to be a plague in the Land of Egypt, while it was light in Goshen, so he leaves many places under spiritual darkness, while others enjoy that blessed light, in a clear and constant shining. And as the Egyptians with all their learning, could not tell the way how God parted the light then, that it should be light in Goshen, and darkness to feeling, or darkness that might be felt in all the other parts of Egypt; so who can give a reason of that distribution of Gospel light which God makes to some parts of the world, while other parts of it sit in darkness and in the very shadow of death?

Secondly, In that the Lord puts the Q • estion to Job, Knowest thou, &c. (for we are still to repeat those words in these questions, though not expressed, Knowest thou? ) that is, thou knowest not.

Hence Note;

Those things that are clear to our sense, are often very obscure to our unde • standing. Nothing more clear to sense, than that the light is parted; yet what is more obscure than this, in what way, and how the light is parted. And as this parting of the light is marvelous, so also in the effect of it, held out in the latter part of the Verse,

Some because the relative [Which] is not expressed in the Original, take these words as a distinct question, Knowest thou by what way the light is parted? and (taking up that again) by what way he scattereth the East-wind upon the Earth? But I shall speak of these words, as intending this effect of light, the scattering the East-wind. The Hebrew Word signifies strictly the Eastern part of the World, the Sun-rising, and so the East-wind, which riseth often with the Sun, or upon which the Sun hath a great command, and may be here put synechdechically for all the Winds. Naturalists tell us that lightning (which was the first interpretation) doth raise the East-wind, or causeth it to blow; and that the light of the Sun, or the Sun-rising, hat • also an influence upon the wind, or raiseth the East-wind, is both the observation of Naturalists and an assertion which hath ground in Scripture. The Sun is by some called, the Father of the Winds, and especially of the East-wind; and the East-wind hath denominations both in the Greek and Latin Tongue (as the Margin shows) implying that it is much (as it were) under the dominion of the Sun. It is said ( Jonah 4.8.) that, The Lord at the Sun-rising commanded or prepared a vehement East-wind to blow upon the head of Jonah. As if the rising of the Sun had some power in the b • inging the East-wind; and without all doubt the East-wind (as one elegantly describes it) at that time by God's Call, fought under the banner of the Sun, and was confederate with him for the affliction of that angry Prophet Jonah. The East-wind is a vehement wind, a drying wind, a scorching wind. ( Exod. 14.21.) When the Lord lead the people of Israel through the Red Sea, it is said, He commanded a strong East wind to blow all night, and divided the Sea. The East-wind it seems, was the most proper instrument to serve the Providence of God, in dividing or scattering, and then in gathering the waters of the Sea; as here the light is said to scatter the East-wind upon the Earth. Mr. Broughton renders these words, as expressing the natural aptitude of the wind to spread itself, thus, And which way the East-wind scattereth itself over the Earth? That is, which way it will scatter, or in what Country it will blow? The winds are of a most diffusive nature, they scatter themselves, they disperse, and pass through the air with much violence and vehemence. But I shall not stay upon that. The main scope and purpose of the Lord in putting this question, being only this, To show, that as the light (take it either for the lightning, or for the light of the Sun) is in the hands of God; so also, that the wind, even the East-wind, is at his dispose too.

Hence Note;

He who commands the light, commands the winds ( Prov. 30.4.) He gathereth the winds in his fist, he comprehends them all in his hand. 'Ts a wonderful expression of the power of God, that he hath the loose winds as fast as a man hath that which he gripes in his fist, and 'tis at the opening of his hand that they pass forth. Whatever natural causes there are of the winds, we must look beyond them all, at the power of God, as the cause reigning over all other causes. Christ ( John 3.) treating with Nicodemus about that most spiritual Doctrine of Regeneration, or the New Birth, to show how free an agent the Spirit of God is in it, compares his workings to that of the Wind, of which he saith, ( verse. 8.) The wind bloweth where it listeth; which yet we are not to understand, as if the winds did blow at random, or were carried out by their own power and impression: Christ speaks of the wind there, as if it had a will, or willfulness, rather; but we are to understand it thus, The wind bloweth where it listeth, for anything man can do or say to it; let man say what he will, let man do what he can, the wind blows where it listeth. The wind is not under the control or command of any man, no not of the mightiest Prince on Earth; yet it bloweth not absolutely where itself, but where God listeth. The power and skill of all the men in the World, cannot alter o • control the wind. Some indeed have traded with Witches for winds, as if they had the command of them; yet know it is only the Lord's choosing their delusions, or his giving them up to those delusions and wickednesses, which their hearts choose, if at any time any gain a breath of win • , by trading with them. We should only look by faith, and trade with him by p • air, for the managing and disposing of the winds; it is he that scattereth the East-wind over the Earth. Knowest thou how the East-winds are scattered over the Earth, or, by what way the Lord scattereth the East-wind over the Earth?

Hence Note, Secondly,

The Lord Christ showeth man's ignorance, with respect to the way of the wind ( John 3.8.) Thou hearest the sound thereof, but thou knowest not whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth. Which we are not to understand, as if, when a man perceives the wind to blow, he did not know whence, or out of what part of the compass it comes, or towards what point it goes: We know when it comes from the East; and when it comes from thence, we know it goeth to the West; and so when it comes from the North, and goes to the South: but we know not whence it comes, and whither it goes, as to the way of it; we know not how it comes to pass, or is brought about, That's done by the sole command of the Lord, who hath the whole Creation at his beck, and whose word every creature obeys, moving and going where and when he himself gives order. It is the Lord, who by the light (or by what means seems good unto him) scattereth the East-wind (or any other wind) upon the Earth. The next Question concerns the waters.

The former Question was about the parting of the Light; here we have a Question about the Division of the Waters.

The Hebrew Word for a River, comes from this Root, and so also doth the Latin Word Pelagus, which signifieth the Sea, out of which Rivers are derived and divided into the Land. From this word also the Elder or First-born Son of Eber was called Peleg (Gen. 10.25.) and the Text gives us the reason why he was so called, For (saith Moses) in his days the Earth was divided; that is, it was distinguished into several Coasts and Countries, and by several Names, which before, lay all as it were in one Common. There have been too many hurtful divisions in the Earth, that is, of men on Earth, ever since (in another sense) and are at this day: It is sad to see the spirits, opinions, and practices of men so much divided; but it was and is useful, to have both the soil of the Earth, and the body of the Water divided. Here we have the division of the Waters.

There is a twofold division of water. We read of the former in the description of the Creation ( Gen. 1.7.) where the Lord divided the waters which were under the firmament, from the waters that were above the firmament, and it was so. The division here intended is of the waters above; the • e the Lord makes a division of the waters, and gives them their courses. The word rendered Water-courses signifies to ascend, or to be on high, because the course of the water is from above, or from on high; Water moves always from a higher place. Water naturally floweth downward; 'tis a heavy body, and cannot ascend naturally; therefore the course of the water is from above. As men make Aqueducts, Water-courses, or Conveyances for water by artificial pipes of Lead or Wood (as we see in this City) or by Channels cut in the Earth; so the Lord hath his Water-courses above, he hath his Pipes, his Channels in the Clouds. Who hath divided a Water-course

The Word signifies a great inundation, or a pouring forth of water, a Chataract. Moses describing the Deluge, saith ( Gen. 7.11.) The windows of heaven were opened. And when at any time it rains, it may be said, the Lord in some degree opens the windows of heaven. We are not to understand (as was touched before) this over-flowing of water, of the waters flowing upon the Earth, but of the waters flowing from Heaven down upon the Earth; for the Lord speaks not of Floods on Earth to destroy, but of plentiful and seasonable rain, to nourish the fruits of the Earth, as is clear from the 27th verse. Now saith the Lord, Who hath divided a Water-course for these waters? that they might not come down, as I may say, in a Full-sea, but as by or in pipes and channels, to refresh the Earth. The Lord hath his Water-works in Heaven, as men have theirs on Earth. This elegant Metaphor shadows out that certain Rule or Law of Nature which the Lord hath given those waters above, when they are commanded to slow down for the use and service of Man and Beast here below. The Lord enquires of Job for the Author of these upper Water-works, Who hath divided a Water-course for the over-flowing of Waters?

Hence Note;

As God hath divided the Earth to the Sons of men ( Acts 17.26.) as he hath determined their times, and the bounds of their habitation; so he hath also divided the waters for the Earth, the waters that are above; and he proportions them according to his own will ( Amos 4.7.) I caused it to rain upon one City, and I caused it not to rain upon another. God is so good, that usually he causeth his rain to fall upon the j • st and upon the unjust (Matth. 5.44.) But he can cause the rain to fall distinguishingly, and not promiscuously. It was the saying of a Heathen in his fourth Book, concerning the bestowing of benefits ( chap. 28.) The gods give many benefits to unthankful persons: they provided them for the good, but they fall to the share • f the bad, because it is impossible to divide them. And instancing in rain, he saith, No law can be given to the falling showers, or to the showers when they fall, that they distill not upon the lands of wicked men. Thus, what that Sc • ipture in Matthew saith, God doth out of choice to show his goodness, that this Heathen said their God's did but of necessity, because they could do no otherwise. If they sent rain upon the just, the unjust must have it too, he thought there was no avoiding of that; but this Text in Job, and many more up and down the Scripture, teach us, that God can put a law upon the showers of rain; he hath his Water-courses, and c • n direct the rain to what place and persons he will; he can command it to fall by his law, when and where, and upon whom he appoints. God retains his s • veraignty for a distinct distribution of the wate • s; though to declare his bounty and mercy, he usually makes no difference, but distributes it alike to all. The Lord is so good, that he feeds his enemies, and nourisheth a world of wicked ones, or the wicked world every day; yet he retains his Empire over the clouds still, and he divides a Water-course for the over-flowing of water; it falls by his appointment, where-ever it falls.

There are four things wherein the Lord's Empire and Sovereignty over these waters doth and may appear. The Lord orders the course of these waters,

First, When they shall fall. And,

Secondly, How long they shall fall.

Thirdly, Where, or upon what place, they shall fall. And,

Fourthly, He orders the course of these waters, in what quantity they shall fall, whether there shall be a greater or a lesser rain; as the rain was distinguished in the 37th Chapter, into the small rain and the great rain of his strength.

'It is a very spiritual duty to give God the glory of ordering these natural rains. The rain falls not by fortune or by chance, but hath its courses appointed by the Lord, as certainly as if he had it in a Conduit or Cistern, and drew out by pipes a portion for everyone. Who hath div ded a Water-course f • r the over-flowing of waters?

Here is another question, Thunder and lightning have thei • way. Some re • d, A way for the Tempest? because lightning and thunder c • mes with tempest. Othe s put it in the plural number, Or a way for the Tempests? We render fully, who hath made or divided

Who di • ects the lightning, which breaks fo • th of the Thunder-cloud with such • wift violence, to go the way it takes, and do the thing it eff cts. Lightning is very fierce and subtle: Thunder is a very violent and furious Meteor; yet the Lord hath a way for them also, as well as for the gen • lest showers of rain. The Lord can guide thunder-bol • s, and teach lightning its way. I shall not stay upon this matter here, because we had the very same expression, The way for the lightning of thunder, at the 26th Chapter, verse 2. Thither I refer the Reader:

Only consider,

First, How the Lord speaks of rain and lightning together, and so (which is won • e • full) mingles fire with water; the flashes of lightning with the over-flowings of water.

Secondly, Consider, Where the strength and stress of the question lies, and what naturally floweth from it, namely, that Thunder and Lightning go not their own way, but in the way that God appoints them. The Water moves God's way, and so doth the Wind; the Light moves God's way, and so doth the Ligh • ning and the Thunder, or the Ligh • ning of the Thunder. The Lord hath all these at mo • e command, than we have the tamest or most flow paced animals. Thunder and Lightning go to the mark God sets them. As a piece of Ordnance, or great Gun, being levelled and fired carrieth the Bullet; so those Cannons being discharged from the Clouds, carry their Bolts to a hairs breadth, and miss not.

In the two next verses the Lord shows the reason, why he thus divides a water-course for the over-flowing of waters, and a way for the Lightning of Thunder; it is,

Rain is the usual concomitant or speedy sub • equent of Lightning and Thunder; these give warning that rain is at hand. Thunder and Lightning break the Cloud, and so cause it, that is, the cloud, to rain

The Lord speaks here of a special place, to which he designs the Rain: where should that be? Surely the pastures, and tilled grounds, gardens, and vineyards, places cultivated and inhabited by men; the Lord hath Rain for them, yet not all for them, or not for them all: Here the Cargo or lading of the clouds is consigned to places uninhabited by man; He causeth it to rain on the earth where no man is. Some Parts of the earth are full of men, well inhabited; there are other parts of the earth which are uninhabited, or where no man is. This Text tells us, there is an earth where no man is. Travelers and Navigators have found some Parts of the earth which were counted uninhabitable, not only habitable, but actually inhabited by many people. Yet there may be some Parts of the earth habitable in their own nature, wherein no man dwells, or in which (as the Text speaks) no man is. Yea possibly there are some Parts of the earth uninhabitable, or wherein no man can dwell. Now is it not strange that the Lord should carry his rain to such parts of the earth, to places where no man is? where there are neither Cities, nor Towns, nor Villages, no nor the meanest Cottages, nor a man breathing on the face of that earth? or that, as the latter part of the verse speaks, (which is but an explication of the same thing) he should cause it to rain on the Wilderness, where there is no man? If we would know what the Lord intends by earth where no man is, the Text answers, The Wilderness where there is no man, or, where none of Adam dwelleth, as Mr. Broughton translates. So then this latter clause of the verse is but a repetition of the same thing, yet a repetition made not only for variety and elegancy, but also to signify the certainty of the thing, that God gives rain even to such places where no man is. There is a very elegant turn of the words in this verse. The former part saith, To cause it to rain on the earth where no man is; the latter saith, On the wilderness where there is no man. There are some wildernesses which are inhabited, and therefore God tells us distinctly what wilderness he means.

There are two sorts of wildernesses:

First, Such as are inhabited. John the Baptist went and preached in a wilderness; there were Towns and many Dwellings in that wilderness.

Secondly, There are also wildernesses uninhabited. God speaks here of a wilderness where there is no man. The Hebrew Word which signifies a Wilderness, signifieth also the Pestilence, and so some translate here, In pestilent places, or in unhealthy places, in places untilled or unmanured, because of the unhealthfulnesse of them, even in these wildernesses the Lord sends rain.

Again, Others conceive the wilderness here stands in direct opposition to Egypt, and that the Lord would intimate, that as Egypt was abundantly watered by the river Nile, they making sluices from that river (as hath been somewhere noted in this Book) to draw the water all the Country over; for Egypt is a flat Country, not a Country of Mountains or Hills. Now saith the Lord, even as Egypt by the drawing of Water-courses, is made fruitful, and abundantly supplied with moisture, though no rain falls there; so I will water the Wilderness with rain from the clouds, as well as they water Egypt, by sluices from the river Nile. Egypt grew very proud or atheistical rather, because they had such an advantage by the river; which caused one of the Ancients to say, There is never a Plow-man in Egypt will so much as look up to Heaven. They took not themselves at all beholding to God, for the fertility of their land, they had it all from Nile. Well, saith the Lord, I will moisten the very barren wilderness, it shall be satisfied with rain, even as Egypt with the waters of the river. The Desert shall be as well watered by rivers from heaven, as Egypt is by the river Nile. But whether the Lord had any respect to that or no, I dare not assert; yet it is plain, that the Lord waters the wilderness where no man is, even as well as Egypt is watered.

Now forasmuch as the rain cometh upon the wilderness, where 'tis very improb • ble to have rain, because vapors, which are the matter of rain, are raised u • ually from moist places, from the seas and rivers; but from the wilderness, and from heaths and deserts, which are dry places, how should vapors rise? yet, saith God, though there is no rain begotten there, yet I will send rain thither; I will cause the wind to rise and carry the clouds, and the thunde • shall break the clouds, and they shall pour down wate • s upon the wilderness. Did not the Lord cause the winds to d ive the clouds over wildernesses and desert places, and there to unburthen themselves, they would be altogether without rain.

Hence Note;

The clouds may deny rain to the wilderness, because the wild ness yi • lds no moisture to make clouds, yet the Lord sends rain thither.

Again, Consider the wilderness and desert places, as they are here h • ld forth, together with the providence of God concerning them;

And so Note,

It is no wonder that God should provide rain so places that a • e inhabi ed; but where no man is, there to water the ea • th, to what pu • pose is that, yet the Lord will water such places (as it were) by his own hand, and (as 'tis said, Psal. 107.35.) Turn the wilderness into standing water, and dry ground into Water-springs. Though there be no man to eat the fruit, which the rain produceth from the earth (of which the Text speaks afterward) yet God will send rain to make that land fruitful, for the beasts sake, that they may have grass and green things to feed upon. God will provide for the beasts of the earth, where there are no men to provide for them, nor to be provided for. God is a great House-keeper: He nourisheth all living creatures as well as men, as he preserves, so he feeds the beasts of the Earth, and the fishes of the Sea, as well as men ( Psal. 104.27.) These all wait upon thee (O Lord) that thou mayest give them their meat in due season; the very fishes in the Sea wait upon God for their meat, and so do fowls of the air, together with all things moving upon the face of the Earth ( Psal. 145.15.) The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them meat in due season; and that he may do so, he gives them rain in due season; He causeth it to rain on the Earth where no man is, and upon the wilderness, where there is no man. God hath beasts to provide for, where men are not, and he will not let a beast that he hath made, want food; the very worms shall have a support of life.

Hence Christ argues away all undue care and thoughtfulness in man for the succors of this life ( Matth. 6.25, 26.) Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Behold, the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them: are ye not much better than they? Surely ye are, therefore ye shall be better provided for than they. Hath God a break-fast ready for every little bird that comes chirping out of her Nest? Hath he a break-fast ready for every beast in the Wilderness that comes out of his den? and will he not much more provide for you, O ye of little faith? How encouraging an argument is this to our Faith, that the Lord will provide for all men, and especially for his own; seeing he provides for the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the earth, where there is no man to give them any food, or take any care of them!

This consideration may strengthen our dependence on God, though we are brought into a Wilderness condition, where there is no man to pity us, or give us a morsel of bread. Surely the Lord that feeds the wild beasts where there is no man, can and will provide for his own people, when the hearts of all men are shut up against them; he can make the fowls of the air and the beasts of the earth to bring them food, as the ravens did to Elijah.

Further, This is an instance of the inexhaustible treasure of the Lord's goodness: For if he giveth rain in the wilderness for the beasts of the earth, may we not thence infer, surely the Lord will take care even of those who are unworthy. What have the beasts deserved at the hand of God, that he should provide for them? Yea, the Lord doth not only give food to those that are of no desert, as the beasts, but to those that are of ill desert, he gives rain to those who are but beasts in the shape of men, men of beastly spirits. The Lord feeds the Lions and the Bears, the Tigers and the Swine of the World, that is, men like them; he causeth his rain to fall upon the just and unjust ( Matth. 5.45. ) He will rather give good to the bad, for the goods sake, than be wanting to the good, because of the wickedness of the bad; and therefore the rain comes not only upon the just, but upon the unjust too.

This is true also in a spiritual way; The Lord sends his rain upon the wilderness, he hath done so, and he hath promised to do so still; that is, he hath sent, and will send the rain of the Gospel upon the Heathen. Some Nations are a wilderness; as they live in a wilderness, so they are themselves a wilderness, a desert; and we have a promise that the Lord will cause the rain, spiritual rain, to fall upon this wilderness ( Isa. 35.1, 2.) The wilderness and the solitary places shall be glad for them (for whom? for the Church, and for the sending forth of the Gospel by them) and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellency of Carmel and of Sharon. That is, it shall be fertile and fruitful in spirituals, as those places, Lebanon, C • rmel, and Sharon (which was the glory and excellency of them) were in temporals. But how should the wilderness and solitary places attain this glory? That's shown at the sixth and seventh verses; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert; and the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. This Prophesy contains a promise of sending the Gospel, and with that the Holy Spirit (who is often compared in Scripture to water) to those who were or are in their soul-state as a dry heath, or as a barren wilderness. This prophet doth not only hold out a like promise in the same Metaphors, but explains it thus ( Isa. 44.3, 4, 5.) I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; what is meant by water and floods we may learn from the next words; I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring, and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water-courses; that is, they shall grow and flourish internally in grace and knowledge, and not only so, but they shall openly profess it and avouch it, as it followeth in the fifth verse: One shall say I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by the Name of Jacob, &c. That is, they shall give up their Names to be enrolled and registered (as our Annotators express it) in God's Church-book, or among his faithful servants. It was the saying of one of the Ancients with respect to this Allegory, To send rain upon the desert, is, to preach the word of God unto the heathens. And the Lord magnifies himself in the dispensation of this spiritual rain, when, as he sends it upon his Garden the Church, so also upon the wilderness the Heathen, that the wilderness may become a garden, and the desert a paradise, that they knowing the Lord and believing on him, may be joined to the Church. Thus also the Lord divides a water-course, to cause it to rain on the earth, where no (believing) man is; on the wilderness where there is no (good) man. The reason of his so doing, is given expressly in the next words.

Here is the reason of sending rain upon the wilderness, it is to satisfy the desolate and wast ground. Mr. Broughton renders, The wast and vast ground. The Vulgar Latin renders, The unpassable ground, or at least, that which none passes, and so being disused, lies wast and desolate. But in what sense soever 'tis desolate, or by what means soever it became desolate, the Lord sends rain to satisfy it, that is, to water it abundantly; satisfaction, is to have our fill. The very wast ground shall have enough, enough to allay the heat and drought of it, enough to make it fruitful, and enough to fructify the trees and plants that grow there, and so to feed and fatten the beasts th • t live there. The Vulgar Latin renders, That he may fill the desolate and wast ground; that which is filled, is or should be satisfied. To be full of days, in Scripture, is to be satisfied with living. A man may have lived many days, yet not be full of days; but he who is full of days (as 'tis said of some of the Patriarchs) is not hungry after more time or days in this world; therefore to be filled and satisfied, import the same thing. And to be sure they who are not satisfied when they are full, will not be satisfied when they are empty. But however it is with man, we know the earth spoken of in the Text is fully satisfied; it gapes for no more, when 'tis filled with rain. And this the Lord will send, To satisfy the desolate and wast ground.

But why is the Lord so careful to satisfy the desolate and wast ground? The ground is a senseless thing, that feels not the want of rain. I answer, The Lord doth not satisfy the ground for the grounds sake, but for their sake who live upon, and are maintained by the ground. Fruit-bearing trees and grass are maintained by the moisture and fatness of the ground; beasts are maintained by those fruits and grass: therefore the Lord satisfies the ground with rain, that it may satisfy the trees and grass, and they the beasts that live upon it. So then the Lord satisfieth the ground, that it may satisfy all sorts of vegetables growing out of the ground, and that they may satisfy all kinds of animals living upon the ground. Such a gradation we find ( Hos. 2.21, 22.) I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezrael, that is, my people. We may run up the meaning of this promise backwards, thus, When my people (whom I now call Jezrael in a way of promise, as in a way of threatening, chap. 1.4.) being pressed with hunger and famine, cry to the corn, and the wine, and the oil, for food, they shall hear them; and when the corn and wine call to the earth for moisture to feed them, that shall hear; and when the earth calls to the heavens for rain, they shall hear; and when the heavens call to God for orders to carry rain, he will hear them. It is for man's use that God makes the earth fruitful; and where there are no men, 'tis for the beasts sake, that he satisfieth the desolate and wast ground.

Hence Note, First,

He will not let the senseless ground suffer hunger and thirst overlong, that shall have food after its kind, or proper for it.

Secondly, Note;

It is satisfied. And this may be a great reproof upon the insatiableness of many men; they in this are much worse than the desolate and wast ground, that may be satisfied, that will crave no more. But whereas Solomon saith, there are four things that say not it is enough (Prov. 30.15, 16.) Of all things, the desires of man are most insatiable, and say not it is enough. It was a great word which Esau spake, I have enough my brother (Gen. 33.9.) and I fear he hath but a few brethren in that saying. Among the four things which in Solomon's ob ervation say not it is enough, the earth is one, in the place last mentioned. But mark, It is the earth, that is not filled with water. For where God is pleased to fill the earth with water, then as this Text in Job speaks, it is satisfied. He causeth it to rain on the wilderness, to satisfy the desolate and wast ground.

Further, This may also comfort us in all our wants. For doubtless the Lord who takes care to satisfy the senseless ground, will satisfy his believing people early with his mercy ( Psal. 90.14.) when they cry to him; yea he will satisfy them not only with good in this life, but with long life will he satisfy them, and show them his salvation (Psal. 91.16.) He will abundantly bless Zion's provision (What is that? The Word and Ordinances chiefly) and satisfy her poor with bread; with the bread of life especially.

Lastly, God sends rain to satisfy the desolate and wast ground.

Hence Note;

He can spare it for waste ground and wildernesses. And therefore, if he supplieth not our pastures, corn-fields, and gardens with rain, it is not because he cannot send it, or hath not enough to send, but it is to punish us for sin. God doth not withhold rain from any place, because he is sparing of his treasures, is more for laying them up than giving them out; but because he is provoked by the unthankfulness of man, for, or by his abuse of his former bounties. The Lord forbids the clouds to drop down the rain upon inhabited places, and bids them convey it to waste wildernesses, when inhabited places have not honored him for it, nor brought forth fruits of righteousness answerable to the fruits of the earth by the blessing of rain.

Thus also Christ will take the kingdom, that is, the kingdom of the Gospel, the rain of holy doctrine, from an unthankful and unfruitful people, and give it to a Nation that will bring forth the fruits of it, as he threatened the Jews ( Matth. 21.43.) and afterwards fulfilled that threatening upon them ( Acts 13.46.) Lo we turn to the Gentiles. Ye having refused and abused the offers of Christ made to you by us; we will now go with our rain to the wast and desolate ground, or to the wilderness; that is, to the Gentiles, and they will receive it, and be thankful. The scarcity of Gospel mercy which God brings upon any place, is a punishment of their barrenness under Gospel means. And have not we cause to fear at this day, that forasmuch as we are so like that earth spoken of ( Heb. 6.8.) which drinketh in the rain, yet (instead of fruit meet for his use by whom it is dressed) beareth briars and thorns; have not we cause I say to fear) that we are nigh to some curse and burning, or that the Lord will carry away the rain to Heathens, who as yet are a desolate and waste ground.

The natural effect of rain is growth, or to cause the bud of the • ender herb to bring forth. If God denies water to manured and well husbanded lands, they wither; and even desolate deserts and waste grounds flourish, when God waters them; then the bud of the tender herb springs forth.

Hence Note;

When God sends rain on desolate places, they bud and spring forth. When the rain falls, the herb flourishes; where the Sun shines, the grass grows. And surely thus it is in spirituals, spiritual causes bring forth spiritual effects; if the Lord sends the rain of the word upon desolate souls, the soul receiving it will bud, and the tender herb will bring forth. Moses (Deut. 32.1, 2.) compared his Doctrine to the small rain upon the tender herb, and to the showers upon the grass. How green are the herbs after rain, and the grass after showers! Herbs and grass bear witness to the bounty and goodness of God, in giving sweet showers of rain: Natural rain is seen in their looks, and so should spiritual in our lives. And if, where the rain of the word falleth, they that receive it, do not bud and blossom and bring forth fruit, the desolate wilderness will rise up in judgment against them, the waste grounds will condemn them. They will say, Lord, you sent rain upon us, and lo, here are our buds and our blossoms, yea, here's the fruit which we have brought forth. Will not this shame our barrenness? Hath the Lord divided the Water-course of the Gospel, and caused it to rain on us from day today, and shall not we show our buds and blossoms of holiness, our fruits of faith and repentance, that he may come into his garden, and eat of his pleasant fruits! How dreadful! Shall the waste wildernesses and desolate grounds bring forth, when the rain f • lls upon them, and shall not the Church! It is not bare professing, but fruit-bearing, which honors God ( John 15.8.) It is uncomely if so much as a leaf of profession withers ( Psal. 1.3.) But how green soever the leaves of our profession are, yea, though they should retain their greenness under the hottest and most scorching Sun of Persecution, yet what would it advantage us, if our leaves are not accompanied with good fruits.

Now, If any should ask, What mean you by good fruits? Or what fruits are good? I shall close the point in hand with an Answer to these Questions.

These good fruits considered in reference to their efficient cause, are called fruits of the spirit (Gal. 5.22.) and in reference to the matter of them, they are called fruits of righteousness (Phil. 1.11.) but in reference to the beginning or occasion of them, they are called fruits meet for repentance (Matth. 3.8.) In general, all that is good fruit, which is conformable to the Word of God; whether it be the conformity of our natures to it, in conversion; or the conformity of our ways to it, in our daily conversation.

More particularly, these good fruits are of two sorts:

First, Inward fruits, or those which we bring forth within, that is, in our hearts; these are secrets, and only known to God.

Secondly, Outward fruits, which we bring forth in our lives; these are or may be seen of men; yet they must not be brought forth, that we may be seen in doing them, but, that men seeing our good works, may glorify our Father which is in Heaven (Matth. 5.16.)

Our inward good fruits (which are indeed our choicest and most spiritual good fruits) are of three sorts.

First, Good Thoughts. To do good is best for others; but to think good, or to have many good thoughts, is the best proof, that we ourselves are good. Solomon saith ( Prov. 12.12.) The root of the righteous yieldeth fruit. The root of a righteous man is his heart, and the first-fruits of a good heart are good thoughts. He is a precious person, and hath a precious heart, that can say as holy David did ( Psal. 139.17.) How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God, how great is the sum of them! That is, the thoughts which I have of thee O God, are exceeding precious unto me; and I have many, very many of them, more than I am able to sum or reckon up.

Secondly, Good affections are good inward fruits, such are godly sorrow, joy in God, love to God, longing after God ( Psal. 27.4. Psal. 42.1, 2. Isa. 26.9.) hatred of evil; all these movings of the heart, are good and precious fruits.

Thirdly (which are the issue and result of both the former) good purposes and holy resolves to cleave fast to God, to stick (as David expresseth it, Psal. 119.31.) to his testimonies, ways, and truths, at all times, especially in times of trial; or to continue with Christ in his temptation: these are very good inward fruits ( Psal. 17.3. Dan. 1.8. Acts 11.23.)

Outward good fruits are of two sorts:

First, Good words are good fruits. The lips of the righteous feed many (Prov. 10.21.) Edifying words (Eph. 4.29.) words of exhortation to good ( Heb. 3.13.) words of reproof as to evil, ( Gal. 6.1.) words of comfort to the sad and sorrowful (1 Thess. 5.14.) all these words are good fruits.

Secondly, Good works, first, of holiness towards God, secondly, of righteousness and love towards all men, thirdly, of charity to the poor; all these are outward good fruits; and all these the Lord looks for, where-ever, or upon whomsoever he sends the rain of his word.

THe Lord having questioned Job in the former context about the course of the Rain, and the free dispensation of it, even to those places where no man is, and to the Wilderness where there is no man; here he questions him about the cause and original of the Rain, and not only of the Rain, but of the Dew, the Ice, and the Frost: So then, in these three verses we have four Questions.

First, about the Rain; and Secondly, about the Dew, in the 28 ^th verse: Thirdly, about the Ice; and Fourthly, about the Frost, in the 29 ^th verse; together with the marvelous force and effects of it, verse. 30.

The Inquiry is, who is the Father of the Rain? that is, who is the Author? what is the cause of it? Not as if the cau • e of that or of the other Meteors here mentioned could not at all be known; but to show,

First, That much of them all is unknown. There are many things in this lower Sphere beyond man's Sphere; even these are not propagated altogether according to our understanding or apprehensions of them.

Secondly, To show that he must be plentifully stored with all sorts of good, who as a Father begets, and as a Mother brings forth such useful and necessary things, for the preservation of living Creatures.

Thirdly, To show that these creatures are not produced by causes which are constant and invariable in nature, but proceed from and daily depend upon the power and will of God, who sometimes checks and stops the course of Nature, and at other times impregnates it for the production of these effects, or brings them forth by the Midwifery and help of second causes.

Fourthly, When the Lord propounds the Question under this Relation of a Father, he would show or teach us that he gives Rain, and Dew to the earth, as a father gives food and other requisites to his children.

Further, This seems to be the design of God in putting these Questions to Job, that forasmuch as he could not fully comprehend the causation and production of these things, much less was able to cause or produce them himself, but must receive them from the power and according to the dispose and providence of God; therefore he should refer all his concernments to the same Providence, and so rest satisfied whether God sent him a sweet and refreshing Rain and Dew, or a grievous and afflictive season of Ice and F • ost.

Thus we may conceive the general scope of this Context. Now to the particulars.

The question may be resolved both negatively and affirmatively: First, Negatively; the Rain hath no Father, that is, on earth, or among men. There is no creature power that can produce a drop of Rain. Secondly, affi • matively: Hath the Rain a father? Yes, it hath; God is the Father of the Rain. The Rain is not fatherless; there is one who will own the Rain as his child, or issue. The causation of Rain is a great secret in nature, a secret about which though wise and learned men have discoursed much, and given out much light about it, yet they have not reached the utmost, nor attained the full knowledge of it; and the reason of that is, because the Rain hath a Father whose ways and workings as in the first constitution of Nature, so in the daily motions of it, exceed our knowledge.

Hath the Rain a father? Not on earth. Nor are the Heavens the Father of the Rain; the God of Heaven is. As not a shower, no nor a drop of Rain falls on the earth at the will or by the power of man; so not by the power of the Sun drawing up the vapors and dissolving the Clouds, nor by the Winds scattering the Clouds. The Sun may shine, the Moon may change, the Winds may blow and turn long enough, yet no Rain till the Lord gives the Word. Some (and that not improperly) have called the Sun The father of the Rain. The Sun draws up those vapors from the earth into the Air, which are the matter of Rain, and there those vapors are condensed into Clouds, and afterwards rarified and dissolved into Rain; yet these natural causes produce these effects only as God sets them on work, and he can suspend their working as often as he will. And therefore the simple and plain meaning of this question is, the Rain owes its original to God, and must call him father: And that's the observation which riseth out of this question, Hath the Rain a Father?

Without him it had never been; and that it is continued is by his power and providence; that the frame of nature is so disposed, that second causes are so ordered and furnished as to produce Rain, proceeds from or comes to pass by the Lord alone. The Prophet spake this in a time of great drought ( Jer. 14.22.) both in the negative and in the affirmative; and he proposed two questions, or the question twice, intending the negative. First, Are there any among the Vanities of the Gentiles that can cause Rain? (By the vanities of the Gentiles we are to understand their Idol gods. Idols are vanities, or nothings; and can they who are nothing do this great thing, give Rain? That's the first question, Can Idols cause Rain, surely they cannot: But will it not rain of course? will not the Heavens one time or other yield Rain? That's the second Question) Can the Heavens give showers? No, As Idols, or false gods, cannot give Rain, so neither can the Heavens, if forbidden, give Rain; they act not their power in their own power. The Heavens cannot give Rain, if God gives them a command to the contrary; and the God of Nature can check and counterm • nd the course of Nature, both on earth, and in the Heavens, when he will. Though those bottles the Clouds be never so pregnant and full of Rain, yet he can stop them. So then, neither the Idols, nor the Heavens can do it, if God say No; yea, if he give not forth a word of command, if he bids not the course of Nature proceed, the Heavens over our heads will be Brass, and the ea • th under us as Iron; and therefore the Prophet in the latter part of the verse tells us expressly, who is the Father of the Rain, Art not thou he, O Lord our God? 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 Therefore will we wait upon thee; for thou hast made all these things. As if he had said, O Lord, thou hast made them; and therefore thou hast both the right and the power to dispose of them. What can be said more clear and full for the confirmation of this point? Many other Scriptures say the same thing. Read Deut. 28.12. Psal. 147.8. Jer. 5.24. Amos 4.7.

So then, though there are natural causes of Rain, yet God is the first cause, and it is at his pleasure that these natural causes either p • oduce their effects, or are stayed from p • oducing them. It Rains not by accident, nor by any concatenation of second causes, but according to the appoyntments and pleasure of the great God. 'It is no small part of our duty to eye God in causing these common things; and 'tis a great piece of Atheism, or a disowning of God, to tie them up to natural causes.

Now, If God be the Father of the Rain, we may hence infer,

First, That God is the Father of all Creatures, and the supreme cause of all effects in the creatures. As a Father is the second or instrumental cause of his Sons Being, so God is the supreme efficient cause of all Beings and Entities. Not only Animals and Rationals, but the very inanimates and senseless creatures are of a Divine extraction: God is the Fountain of their Being. And if God be, and must be acknowledged as the Father of all Creatures, even of the Rain, then,

Secondly, God is much more the Father of Mankind. The Apostle voucheth that to the superstitious Athenians as a Divine truth, out of their own Authors ( Acts 17.28.) As certain also of your own Poets have said, for we are also his off spring; we are sprung from him as Branches from the Root, or as Streams from the Fountain: Not that we are, as the Streams with the Fountain, or the Branches with the Roo • , of the same Nature with him, (which to imagine were highest Blasphemy) but we take or receive our Nature from him, that is, he hath made us to be what we are, and in him, that is, in dependence upon him, we live and move, and have our Being.

Thirdly, If God own himself as a Father to all things, and to all men, in a general way of Nature, then much more doth he own himself a Father to all his people in a way of grace. What the Apostle saith of his Title Savior (1 Tim. 4.10.) He is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe; so I may say of this Relation Fat • er, God is the Father of all men, but especially of those that believe. The fatherhood which stands in g • ace is the highest and most excellent fatherhood which God beareth to any of his Creatures: As to this • he Apostle ( Jam. 1.18.) saith, Of his own will begat he us by the Word of Truth; that we should be a kind of first fruits of his Creatures; that is, as I conceive, that believers (they only are begotten with the word of truth) considered with all other creatures, to whom God is a Father in a common way, should have the honor to be called the chief of his creatures. The first f • uits were chief among the fruits of the earth. The first born both of man and of beast were the Lord's portion ( Exod. 13.1.) therefore chief. This honor have all the Saints; the Birth-right is theirs, and theirs is the Blessing: They, as all holy things, are dedicated to God, and graciously accepted with him, as a chosen Generation, as a peculiar people. He who is Lord over all, and Father of all, both things and persons, as they stand in the whole compass of Nature, is eminently and with endeared affections, a Father to all them who believe and are actually in a state of grace.

Fourthly, If God be a Father to all creatures, and to man more than to inferior creatures, and to true Believers more than to other men; then as his fatherhood is extended, so is his fatherly care. God will not be wanting to any as a Father, to whom he is upon any account a Father. He takes care of the fruits of the earth, and of the beast of the field, and of all mankind, he feeds them all, and clothes them all, and protects them all; but they who are a kind of first-fruits of his creatures, and bears the image of his holiness, or his Image in holiness, have a special portion and proportion of his care over them, and love to them, and provision for them. What can he deny to us as a Father, who hath vouchsafed to be our father? Hath the Rain a father?

This latter part of the verse is of the same meaning with the former. The word which we translate hath begotten, is appliable to either Parent, man or woman, in a different Conjugation, as Grammarians speak: but in the Conjugation here used it is proper only to the man; and therefore they who translate who hath conceived, wrest this Text, and depart from the Original sense of the word as here expressed, in which the Metaphor of, or the Allusion to a Father is still continued. Who hath begotten

The Lord doth not ask who hath begotten the Dew, but the drops of Dew? Drops are very small things; yet the great God who made the mighty waters of the Sea, makes also the small drops of Dew. Some derive the Original word which we render drops, from a Root that signifies a flood, as implying, that though the Dew falleth in single drops, yet being fallen there is much of it, even a flood of it. Others deriving the word from, at least, judging it hath near alliance with a word signifying a drinking Cup, or a Vial, render, who hath begotten the Cups or Vials of Dew?

We heard of the Dew at the 19 ^th verse of the 29 ^th Chapter, where Job (to set forth the prosperity of his former condition) said, The Dew lay all night upon my branches. Vapours drawn up from the earth in the day by the heat of the Sun, are returned in Dew by the moderate coolness and stillness of the night. The remote efficient cause of Dew is the heat of Heaven raising vapors from the earth. The next efficient cause of Dew is the temperate coolness and quietness of the night; for if the night be windy the Dew falls not; and if the night be very cold, the vapors are congealed and hardened into a frost. 'It is only in temperate seasons, that we find those d • ops of Dew hanging like so many Orient Pearls upon the grass, leaves and Flowers, at once adorning and refreshing them. We may take notice of two things in the falling of the Dew.

First, It falls very silently; Secondly, very abundantly. No man hears the Dew fall, nor can any number the drops of Dew which fall. Hushai used both these allusions, in that piece of loyal counsel which he gave for the defeating of the counsel of Achitophel (2 Sam. 11.12.) where he advised Absalom, te gather all Israel from Dan to Beersheba, as the sand which is by the sea for multitude; and so, saith he, we will light upon him as the Dew falleth upon the ground; that is, we will come so silently upon him, and in such numbers (even as the drops of Dew upon the ground) that he shall not be able to avoid us, no more than he can avoid the Dew, which in one and the same instant falls upon the field or Country all over. An Army comes with an intent to fall upon the enemy like a storm, yet it may be said to come and fall upon him like a Dew, both because it comes always like a multitude, and because it comes sometimes very silently to surprise him at unawares. Who hath begotten the drops of Dew?

The Dew differs not much from the Rain; both are of the same nature, and they have the same Father, and he will be owned in the Dew as well as in the Rain. The Prophet Haggai reproving the returned Jews (Chap. 1.10.) for their neglect in not building the Lord's House, represents the Lord thus speaking to them; Because of my house that is wast, and ye run every man to his own house; that is, you eagerly and violently (running is a violent exercise) pursue your private ends and interests, not minding nor promoting my honor and worship; Therefore the Heaven over you is stayed from Dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. The want of Dew makes many wants. If we want but the Dew of Heaven we shall quickly want the fruits of the Earth. We usually take notice of the want of Rain, but we seldom take notice of the want of Dew, or pray for the falling of it; nor do we give thanks for it (as for Rain) when we see it fallen, and sweetly filling the bosom of the earth. Yet the with-holding of Dew (though Dew be a less matt • r than Rain) is a greater Judgment than the with-holding of Rain; for 'tis a sign that the Judgment of drought is at the height, or in the perfection of it, when the Lord doth not only with hold the Rain which is the greater mercy, but the Dew too, which is the lesser. O how dry must the earth be when it hath not only no plentiful showers of Rain, but not so much as a drop of Dew! And therefore when the Prophet Elijah would show the extremity of the Famine which was coming upon Israel, he made that high protest (1 Kings 1.17.) As the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand, there shall not be Dew nor Rain these years, but according to my word. Not only shall ye have no Rain, but no Dew; and when the Heaven is stayed from giving Rain or Dew, the Earth must needs be stayed from yielding fruit or food. And so great is the Lord's care in disposing the Dew of Heaven, that Solomon tells us ( Prov. 3.20.) By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the Clouds drop down Dew. As if he had said, The Dew doth not steal down upon the earth without God's knowledge; not a drop of it destils upon the earth without his orders and privity. And when 'tis said, By his knowledge the Clouds drop down Dew, it hath this in it; God knows what moisture is meet for the earth, whether little or much, Dew or Rain; though I conceive we may take the word Dew in this Text of the Proverbs synechdochically, for any, or all, the moisture that falls from Heaven, as by the breaking up of the depths in the former part of the verse, we are to understand all the moisture which riseth from, and is conveyed up and down in the lesser or greater Channels of the ea • th. The Lord doth so much know how useful and beneficial the Dew is to the Earth, that it is said to drop down by his knowledge; as if the Lord did exercise a very special knowledge about it. The Clouds are God's Vessels, which being locked up by him, keep in their precious liquo • , and being opened by him, pour it down in Rain, drop and destil it down in Dew, whereof ( Solomon in the place last cited) assureth us, there is not a drop that falleth but he takes notice of it, and therefore saith, by his knowle • ge the Clouds drop down Dew: And indeed such and so wonderful is the destillation of the Dew, that it may well be said to drop even through his divine fingers.

The Dew is very useful and beneficial to the earth two ways or in two things chiefly.

First, I • moystens the earth: Secondly, It cools the earth. When Isaac was giving the blessing to Jacob, he put this in particularly ( Gen. 27.28.) God give thee of the Dew of Heaven, & the fatness of the earth, and plenty of Corn and Wine; implying that the fatness of the earth causing plenty of Corn and Wine, is caused by the Dew of Heaven. Answerable to this blessing given by Isaac to his son Jacob, is that promise or prophesy given out by Moses (Deut. 33.28.) The Fountain of Jacob shall be upon a Land of Corn and W • ne; also his Heavens shall drop down Dew. By the Fountain of Jacob some understand the posterity of Jacob, or the whole house of Israel spread ab • oad like the overflowing of a Fountain, to which David seems to allude ( Psal. 68.26.) Bless ye God in the Congregations, even the Lord from the Fountain of Israel, or (as the words may be rendered) Ye that are of the Fountain of Israel. Now, saith Moses, in that Prophesy, The Fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; that is, upon a plentiful land: also his heavens shall drop down Dew; that is, he shall have the best blessings of heaven: Temporal blessings (as Canaan was of heaven) being but a shadow of spiritual and eternal blessings. And when the Lord would show how plenteous in mercy (chiefly in spiritual mercies) he would be to his people, he saith ( Hosea 14.5, 6.) I will be as a Dew unto Israel, and he shall grow as the Lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon; his branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the Olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. Thus the Lord spake by the Prophet, in allusion to those great effects which the natural Dew produceth on Earth. Solomon having said ( Prov. 19.12.) that, the (just and deserved) wrath of a King is like the roaring of a lion, presently adds, but his favor is as the Dew upon the grass; that is, he exceedingly comforts and refresheth the hearts of all upon whom his favor falls. And when the Prophet Micah, (chap. 5.7.) would show how great a blessing the people of God would be to any place where they were cast, he saith, The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people (how?) as Dew from the Lord, and as showers upon the grass. By the remnant of Jacob, he means the chosen and faithful remainder of Jacob after many scatterings and trials; those few of the people of God in the midst of the world wheresoever they are, shall be as Dew upon the g ass; that is, they shall be a great blessing to them. The woe • ld will scarce let that remnant be anywhere, in some places of the world there are scarce any of them, yet see of what benefit they are to any place, They are as Dew from the Lord. The Apostle useth such an expression concerning himself and other faithful Ministers of the Gospel (2 Cor. 2.15.) We are unto God a sweet favor of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish; that is, we are a means of salvation and eternal life to them that are saved, and we offer eternal life and salvation to them that perish. So saith the Prophet concerning all the remnant of Jacob, they shall be in the midst of many people as a dew upon the grass, that waiteth not for man, nor tarrieth for the son of man; they shall be as a Dew from the Lord; that is, there shall be a great multitude of them, and they shall be as a Dew, that is, they shall distill sweetly upon those many people as a Dew from the Lord, and as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. The grass in the field is not watered by man, as herbs and flowers in a garden are, and therefore may be said not to tarry, nor to depend upon man, nor upon the sons of men, but upon God for the Dew and Showers of heaven to water it. Thus those many people shall have help and sweet supplies; though men neglect them, yet God will take care of them, and send the remnant of Jacob, some or other that are faithful, to be as a Dew from him upon them, to make them grow and be fruitful.

Before I pass from this verse, we may consider a threefold allusion of the Dew.

First, To Christ himself. One of the Ancients expounding that place ( Judges 6.37, 40.) where Gideon desired as a sign from the Lord that he would save Israel by his hand, that the Dew might fall on the fleece, the floor remaining dry; and afterward, that the Dew might fall upon the floor, the fleece remaining dry; concludes, The Dew in the fleece, is Christ in the Virgin. Jesus Christ indeed came down from heaven as the Dew, for the refreshing and comforting of poor sinners; he came down also as a Dew to make us fruitful and grow as the Lily, and to cast forth our roots as Lebanon.

Secondly, In the Dew there is an allusion to the word of God preached. The dispensers of the Gospel are compared to Clouds; Moses was a Cloud, and his speech distilled as the dew, (Deut. 32.2.) that is, it came down sweetly and efficaciously. As the manna and the dew fell together (Exod. 16.12, 14.) so the graces, comforts, and powers of the Spirit come with the word; there's dew with the Manna, and Manna with the dew. When the dew of divine doctrine comes down, Christ the Manna comes down too.

Thirdly, It carries in it an allusion to that sweetness of affection that is among brethren ( Psal. 133.1.) Behold how good and how pleasant it is, for brethren to dwell together in unity! then follows ( verse. 3.) As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. Love and unity among brethren is like dew, it refresheth them and makes them fruitful; They who provoke one another to love, will also to good works (Heb. 10.24.) Unity makes a great increase. Small things grow great by concord, whereas discord dwindleth or reduceth great things to little things, and at last to nothing.

So much of God's Father-hood or relation to the Rain and Dew: In the next words he is pleased to inquire of Job concerning the original of Ice and Frost.

These words are an elegant Metaphor taken from Child-bearing. What woman can the Ice call Mother? God is here compared to a Mother, for the same reason for which he was before compared to a Father. We are to note (saith Aquinas upon this place) that Cold is the cause of Ice, which is a feminine or womanish quality; but the cause of rain and dew is heat, which is a masculine or manly quality. And therefore the Lord speaking of the generation of rain and dew, useth the word Father; and about the generation of Ice and Frost he useth a word most proper to the Mother; Out of whose womb came the Ice? The word rendered womb signifies the whole belly, yea the whole body. Thus ( Psal. 132.11.) Of the fruit of thy body, &c. The Hebrew is belly, so the word is used ( Gen. 15.4. 2 Chron. 22.21.) but according to our Translation it strictly relates to the Mother, as if God would take upon him both sexes, and be, as, the Father of the rain and dew, so, the Mother of the Ice and Frost. The Ancients insist much upon this setting forth the glory of God in the former verse as a Father, and here as a Mother, out of whose womb the Ice comes; and they tell us of some who never had Scripture light, that yet did speak of God according to this Notion, calling him Mother-Father. They looked to God, and honored him, as having not only the power of a Father, but the care of a Mother conceiving, nourishing, nursing, and educating the Creature as a Mother doth her children; and therefore called God Mother-Father, and so much this change of the word in the Text doth imply, Out of whose womb

Yet this manner of speaking signifies no more than this, that Ice and Frost are caused and brought forth by the power of God. The word rendered Ice, comes from a root which signifies to make bald, or to pull off the hair, because when Frost and Ice come, they quickly pull off the leaves from the trees, and the flowers from the herbs, they m • ke all bare-headed, and so Ice hath its denomination from that effect; Out of whose womb came the Ice?

The word rendered hoary frost, signifies to cover over, because the • oary frost covers all over. The trees and herbs, all things above ground, a • e covered with the hoary frost, therefore it hath its name from covering; and here the Lord calls it, The hoary Frost

Because the cold which makes the hoary Frost, comes from the Air, which is o • ten in Scripture called Heaven.

Hence Note;

They are the effects of his power and declaration of his glory; and therefore the Lord calls such-like meteors to praise him, ( Psal. 148.8.) as evidences or p •• ofs of his power and wondrous works ( Psal. 147.16, 17.) He scattereth his hoar Frost like ashes, he casteth forth his Ice like morsels; who can stand before his cold? The Lord takes the Ice and Frost and Cold to be his; it is not only his Sun, but his Ice, and his Frost; he scatters his hoar Frost like ashes. The Frost is compared to ashes in a threefold respect: first, Because the hoar F • ost gives a little interruption to the fight. I • you scatter ashes into the Air, it darkens the light, so doth the hoa • y Frost. Secondly, hoary Frost is like ashes, because near in color to ashes. Thirdly, 'It is like ashes, because there is a kind of burning in it; F • ost burns the tender buds and blossoms, i • nips them, and dries them up. The hoary Frost, hath its denomination in the Latin Tongue from burning, & it diffe • s but a very little from that word which is commonly used in Latin, for a coal of fire. The cold Frost hath a kind of scotching in it, as well as the hot Sun: Unseasonable Frosts in the Spring, scorch the tender fruits, which bad effect of Frost is usually expressed by Carbunculation or blasting. Frost is sometimes a great benefit, and sometimes a great scourge; when it comes opportunely and in season, 'tis a great benefit; but if it comes in the spring of the year, if it comes when the youth of the spring, buds and blossoms, are put forth, it proves very detrimental, and kills that hopeful spring of the Earth, which the warmth of a benign Sun and wind had invited out. The Frost of a few nights hath spoiled the hopes of Husbandmen and Vine-dressers, for the whole year. Frost is both a benefit and a scourge; whether it proves the one or the other, it is God who gendereth it, and must therefore be acknowledged in it.

As in this 29th verse Go • declares himself the Author of the Frost and of the Ice, and, in opening it, somewhat hath been said of their effects, so in the next verse one remarkable and very forcible effect of the Frost is held forth, that we may learn (and 'tis no more than our ex • erience and eye-s • ght have often taught us) what Cold or Frost can do. Why, what can it do? It can tu • n water into stones. Such is the power of Cold, that it hardens the liquid water like a stone. Ice in its very first appearance hath the resembl • nce of a stone, and being very thick (as in long Frosts) 'tis like a rock, like a mountain of stone: Thus t • e Text speaks

That is, when extreme cold freezes the waters into Ice, the waters are not seen, they are lo • kt up, and (as it were) paved over with a stone; or the waters seem to suffer a strange metamorphosis, and leaving their natural liquidi • y and softness, are condensed or hardened into r • cks; such is the force of cold. Some express it actively, not as we, The waters are hid, but the waters hide themselves like a stone. Thus Mr. Broughton expresseth it. Naturalists tell us that in some cold Countries, where there are great falls of snow and rain, the snow and rain grow into such a hardness, that you cannot reduce them into wa • er. Crystal (say they) is nothing but water hardened by c • ld: And thus water is more than hid as with a stone, for it becomes a stone.

Hence Note;

What is more fluid than water, more moveable than water; it was of old grown into a divine Proverb ( Gen. 49.4.) Unstable as water; yet this unstable body can the Lord change into a stone, and make it hard as a rock. Histories are full of strange reports concerning the effects of cold. There have been such Frosts and Freezings, that great waters, mighty rivers, yea some parts of the Sea have been turned into a stone: Houses have been built upon these congealed waters, and Battels have been fought upon them. The Army of King Mithridates overcame the enemy in a pitched Battle upon the Ice. And 'tis fresh in memory, how the late King of Sweden a few years since, passed his Army over an arm of the Sea, in his wat with Denmark. So fierce and violent is the cold in some parts of Muscovia, that a man's spittle is frozen (say some) in its passage from his lips to the ground; much more may it be so, with cold water sprinkled in the Air.

Now as the power of God is great in hardening that which is soft, so in softening that which is hard. He that turns water into a stone, can turn stones into water. So the Psalmist expresseth the miracle of bringing water out of the rock for Israel in the wilderness ( Psal. 114.7, 8.) Tremble thou Earth at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, which turned the rock into a standing water; the flint into a fountain of waters. This is a glorious work, the turning of a visible rock into water; but the work of God is more glorious in softening a hard heart, or in turning the rocky heart of an impenitent sinner, or the invisible rock of an impenitent sinners heart into the waters of godly sorrow, working repentance not to be repented of. We should much more magnify the power of God, when we see hearts of stone melted and dissolved into those spiritual waters, than when (though that be a mighty work of God) we see the natural waters turned into, or (as the Text gives it) hid as with a stone, or when we see (as it followeth in the Text) that

That is, the uppermost part of the deep is frozen; and, I conceive, the Lord puts this in (the face of the deep) to show that the cold hath not only power in the shallow standing waters, but in that which is deep, and deep to amazement; so deep, that it is called, The Deep; as if all other waters were but shallows, compared with that. So then, not ponds only and rivers and shallow waters, but the face of the deep, where one would think the Frost could have no power, is frozen.

The Hebrew is, The face of the deep is taken. The word notes taking, as a Captive or Prisoner is taken. The Lord takes the face of the deep Cap • ive, and holds it as his Prisoner during pleasure. They who inhabit or travel to the Northern Climes, have so m •• h experience that the face of the deep is frozen, that I need not further insist upon any proof of it; nor shall I further treat of these effects of Cold, Frost and Ice, as considered in a natural way: Only for the close of all, and a little improvement of them in a moral or spiritual way, we may consider them in a twofold resemblance.

First, Ice and Frost resemble all human things. The things of this world, are they not like a Sea of Ice? that is, First, Very slippery. Secondly, Very Uncertain, how long they will last or continue. Some conceive, that, the Sea of glass like unto Crystal, which was represented unto St John in Vision ( Rev. 4.6. & 15.2.) signified the state of the world, which is like a Sea, because of the tumultuousness of it; and like a Sea of glass, because of the brittleness of it; and a Sea of glass like Crystal, because of the clearness and transparency of it to God; he sees quite thorough it: to him all things are naked and manifest. Such a thing is the world, 'tis a frozen Sea, especially for the slipperiness and uncertainty of it. For though the Sea be turned into a stone, yet no man knows how soon a Thaw may dissolve it back again into water? The things of this world suffer sudden changes. Though men have worldly estates, like to mountains of stone or rocks, yet the Lord can make these mountains, these rocks, melt at, and flow down at his presence ( Isa. 64.2.) The greatest mountains of worldly power and riches, which seem to be as hard as rocks, as compact as mountains of Adamant, are yet but like mountains of Ice before the Lord; if he let forth but a little heat of his anger and displeasure against them, they melt like wax before the fire, or like a heap of snow before the Sun, and slow down presently like water. Should we see men building upon the Ice (as some have done in a proper sense) we would presently say, they build upon a very unsure foundation. They who build their hopes upon any person or thing in this world, are no wiser, and do no better than they who build upon the Ice. All things here below are uncertain, they may, yea, they must soon melt and pass away, from us, or we from them.

Secondly, Ice and Frost, the cold season, of which the Text speaketh, resembles a state of affliction and adversity; that's Ice, that's Frost. As warm Sun-shine resembles a state of prosperity, so Cold and Frost a state of adversity; and so it doth in a four-fold respect.

Fi • st, Because Frost or Cold is unpleasant and pinching to the body, e • p • cially to weak and tender bodies. No chastening (saith t •• Apostle, Heb. 12.11.) for the present seemeth (to sense and sl ••• ) to be joyous, but griev • us, or (as the Greek strictly) seemeth to be of joy but grief.

Secondly, Ice and Frost continue not, they are but for a season, a • naw will come. The affl • cted state of a godly man is unpleasing, yet not lasting, to be sure not everlasting. Though some F • o • ts hold longer than others, yet none hold always, Summer will come; and usually where winter is fiercest, Summer, for a recompense, is pleasantest. O • Modern Geographer having described the sharpness of Winter in Muscovia, concludes thus; S • ch is their Winter, neither is their Summer less miraculous. For the huge Seas of Ice which in a manner covered the whole surface of the Country, are at first approach of the Sun suddenly d ssolved, the waters quickly dried up, and the Earth dressed in her Holy-day Apparel, such a mature growth of fruits, such fl • urish • ng of he bs, such chirping • f birds, a • if it were a pe • petual spring. And that the Church of God after a sad and cold winter of affl ction is relieved by a sweet and comfortable manner of pro • perity, is set forth in the highest st • ains and most beautiful slowres of divine Rhetoric by Ch • ist in that invita • ion to his Spouse ( Cant. 2.10, 11, 12, 13.) My beloved spake a • d said unto me, Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away: f r l • , the wi • ter is past, the rain is over and gone (that is, thy affl cti ns are ended, thy clouds of so • row, and thy tears a •• over-bl • wn and wiped away, and now behold a succession of be •• e • things, even of whatsoever may call out thy joys, and renew thy comf •• ts; f • ) the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singi • g • f birds is c • me; the voice of the turtle is heard in our land: the fig-tree putteth forth her tender figs, and the Vines with the tender grape, give a good smell. Here's a new face of things indeed; what can be added to the felicity of that estate which is shadowed under these Metaphors? Such a Summer of spiritual felicity in temporal liberties, after a winter of temporal sufferings in her spirituals, did Christ invite his Church in general unto: And this may relieve particular Christians in their afflictions. The cold Frost seldom lasts long, never always.

Thirdly, Though Cold and Frost be pinching and troublesome while they last, yet they have a very good effect upon the Earth while they last. First, they mellow the Earth. After a lasting Frost the clods of Earth crumble easily, whereas if it lie all the Winter without a Frost, they are more stiff, and not so fit for husbandry: Thus afflictions mellow the heart of man, and make it more fit for God's husbandry. As Frost dries up the ill humors of the Earth, so doth affliction those of the soul; and thereby prepares it to receive the seed of the Word. When God afflicts his people, it is for their profit, that they may be partakers of his holiness; that is, that they may profitab • y improve all those means which he hath appointed to make them more holy. And hence,

Fourthly, As Frost and Cold kill the weeds and worms which eat the roots and hinder the growth of Herbs, Corn, and Plants; so afflictions kill our lusts, those worms and weeds that breed and grow in our hearts, always hindering the fruitfulness, sometime to the utter unfruitfulness, of the seed of the word sown among us and upon us ( Matth. 13.22.) The frost of affliction is a means to prevent the worm which breeds naturally out of the corruption of our hearts, even that terrible worm spoken of ( Isa. 66.24.) the worm of conscience. As there are worms of corruption, Pride, Covetousness, Wrath, Wantonness, &c. in our hearts; so out of these that tormenting worm breeds, called the worm of Conscience. Now, the frost of affliction which God sends upon us, is very effectual, as to kill these worms of corruption which eat the roots of our graces, and hinder our fruit-bearing; so to prevent the life of that worm of Conscience, which (as the Prophet speaks in the place last named) never dieth.

Therefore, as when the Lord sends frost, though it make us shake, and we have a hard time of it, yet no man riseth up in passion and saith, I had rather die, and be out of the world, than live in such a season; No, men know that a frosty season, is a wholesome season, and they know Summer will come and make amends. So when we are in the Winter of affliction, let us not be impatient nor unquiet; let us not think that the frost will ruin and undo us. Though Ice be upon every water, though Icicles hang upon every twig, do not think this will be at all for your undoing, it may be much for your bettering. Cold weather doth good as well as hot; and if we should have all hot, and no cold, it might be very ill, very bad to us; therefore be not troubled at the cold, nor afraid of ice and frost, they will not hurt you, unless you hurt yourselves, by your impatience under them. And when 'tis coldest, you may warm yourselves at the fire or Sun-shine of this hope, that ere long the weather will be warmer. As Athanasius said of the trouble given the Church by that Apostate Julian, It is but a Cloud, it will soon be over; so may I say, according to the allusion in this Text, its but a Winters frost, Summer will come: This should be the comfort of all that fear God in a day of evil feared or felt. When Christ ( Mat. 24.32, 33.) had soretold the signs of his coming, he said, Learn a Parable of the Fig-tree, when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that Summer is nigh: So likewise, ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the door. As when we shall see those dreadful appearances, which are the fore-runners of Christ coming, so when we shall feel any chilling frosts of affliction, then we may know that Summer is at hand; when the night is darkest, the light is nearest; when Winter is hardest, a thawing Sun leading in the Spring is approaching towards us.

There is but one kind of cold or frost which we have cause to fear, and that is the frost of unkindness, or the coldness of affection to God and one another; and I warn all to take heed of that, because it is but too too probable, that this frost and cold will hang about the hearts of many in the latter days; yea, is it not visible, are we not sensible of that frost begun, at least, in these days? as Christ himself prophesied of those latter days, ( Mat. 24.12.) The love of many shall wax cold; is not love to God very chil? is not charity to man, among men, of a complexion, as cold as ice at this day? Take heed of this frost, of this cold; let not your hearts be frozen in love to God or Man. It is sad when the streams of charitable bounty are frozen, and the waters of compassion hidden as with a stone, when the very bowels of men are Ice, and their hearts harder to one another, than the nether mil-stone?

There are two things much to be lamented, whenever they are seen or felt among the Sons of men; especially among those who profess themselves the Servants of God. The first is heat of anger and wrath. The second is coldness of love and zeal. As that heat is apt to kindle unnatural fires, so this coldness may provoke the Lord to kindle judiciary fires, or fiery judgments. The coldness of the air will not hurt us, nor can the frost of any affliction much annoy us, if our love wax not cold, if the frost of uncharitableness to one another, and of unzealousness (if I may so speak) for God and his concerns, take not our affections.

THe Lord having questioned Job about his skill and knowledge in those Meteors, the Rain, the Dew, the Ice and Frost, all which were wrought in the Air; rises yet higher, questioning him about the Stars of heaven, and their ordinary effects upon the earth, and all sublunary bodies.

In these three Verses, the Lord points at the four quarters or seasons of the year; over which the four Stars or Constellations mentioned in this context have a predominance, according to the appointment of God in the course of nature: He points at Spring and Winter in the 31. verse; he points at Summer and Autumn in the 32. verse; and he speaks of both more generally in the 33. verse.

The sum of the 31. verse may be thus given; as if the Lord had said, O Job, Canst thou alter the seasons of the year? First, Canst thou retard, or keep back the Spring? canst thou hinder the rising and appearance of the Pleiades or seven Stars, so called? canst thou stop the destillation of their influences, proper to the introduction of that season? Or, Secondly, Canst thou keep off the Winter, that it come not, or hasten it away when it is come, by dissolving the colds and frosts with which the constellations of that season bind up the earth, and so shorten that unkind and comfortless quarter of the year? This is the plain meaning of the Text, and of those hard or strange words, Pleiades, Orion, Mazzaroth, Arcturus, used in it; all which Constellations are conceived to have their special operations upon the four quarters of the year respectively: For, though the access of the Sun hath the chief hand in making Spring and Summer, and the recess of the Sun in making Autumn and Winter; yet the Sun doth it not alone, but hath the aid of other adjuvant causes in nature, by which those great changes are in part effected and produced.

Further, the Reader may take notice, that three of these four Stars or Constellations, as expressed in our Translation, Pleiades, Orion, Arcturus, are not literally in the Hebrew Text; nor were they known by those names, when either Job or the Penman of this book lived, but were long after brought into use by the learned Grecians, and from them derived unto us; and we make use of these names, according to the received opinion, expounding the Hebrew names by them.

I shall not stay here in opening their derivations or significations in either language, having done it already at the ninth verse of the ninth Chapter of this book, where Job himself spake of these constellations, attributing this glory to God, that he it is, who makes Arcturus, Orion, Pleiades, and the Chambers of the South, which last are supposed to be the same with Mazzaroth here in this verse.

That is, canst thou stop their rising, or the giving forth of their influences, which open the earth by a kindly warmth, & cause grass and corn, herbs and flowers, plants and trees of all sorts, to spring and put forth? canst thou bind them up from exerting their natural effects and proper operations? certainly thou canst not. He that is bound, cannot do what he would, nor what he could, nor what he daily did when at liberty. The Philistines had a great mind to bind Sampson, supposing that then he could not put forth his mighty strength to mischief them. Prisoners, when bound and laid in chains can do nothing. As there is a binding to do, so a binding not to do; and that not only with material cords, but metaphorical vows, oaths and promises. We commonly say, He that is bound must obey: But can any bind the Stars to obedience? what, or who but God, can bind or stay, either the constant motions or ministrations of the Stars? Sampson could not be bound by the Philistines till he betrayed himself, and discovered the secret where his strength lay. Who knows where the strength, force and virtues of the Stars lie? or if any knew that secret, could they climb up to the Stars, and cut off that lock wherein their strength lieth? or break the pipes by which their influences are conveyed down to the earth? Canst thou bind

The word rendered Influences, signifies Delights, or delicacies, or delicate fruits; and therefore that Garden full of sinless pleasures, which God himself planted for man in his state of primitive innocence and felicity, is called from this word, the Garden of Eden, (Gen. 2.15.) that is, a place of delight, commonly known by the name of Paradise; and hence we well translate sweet Influences: the Hebrew is Delights. Mr. Broughton translates Delicacies; and the interlineal, Canst thou bind the delicate fruits that Pleiades brings forth? That is, the green herbs, the flowers, with other delicacies and delights which accompany the Spring: canst thou hinder their budding or appearing at Spring-time? When the deformity & dirt of Winter depart or pass away, then there is a new face of things, then every bush flourisheth, then the trees and fields put on their ornaments, then the singing of birds fills the Air, and makes it resound with their harmony and melodious music. The word is rendered Dainties (Gen. 49.20.) and an adverb coming from this, is used ( Lam. 4.5.) They that did fare delicately, are desolate in the streets. As also (1 Sam. 15.32.) Agag came unto him delicately. Canst thou bind the sweet Influences

The Greeks express Winter by a word just of the same sound with the Hebrew word Chymah, by us rendered Pleiades; as if this respected the Winter, or were a cold Constellation: but certainly here it relates to the Spring; and considering that in this place the Pleiades are said to give out sweet Influences, the delights and delicacies of the earth, the word must needs be meant of, or intend a benign and favorable Star, a Spring-star, rather than a Winter-star; and therefore the Latins give this Constellation its name from the Spring, because then it appears; of which see more Chap. 9.9.

Further, When this Star, or company of Stars, (these Pleiades, or seven Stars) are spoken of by name, we by a Synecdoche may understand all the Stars: for, what influence soever any Star is impowered with, or putteth forth, who can hinder? Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?

Hence observe:

The creatures of the earth, are (as I may say) fed and fattened from heaven. All Vegetatives, grass, herbs, plants, flowers, trees; all Sensitives, beasts of the earth, fowls of the air; yea, and rational creatures too, all men who breath in the air, and walk upon the earth, are refreshed and fed by the influences of heaven, by the clouds and stars. Further, the Stars send down their influences, not only upon living creatures in their three ranks, but even upon inanimate creatures; the minerals, the stones that lie deep under the earth, the precious gems, with those of a courser grain, receive much from the influences of the Stars. So then, all earthly bodies receive and derive their vigor and beauty from the heavenly; the Sun and Moon have the greatest power, and there is a very great power in the Stars and Constellations, in the Pleiades, Orion, and Arcturus, for the production of great effects.

Secondly, In that 'tis said, Canst thou bind, or stop the Influences of Pleiades?

Observe,

What God will do by the creature, no man can undo. If God set those heavenly bodies at liberty, and bids them send down their influences, man cannot lock them up, nor imprison their powers, nor bind them from working?

And hence we may infer. First, if none can bind the influences, nor stay the comfortable virtue of the stars, when God is pleased to let them out? then much less can any bind or hinder the influences of the Spirit. When God is pleased to send his Spirit to work upon the heart of man, who can lett him?

There is a threefold influence or work of the spirit of God upon the soul of man.

First, To enlighten, or to give the light of the knowledge of his own glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Who can hinder God, when he purposeth thus to instruct and teach the ignorant, and make them wise unto Salvation, wiser than their teachers; who can hinder it?

Secondly, To convert, to work faith and repentance, together with love, humility, &c. These graces are destilled, and drop down from the Spirit of God upon the soul; and who can hinder the Spirit from working them in the most hardened and unbelieving souls in the most vain, proud, and presumptuous soul? the barren'st wilderness, dryest heath (such are persons unconverted) are made fruitful by the influences of the Spirit.

Thirdly, To refresh and comfort. There are unspeakable influences of joy destilled from the spirit upon believers; and when God will let them down from heaven, who can lett them? what can let them? All the troubles and sorrows, all the pains and tortures, that men can invent or inflict upon a believer, cannot bind these influences of the Spirit, nor hinder joy in believing. The greatest evils of this life, can neither shut up nor shut out, that comfort which the Spirit speaketh. The most churlish winds that can blow from the coldest quarters of the world cannot chill, much less kill or blast those fruits of the Spirit, Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, saith, meekness, temperance, mentioned by the Apostle ( Gal. 5.22, 23.) The soul grows green, like a Garden or Pasture, in the Spring; the soul bud's, blossom's, and brings forth these blessed fruits abundantly, when fed with these dainties and delicacies of the Spirit. Those great floods of trouble and persecution, which the Serpent, anywhere, or at any time casts out of his mouth, cannot prevail against the least drop of Consolation, wrought in the heart by the Spirits influence. Paul and Silas were bound in Prison, but there their persecutors could not bind the sweet influences of the Spirit from comforting them, nor daunt them by any terror from triumphing in Christ; they could sing in Prison, yea, they sung at Midnight.

Secondly, We may Inferr; If God hath placed the Stars in heaven, to drop down sweet influences upon us, then at every sight of the Stars our hearts should be raised up, in the admiring thoughts of the wisdom, goodness, and power of God. We usually look upon the Stars, as if they were only so many lights bespangling the Canopy of heaven, and sparkling, as so many fires in the firmament; but we seldom consider their virtues, their influences, or the wonderful effects which they produce How few are there, who behold the heavens with David's eyes. ( Psal. 8.3, 4.) When I (said he) consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers; the Moon and the Stars which thou hast made: What is man, that thou are mindful of him? God is mindful of man, not only to give him light by the Moon and Stars, by the benefit whereof he sees other things; but God gives many unseen benefits by the Moon and Stars. The influences of the Stars are as beneficial to us, and as great a treasure as their light. We indeed have great cause (as we are commanded, Psal. 136.7, 8, 9.) to pay the tribute of thanks to God for setting up the Sun, Moon, and Stars in the heavens to give us light; O give thanks to him that made great lights, the Sun to rule by day, the Moon and Stars to rule by night. Yet we must not confine our thankfulness to God for them only as they give us light, for they give us heat as well as light, and wonder working influences as well as either. Moses (their civil Father) blessing the twelve Tribes, as Jacob their natural Father did before his departure out of the world, thus bespake the blessing upon Joseph (Deut. 33.13, 14, 15.) Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and also for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the Sun, and for the precious things put forth by the Moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth, and the fullness thereof, &c. Here we have two sorts of precious things. First, The precious things of heaven. Secondly, The precious things of the earth, of the hills and mountains. The former precious things are the cause, the latter the effect: The precious things of heaven, are the influences of the Sun and Moon, under which we are to comprehend the influences of the Stars, these cause or produce the precious things of the earth; that is, Grass, Hearbs, with all sorts of Vegetables growing upon the surface of the earth, they produce also the precious things of the ancient mountains, and of the lasting hills; that is, gems or precious stones, gold and silver, together with all sorts of inferior minerals. Now if the Stars, by their influences, yield us all these precious things, have we not much cause to admire both the power of God, who hath implanted those virtues and opperations in them, as also his goodness, who hath ordained both those causes, and their products or effects, for the benefit and comfort, yea, for the contentment and delight of man? What is man, that God should be thus mindful of him; that for his sake and use, or for the sweetening of his passage through the Wilderness of this troublesome world, he should impregnate the earth by the sweet influences of heaven? It hath been said; Let him look to the Stars of heaven, who denies the God of heaven; and doubtless he will not only not deny, but not so much as doubt that there is a God in heaven, who duly considers the pure nature, and the irresistible operations of the Stars of heaven? Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades?

We can neither bind what God lets loose, nor loosen what God binds. What Christ affirmed of himself in regard of spirituals ( Rev. 3.7.) These things saith he that hath the key of David, that openeth and no man shutteth, that shutteth and no man openeth; the same is true also in regard of naturals, and therefore the Lord had no sooner said to Job, Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, but he adds, or loose the bands of Orion?

There are several opinions concerning these two Constellations of heaven, yet all agree in this; that one of them is a benign Constellation, and very comfortable to the fruits of the earth, and that the other is as sharp and churlish; that the one is very friendly and favorable to all living creatures, but that the other is a bitter, and as it were a killing Constellation; and therefore the Lord saith, Canst thou loose the bands of O • ion? When once Orion hath and holds the earth, as it were in bands and chains; when Orion hath got the earth in his clutches, and huggs it, in appearance, to death, in his cold arms, who can rescue it? The Pleiades open the earth, and set all free; they call up the quickening moisture, and draw out the verdure of every growing thing: But Orion holds all in bands, Orion is a hard natured Constellation, the O • iginal word signifies to be inconstant, vexatious, and unquiet; because, under the Dominion of this Star, the air is usually troublesome and unquiet.

The word imports opening what is fast shut, or loosing what is fast bound. When a man is in bands, we say, loose him from his bands. Now saith the Lord, Canst thou loose the bands of Orion? that is, canst free the air from those colds and frosts, which bind the body of the earth, and all things growing out of the earth in winter season? The word rendered bands, comes from a root that signifies to draw; hence some translate, The Traces of Orion. Traces are those bands by which Horses being fastened to Carts or Wagons, draw them after them: Which expression alludes to that natural power planted in this Star, by which, according to God's appointment it draws rain storms and cold freezing winds after it, and so binds up the pores of the earth. Now saith the Lord to Job, canst thou with all thy skill a • d strength loose those bands, and set the earth at liberty? Thou canst not. O • this Orion, see more at the 9th Chapter (ver. 9.) I shall only say thus much further here, That these words stand in direct opposition to the former, showing that as Job could not stop those Benigne Stars, the Pleiades, from giving forth their virtues to the earth; so he could not loose the bands of that severe and harsh Star, nor divert the effects which it brings upon the earth. Canst thou loose the bands of Orion? Hence learn, first, in general.

Winter binds the earth from bearing, and it binds the hands of men from working; when a man is extreme cold he can make little use of his hands.

And as Natural, so Spiritual cold is a great binder. A cold heart is a bound heart. When the heart hath in it no heat of love to God, or hath not been heated with a sense of the love of God: when the heart hath in it no heat of zeal for the glory of God, nor for the good of men; when these sad colds are upon the heart, 'tis bound indeed. He that hath this cold upon him, can say but little to God; and will say, and do less for God: He is bound not only hand and foot, but tongue also. Take heed of cold upon your hearts, it will hinder you from holy activity, bind you up from duty both towards God and man. He that is only luke-warm will do God little service, can do none that is pleasing and acceptable unto God; but he that is key-cold, as we say, neither will, nor can do anything at all, that may be called Service. The Apostle Paul ( Acts 20.22.) was bound in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem, which was a great service for Christ; that is, The heat of true affection, which the instinct of the holy Spirit caused in him, engaged him beyond all power of revocation to undertake that hazardous journey. But when any are bound in spirit by the coldness of their affections to Christ, they always prove hand-bound and foot-bound, I may say (without affectation according to the use of that word in our language) hide-bound also, as to anything that is good; especially, if it be (as it was in the Apostles case now mentioned) either dangerous or costly. And when a soul is in those bands of the Mystical Orion, the evil spirit, surely none but God can loose them, seeing none but he can loose these in the Text. Canst thou loose the bands of Orion, the Winter-bands?

Hence note,

The Lord put the question to Job about his works, that he might see his own weakness and utter inability to undo his providential workings: When God had Job in bonds, it was not in his power to loose his bonds by his strength and striving. The providences of God were to him as Orion to the earth, cold and sharp, causing the frost of adversity to bind him so strongly, that he could by no means loose himself. Christ saith to his Disciples about Church-censures rightly laid, and Church-approbation duly given ( Mat. 18.18.) Whatsoever ye bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. Where man binds in God's way, God binds too; and where man looses in God's way, God looses too; but take it either in natural or spiritual things, it is not in the power of man to bind where God looseth, nor to loose where God bindeth: Canst thou loose the bands of Orion? If God appoint cold to bind the earth, man cannot loose it; and if God will bind man with the cords and cold iron of any affliction, man cannot free himself. In the hottest natural season of the year, man may be in cold providential bands, and under them he must abide till the Lord breaks the frost and set him free. It is said of Joseph (Psal. 105.17, 18, 19.) He was sold for a servant, his feet were hurt with fetters, he was laid in iron; or, (as the Margin reads it) His soul came into iron. But how came he out? did he himself loose the bands of that Orion who cast him into prison? surely no, the Text tells us otherwise; he lay fast enough in bands, until (ver. 19.) the word of the Lord came; the word of the Lord tried him. But what was this Word of the Lord? some say, it was the word of God to Pharaoh in a dream, concerning the seven years of plenty and famine, which may be said to try Joseph, none but he could interpret it, & that may be said to unloose his bands, because it was the occasion of his deliverance and advancement. But I rather conceive the word that came, was the word of God's decree and promise made to Joseph in a dream, for his advancement above all his brethren ( Gen. 37.6, 7, 8.) When once the time came that this Word of God must come to be fulfilled, then the bands of Orion were loosed; for then (saith the Psalmist, ver. 20.) The King sent and loosed him, even the Ruler of the people, and let him go free. And as it was with Joseph so with Job, and so will ever be. If the cold winter blasts of any adversity bind up our comforts, either in our callings or relations, there is no unloosing them un • il the word of the Lord come. Solomon giveth this counsel ( Eccles. 7.13, 14.) Consider the work of God; that is, his working in the world. The reason of this counsel follows; For, who can make that strait which he hath made crooked? Solomon intends this specially of the dealings of God in the world; not that there is any crookedness or unrighteousness, any iniquity or injustice in the ways of God; but he means by crooked, that which is troublesome and grievous. Now if God himself make a thing crooked, till he himself make it strait, it is not in the power of all the men in the world to do it. The moral sense of that Text, is the very same with the point in hand; If God bind, who can loose? There is no striving, no contending with the providences of God: we must deal with, and apply to God himself for the altering of them, we cannot alter them ourselves; we must desire him to mend his work, we cannot: This Solomon plainly intimates in the next, or 14. verse; In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider (in a time of adversity things grow crooked and awry from what we would have and desire, or from what is comfortable to us) for God hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him. Sometimes he makes things crooked, sometimes strait; sometimes he gives a day of prosperity, sometimes of adversity, that no man may be able to say directly, what shall be next. And seeing there is no loosing the bands of Orion till God himself loose them; therefore let all who are companions in tribulation, say one to another, as they in a like case are represented, ( Hosea 6.1.) Come, and let us return unto the Lord, for he hath wounded, and he will heal; he hath torn, and he will bind us up: O • , as this Text speaks, He hath bound us, and he will lo • sen us.

Thirdly, From both the pa • ts of the verse considered together, these negatives upon man must be resolved into affirmatives, as to God: He can bind the sweet influences of Pleiades; he can loose the bands of O • ion.

Whence note;

God can stop those things from comforting us, and those persons from showing us any favor, whose dispositions are as benign to us, as Pleiades are to the earth; and he can give us favor in their eyes, who naturally are as churlish as Nabal, and as sharp as Orion to the earth. He can make a Wolf a Shepherd, and those a safety to his servants, whose hearts were to swallow them up. The earth shall help the woman, that is, the worst of the world, the Church. God made Ravens feed Elijah (1 Kings 17.4.) And he said of Cyrus, whom he calls a ravenous Bird, (Isa. 46.11.) He is my Shepherd (Isa. 44.28.) Thus the Lord looseth the bands of Orion. And when he hardens their hearts against us, who formerly were tender towards us, or when he turns their hearts to hate us, who formerly loved us and shown us favor, then the Lord may be said to bind the sweet influences of Pleiades. What sweet influences of favor did the people of Israel receive from Pharaoh and the Egyptians, at their first coming thither, and long after? yet afterwards, what grievous Task-masters were they to them? their favors were all restrained and changed into yokes and bands: whence was this? The Psalmist answers fully ( Psal. 105.25.) He (that is God) turned their heart (that is, the heart of the Egyptians) to hate his people, to deal subtly with his servants, and cruelly too. Thus the Power and Name of God is both ways magnified. Whenas we have the most benign Pleiades dropping down sweet influences upon us, God can stop them; and when we have the hardest bands of Orion upon us, the Lord is able to loose them. This glory is due to God in all the changes which we meet with in this world, whether from good to bad, from the favors to the frowns of men; or from bad to good, from their frowns to their favors, from their bands to their embraces: all is of God. And I conceive the scope of God in these questions, was chiefly to bring Job to that conclusion. The next verse bears the same sense.

This also is a denying Question; Canst thou? thou canst not bring forth Mazzaroth in his season. The word rendered to bring forth, is applied, First, to the birth or bringing forth of children ( Gen. 15.4.) Secondly, to the earths bringing forth flowers & fruits ( Judge. 13.14.) Thirdly, to the rising of the Sun or Stars ( Gen. 19.23.) ( Neh. 4.21.) Thus here, canst thou cause Mazzaroth to rise, and go forth? Or canst thou bring forth

What's that? Some Interpreters conceive, that by Mazzaroth we are to understand those Constellations which Astronomers call the twelve Signs of the Zodiac, which are expressed for learning sake, by the fancied names of living creatures; so that according to this interpretation, the Suns appearance in, or passage through those monthly signs, is the bringing forth of Mazzaroth in his season. But most generally they are taken for the Southern Stars, and thought to be the same with those ( Chap. 9.9.) Called the Chambers of the South; and seeing the other three are named there, it is not improbable that under this word the fourth is intended. Master Broughton calls them, far Stars in the South: The letter of the Hebrew imports that; and the Seventy derive it from a root, • hat signifies to separate or disperse, because those Stars are far separated, or are at a great distance from us, who lie under the Northern Pole. Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? that is, canst thou make that Constellation appear in its proper time? thou canst not. Hence take these brief Notes.

As men are brought forth at such a time, in such a place, so are they by an order from God; The Stars of heaven are not under any law of man on earth, no, nor of the Angels in heaven, ( Psal. 19.4, 5.) In them (speaking of the heavens) hath he (that is, the Lord) set a Tabernacle for the Sun, which is as a Bride groom coming out of his Chamber (every morning, to visit his Spouse the earth) and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race; what is there spoken of the Sun, is true of Mazzaroth and of all the Stars, whether planted in the Northern or Southern, in the Eastern or Western parts of heaven? 'It is the Lord who brings them all forth, and that in their season.

Note secondly;

They keep them punctually to a minute, to a moment, they know their times, and they keep time; they have their seasons of rising, and their seasons of setting. ( Psal. 65.8.) Thou makest the out-goings of Morning and Evening to rejoice; Some Stars go out in the Morning, others go out in the Evening, their times are various, but they all keep their time, ( Psal. 104.19.) The Sun knoweth its going down, that is, the time of its going down, the place of its going down; In this we may see what we should do, or our own duty.

Let us come forth in our season. The Stars are brought forth in theirs, and shall not we! happy are they that come forth, and bring forth in their season. To hit time is a mercy as well as a duty! Paul indeed said of himself, (1 Cor. 15.8.) that he was an abortive, or born out of due time. An abortive in nature, is one that comes into the world before the due time. Paul, as to his spiritual birth or new birth through grace, was not, nor can any one be new-born before the due time. We may rather say, that we are new-born too late than too soon, or before our time. Paul might say he had been too long a proud Pharisee, a formal professor, and at last, a persecutor of those who professed the truth of the Gospel in truth; and therefore in that sense Paul was not an abortive, or born out of due time, namely, before his time: But Paul might say so of himself, that he was so, First, Because he was the last of the Apostles that was called. The other Apostles were called by Christ, while he lived here on earth: Paul was called by Christ from heaven, after his death and departure from the earth. Secondly, He was born like an abortive, or those that come out of due time, because of the violence, and grievous pangs which accompanied his new-birth: He was smitten from his horse to the ground, and lay as one dead in his passage to his new-life. Such was the suddenness and violence of his conversion, that it was most like an abortion. Thirdly, The Apostle himself seems to give the reason in the next Verse; we know abortives are usually very weak and imperfect children, and less in body than those born in due time. Now such was Saint Paul's humility, so low was he in his own thoughts, that he calls himself ( verse. 9.) the least of the Apostles, not meet to be called an Apostle. In all these, or in any of these notions, the Apostle Paul might say he was born out of due time; yet both as to the truth and seasonableness of his conversion, he was born in due time and in his full time. Now as there is a due time, a season for our spiritual birth, so for our fruit-bearing in spirituals. It is said of every godly man ( Psal. 1.3.) He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season, that is, seasonable fruit. The Stars appear in their season, and so should the fruits of every Gospel-professor. If we should see Winter-stars in Summer, and Summer-stars in Winter; if the Sun should rise at Midnight, or go down at Mid-day, how prodigious would that appearance and disappearance be! if the Sun should not rise and set just at the time we look for him, it would breed horror, and put all men into an amazement. But now the Lord brings forth Mazzaroth and all the Stars in their season. O therefore, let us look to our seasons; we shall be reproved else by the Stars of heaven, Mazzaroth will be a witness against us. Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?

Here's a fourth question: Canst thou guid? The word signifies to guid, or conduct gently, softly, canst thou guid them as a Shepherd guides his flock? canst thou guid them as a Father guides his Family, his Wife, Children, and Servants? canst thou direct them their course, how or which way to go? Some think he useth the word guid, because this constellation represents the form of a Wain or Wagon, and is by us commonly called Charles-wain, or the greater Bear. Canst thou guid

That's another Constellation, seated in the Northern Pole, notably conspicuous to us in a clear night. 'It is the Seaman's mark or guid. The Lord who guides that Star, hath made it a guid to the Seaman in the night; by looking to that, he knows how to make his course. Canst thou guid Arcturus

Some read Arcturus, and her Daughters; Master Broughton, and her Children: We render in the Masculine Gender, and his Sons. There is one principal Star, and several other Stars that stand as Children about their Father or Mother; and therefore the Lord expresseth them by that familiar Allusion, Arcturus and his Sons, canst thou guid them?

Hence Note,

The Stars move as directed. God himself is the guid of the Stars, not Man. As a Shepherd guides his flock in the fields, so the Lord guides the Stars in that spacious field of the heavens; yea, he names and numbers them, as a Shepherd doth his flock. ( Psal. 147.) He telleth the number of the Stars, and call's them all by their names. The Prophet exhorting the people to lift up their eyes on high, that is, to the heavens, presently adds, and behold who hath created these things? (Isa. 40.26.) that is, the heavens, and the fu • niture of them, he bringeth out their host by number (that is, the host of the Stars) As an Army is enrolled and numbered, how many thousands they are; so doth the Lord bring forth that host by number, and calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. There's not one of the host of heaven, not one of the Stars that faileth, but comes forth at God's call, and appears as it were in rank and file, when and where the Lord gives command. Thus the Prophet speaks of the Stars, as God's host; and of the Lord, as a Commander or General of an army, knowing their number, nature, place, and office; mustering and marshalling them, o • dering them out upon service as he pleaseth. And whereas in the best disciplined armies of men, many fail when drawn out to service, some for fear, others through unfaithfulness, not a few through weakness and sickness; here's neither weak nor sick, neither an unfaithful nor a fearful one in this host, not one faileth: Nor do • h the Lord's memory fail, for he calls them all by their names; which shows the perfect remembrance, and exact knowledge which the Lord hath of them all. It is reported, as a wonder, of Cyrus King of Persia, that he having a vast Army, yet knew them by face, and was able to call every man by his name. What then shall we say of this wonder? The Lord who guideth Arcturus and his Sons, who leads out this innumerable Army of the Stars, knows everyone of them by name, and sends them forth by name, upon what enterprise or service he pleaseth.

The Lord having questioned Job about those four eminent and well known Constellations, Pleiades in the Spring, Orion in the Winter, Mazzaroth in the Summer, and Arcturus with his Sons in the Autumn, to convince him, that as he was not able, nor any man else, to alter the natural motions or courses of the Stars, so that neither he, nor any man else, was able to alter the course of his providence.

The Lord (I say) having done questioning Job, about these four notable Constellations of heaven in special, proceeds to interrogate him more generally about the whole heavens, in the next Verse.

Surely as thou knowest not the special laws by which I govern the Pleiades, Orion, Mazzaroth and Arcturus, so not the general laws by which the heavens are governed. Knowest thou the Ordinances of heaven? The word here rendered Ordinances, is often rendered in the Psalms statutes, laws, decrees: knowest thou the laws or statutes of heaven?

The word rendered heaven is of the dual number, as Grammarians speak, because, in what part soever of the earth any man stands, the heaven is cut in two parts (as to him) by the Horizon, whereof one part is over him, and the other under him; As there is a heaven above us, so a heaven below us, though wheresoever any man is on earth, heaven is above him. Knowest thou

Now the Ordinances of heaven may be of two sorts.

First, Those which God hath given to the heavens. The heavenly bodies move according to his constitutions who made heaven and earth.

Secondly, Those which the heavens give to the earth, or to man on earth. The heavens may be said to impose their laws upon the earth, men being guided and directed by the changes and motions of the heavens, how to order many of their motions and actions on the earth, those especially which concern the earth. The heavens give these common laws (as I may say) to men concerning the earth: First, When to Till the earth. Secondly, When to cast their Seed into the earth. Thirdly, When to reap and gather the fruit of the earth. When to perform any part of Husbandry to the earth, is known only by the heavens; that is, the heavens by their motions and vicissitudes, show men the seasons of doing these and these works on earth. And if men obey not these laws of heaven, nor observe their seasons, they loose all their labor and cost bestowed on the earth.

Again, when he saith, knowest thou the Ordinances of heaven? the meaning may be this; Are the heavenly bodies disposed or impowered by thy wisdom? hast thou given them virtue to work upon inferior bodies? I hast thou made the statutes by which they are governed, or by which they govern? That's the Lord's Prerogative.

Hence note; First,

They are under a law in a three-fold Respect. 1. In respect of their motion, how and whither they shall move. 2ly. They are under a law as to their influences, where and on whom they shall drop them down. 3ly. (Which necessarily follows the former) They are under a law as to their effects and operations upon the Creatures, whether for good, or for evil. The heavens can neither hurt nor help us, but according to higher order. This threefold law may be understood in that one Scripture ( Jer. 31.35.) Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the Sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the Moon and of the Stars for a light by night.

Note Secondly;

Knowest thou them? saith God to Job. There are some Ordinances of heaven, or some things for which heaven is ordained, which are easily and commonly known; such are the changes of seasons, with the division of night and day, of winter and summer. There are also sec et Ordinances and Orders given to the heavens, according to which they produce many unexpected and extraordinary • ffects here on ear • h, as Drought, and the consequent of it, Famine; Infection in the air, and the consequent of it, Pestilential diseases and Mortality. Who knows these ordinances of heaven? and if these are so unknown? then we may conclude,

First, If man know not such like secret Ordinances of heaven, surely he is much less able to understand the secret counsels of heaven. We know but little of those things that are commonly seen and felt among us, but there are reserves which we cannot know at all.

Secondly, We may hence also conclude, If the heavens have their statutes and Ordinances, as to their motion, &c. then much more hath man statutes and ordinances according to which he should move. The heavens never move but according to ordinances. Let us be sure, that whatever we do, we have an ordinance or word of God for it, either express or consequential. If the heavens be under such a rule, shall we think God hath left man at random or without a rule, how to speak, and think, and do in this world? It is dangerous to move without an ordinance, much more to move against an ordinance; we should take heed of acting besides a Law, much more of acting against a Law. Knowest thou the Ordinances of heaven? (and as it followeth)

Cast thou set his force upon the earth? So Mr. Broughton translates. To set the dominion, is to make one have dominion, and as it were, to appoint a Lord or Governor in the earth: This is not man's work, but God's. As if God had said to Job, Canst th • u give power to, or impower the Stars to rule day and night, to cause diversity of weathers and of seasons, to which all things here below must submit, or with which they must needs comply? The word which we read Dominion, signifies an under dominion, an inferior dominion; it signifies a Magistracy or power under a Power. The Hebrew language hath two words, the one signifying the power of a Judge, who gives the rule of the Law; and the other, here used, signifying the power of a Sheriff, who sees execution done. A person may be in power, and have great command, yet not the first or chief command. The Heavens have not a supreme or an absolute command over the earth, but a dominion by way of administration they have, and that a large and great one. Heaven hath a dominion so far as to execute and fulfil that which God the supreme Judge orders, determines, and gives forth, both concerning persons and things here on earth. The heavens have a ministerial dominion, respecting most changes wrought in this world. Their ministry respects, not only the constant and usual changes of times and seasons barely considered, but they have also a ministry with respect to those usual and rare changes, which (according to the appointment of God) befall the persons and conditions of men in this world. Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? Thou canst not; but I can and have, I have set and determined what dominion the Heavens shall have upon the earth, or how they shall exercise their dominion.

Hence observe;

Some Astrologers give them a power of doing all on the earth, as if both our lives and livelihoods depended wholly upon the Aspects of Planets: It is not this man's endeavor (say they) nor that man's skill, but all flows from the Stars. These make or put the Heavens, which are God's work, into the place of God himself; they put the heavens into the place of the God of Heaven. All things are in the hand of Heaven, say they. We say, All things, even the Planets themselves, are in the hand, and at the dispose of God. We grant, and this Text proves, that the Heavens have a great power upon the earth; we cannot but see and feel what the Sun doth upon the earth, we see, it distributes the year into four seasons, Summer and Winter, Spring and Autumn; we see, it makes Equinoxes twice in the year, when days and nights are of an even length, and as many Solstices, in one of which days are of greatest length, and nights in the other. We see how the Sun brings forth several effects in those several seasons, even the generation or corruption of natural things. We know also, that as the North draws the Magnete or Load-stone, so the Sun, the Heliotrope, a flower so called, because it follows the motion of the Sun. It is said also, that the Sun hath a great power upon the Cock, who therefore croweth about midnight, as if he did then congratulate or welcome the return of the Sun from the Antipodes to our Hemisphear. Though these instances are not demonstrative or concluding, yet they are probable evidences of the Heavens dominion in the earth.

Further, 'tis generally agreed, that the Moon hath a great Power upon the waters, causing the ebbing and flowing of the Sea; as also, upon those inhabitants of the Sea, Shelfish, because they are observed to increase with the increase of the Moon, and to decrease at the wane of it.

Nor may we deny the heavens have a dominion upon the bodies of men; for, though we subscribe not to those fancies of Astronomers, who have fixed a special star as ruling the special parts of man's body, as you see in Almanacs; who tell us also, That in the body of man, the Sun answers the heart, Mars the gall, Jupiter the liver, Mercury the mouth and tongue, Saturn the head; though (I say) we subscribe not to these, no nor to those other sentiments of theirs, who ascribe a special dominion to the seven Planets over the seven ages or stages into which the course of man's life is commonly divided; that is, First, Infancy to the dominion of the Moon; Secondly, Childhood to Mercury; Thirdly, You h to Venus; Fourthly, Adolescency or the young man's state to the Sun; Fifthly, Compleat manhood to Mars; Sixthly, Old age to Jupiter; Seventhly, extreme or decrepit old age to Saturn; yet doubtless the Stars have a great power upon the bodies of men, as well as upon Plants and all sorts of Vegetables, subordinately to the power and appointment of God, who ruleth all things and persons according to the pleasure and uncontrollable sovereignty of his own will.

Again, Naturalists tell us (and many are not far from believing them) that the Planets have great power over minerals and metals; They say, Gold is under the dominion of the Sun, Silver of the Moon, Iron of Mars, Lead of Saturn; and that Tin and Coppar are under the dominion of that Planet by them called Jupiter. Now whether or no God hath set these metals under the peculiar dominion of these stars, I will not dispute; not will I deny that there may be a natural sympathy and congeniality between them, nor that their influences may be very operative and effectual towards their gene • ation, production, and full concoction in the bowels of the earth.

Only let us take heed that we be not found giving that to the Heavens which God hath not given them. Remember, the dominion here intended of the heavens over the earth, is a ministerial, not a supreme dominion; 'tis not, I dare say, any such dominion as those Astrologers cry up, who would persuade or make us believe,

First, That the dispositions and manners of all men are under the dominion of the Planets and Stars.

Secondly, That the very way and course of every man's life, is ordered by the dominion of Stars and Planets.

Thirdly, That all the successes and events, good or bad, of men's actions and undertakings, depend upon the Stars and Planets.

Fourthly, (which some have adventured to affirm) That the rise and fall of great persons and families, together with the growths and declinings of whole Kingdoms and Commonwealths, are under the dominion of the Stars.

Fifthly, That the flourishings and decayings of Arts and Sciences depend upon them. Yea,

Sixthly, That the stars operate much towards the planting and progress, towards the rooting up or going back of Religion.

But this Scripture intends not any such dominion of heaven over the earth: Moses hath told us long since what this dominion is ( Gen. 1.14.) And God said, let there be lights in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days, and for years. The ordinary lights or stars of heaven, are always for ordinary signs and seasons; and sometimes there are extraordinary lights seen in heaven, or the ordinary are seen appearing in an extraordinary manner, to signify that God is about to do extraordinary things, or to bring forth extraordinary times and seasons.

So then, they who say the heavenly bodies have no power, or produce no effects upon the earth or earthly bodies, oppose not only the testimony of sense and daily experience, but this, and other express testimonies of Scripture. And as for those who ascribe all those things before mentioned, or any one of them absolutely to the dominion of the heavenly bodies or luminaries, they put them in the place of God himself, and overthrow the common foundations of Religion, which teacheth us to depend wholly upon God for all things, which teacheth us also to trust in him alone, and to look upon his favor (not the favorable looks or aspects of the Stars) as the fountain of all our good, as also to fear him and his displeasure alone (not the displeased looks of the Stars) as the fountain of all penal evils.

Therefore let us in these things speak and think according to sobriety. All that I shall add for the conclusion of this Point, is,

First, Let us be warned and awakened by the signs of Heaven; but let us not be dismayed at them; let us leave that to the Heathen, who know not God ( Jer. 10.2.) or rather, let us pray, that the Heathen may no longer be left under that blindness and bondage.

Secondly, If any would know what shall come to pass, or would acquaint themselves with future events, whether with respect to persons or Nations, let them not go to, nor consult Stargazers, but the holy Scriptures, the Word of God; for he hath given us a written word, wherein as in a glass, we may see,

First, What God would have us to do, and how to order the whole course of our lives.

Secondly, What good, what blessings, what successes, we are like to have or may expect through his free favor to us in Christ, we walking humbly, holily, believingly before him.

Thirdly, What evils, what crosses, what curses, what miseries, what mischances (as we speak) we are subject to, and may fear, if we walk proudly, impenitently, frowardly, in the way of our own hearts. We need not go to the Stars if we would know what is like to befall us in this life; let us consult the Promises, and they will tell us what good we shall receive, if we believe and obey; let us go to the threatenings, and they will tell us what evils will be our portion, if we are unbelieving and disobedient. Let us fear God, not the Stars; let our hope be in God, not in the Stars. If we are evil, and do evil, the most auspicious conjunctions, benign and promising appearances of the Stars in our nativity, will never produce us any true good; and if we are good, and do good, their most inauspitious, harsh and threatening appearances shall do us no hurt: It needs not trouble us under what Star we were born, if we are new born. One being told, that the Stars in power, or which had the dominion in his birth, bare him no good will, answered, I care not for that, I have had a second birth. Do not my words (saith the Lord, Mic. 2.7.) do good to him that walketh uprightly? doubtless they do, and so they will, let the Stars do their worst. Let us sit down quietly in this assurance, That whatsoever rule or dominion Heaven hath in the earth, the dominion of God is over, and overruleth the Heavens.

IN the context of these five Verses, return is made to the Meteors of Heaven. The Lord having questioned Job about the Stars, those pure heavenly bodies, the Pleiades, Orion, Mazzaroth, and Arcturus with his Sons; here puts the question afresh about the aireal bodies, or the natural works of God in the Air. The first question concerns the Clouds, and the effects or births of them, the waters.

That is, canst thou do it effectually? Canst thou speak so loudly that the clouds above may hear thee; and so powerfully, that they will obey thee? Any man, the meanest man may lift up his voice toward the clouds; but no man, no not the mightiest man, can lift up his voice to the clouds and be heard; that is, be obeyed by them: Thou canst not command the clouds. Though a man speak, and speak aloud, though he lift up his voice (as God bid the Prophet to his people) like a Trumpet, to the clouds, yet the clouds will be deaf at his voice, as deaf as sinners commonly are at the voice of a Prophet, though lifted up like a Trumpet. The voice here intended, is an effectual voice; such a voice to the clouds is proper and peculiar to God alone, whose power and Empire is so great and large, that he can stretch forth his voice to the clouds far and near all the air over, and cause them both to appear at his call, and presently to empty themselves and pour out their waters according to his direction, upon any coast or quarter of the earth. The text is singular, Canst thou lift up thy voice to the cloud? canst thou lift up thy voice to any one of them, as it were by name? We render it plurally, Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, to any one, or to all of them?

As if the Lord had said; If I lift up my voice to the clouds, they presently dissolve and melt, and abundance of waters flow down to cover man and beast; to cover the fields, the corn, the grass; nor is it any marvel, if the clouds, those thin, and, upon the matter, liquid bodies, melt and slow down at the voice of God, when • s at his voice the mountains flow down, and the rocks themselves, even the hardest rocks are melted into waters, or give forth abundance of water ( Num. 20.8.) Eliphaz said to Job, at the 22. Chap. of this book, and the 11. Vers. Abundance of waters cover thee. The words are the same there and here, but the sense is very different; Eliph • z meant it there, of metaphorical waters, the waters of affliction, with which God covered, yea, almost over-whelmed and drowned Job; But the Lord speaks here of natural waters. Job could not call to the clouds, and get abundance of those waters to cover him, nor was he able in a way of command to get one drop of water from the clouds. The words are plain, and the scope of them obvious, even to convince Job yet further of his inability and frailty; or that he ought to leave God to the government of the world, to the government of Persons, Families, and Nations, for as much as himself was not able to govern a cloud, nor to order out the least shower of rain.

Hence Note;

Clouds will not be commanded, cannot be commanded, by the greatest and mightiest of the sons of men. Job was a great Prince himself, yet he could not, neither can the greatest Princes of the world command a shower nor a drop of rain to fall from the heavens. Man cannot command the clouds to rain, either when he will, or where he will, or how much he will; these powers belong to God alone. Yet in one sen e man may lift up his voice to the clouds, and abundance of waters will cover him. There is a twofold voice of man? Fi • st, A commanding voice; And secondly, A praying voice. Let man lift up his commanding voice to the clouds, as long as he will he shall get down no rain, but if man by faith lift up his praying voice to the clouds, that is, to God, in whose hand the clouds are, he may get rain, yea, abundance of waters to cover him. ( Zach. 10.1.) A k ye of the Lord rain, in the time of the latter rain, so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to everyone grass in the field. At the voice of man humbly praying, the Lord makes bright clouds; or (as our Margin hath it) l • ghtenings, which fore-run black clouds; to those God gives showers of rain, and those showers of rain give everyone grass, that is, they cause all sorts of Vegetables to spring and flourish in the field • , both for man and beast. This was one of the cases which Solomon put in his prayer, at the dedication of the Temple for the Lord's answering of prayer. (1 Kings 8.35.) When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray towards this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sins when thou afflictest them; then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, &c. and give rain upon thy land. When the clouds are locked up, when they are as brass over our heads, prayer moves the Lord to open them, or to melt them down into showers, for the refreshing and fructifying of the earth. The Apostle James (Chap. 5.17, 18.) tells us, that • lias covered the earth with abundance of rain, by lifting up his voice in prayer. Elias (saith he) was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months: And he prayed again, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. The holy history makes the same report (1 Kings 18 45.) And it came to pass in the mean while that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain, &c. If we would have rain, we must ask for it, and lift up a praying voice to God, who commands the clouds; it is a vain thing for us to lift up a voice to the clouds in our own name, to command them to give us rain in the season of it.

And as this is true of the clouds and rain, so of all creatures, Their powers and virtues, their efficacies and influences are not at our command, but if we look up to God and wait upon him in prayer, he can command them all to give out their virtues both to serve our necessities and accommodate our delights. Now, as in this question God shows Job his insufficiency to command water, so in the next to command fire from the clouds.

What lightning is, hath been shown once or twice already, in this and the former Chapter, and therefore I shall not stay here in any discourse, either about the nature or the wonderful effects of lightning.

But the Lord's manner of speaking, and his purpose in speaking here about the lightning is very considerable, and calls for further discourse. Canst thou send lightnings that they may go, &c. As if the Lord had said, If thou canst not prevail with the clouds to send rain? canst thou prevail with them to send lightning? hast thou the command of thunder and lightning? will the lightnings come forth at thy bidding?

The words may have a double allusion. 1. To the General of an Army commanding his Soldiers, and they going at his word. 2. To the Master of a Family, who gives orders to his Se vants, and they go at his word; Canst thou send lightnings that they may go

That manner of speech here we are or behold us, is a description of the most ready obedience, either of Soldiers to their General, or of Servants to their Master. Will the lightnings obey thee thus, and say, here we are? Some expound these words, as supposed to be spoken by the lightnings, upon their return from some former service given them in charge by God, as having dispatched what they were sent for, and were ready to go again. Hence the Latin translator gives it thus; That they being returned (or after their return) should say unto thee with reverence, here we are. 1. Ready to go whithersoever thou wilt send us. 2. Ready to do whatsoever thou wilt enjoin us. As if the Lord had said; Canst thou send forth the lightnings, and will they return to thee, and say, we have done thy commands, and here we are again to receive fresh commands, or new orders from thee? Surely, as the rain will not thus obey thee, so neither will the lightnings, neither the one nor the other will be thy servants, to go of thy errand, or execute thy will.

The same note which I gave before concerning the rain, might be taken up here again concerning the lightnings, They are not under the command of man, &c.

Secondly, for as much as the Lord here denies this privilege, both respecting the rain and lightning unto man, he would have us understand and know that both are in himself; though you cannot, yet I can command them, both are under my dominion. While the Lord shows Job his impotency to command these meteors, he asserts his own omnipotency; as he hath made them, so he can rule them.

Hence observe;

What, to appearance, is more out of command than the lightning, that quick, that piercing, that fierce and fiery creature, yet that stirs no more than a stone, till the Lord commands; and at his command it stirs, and is gone in a moment. The Lord God hath spoken (saith the Prophet Amos 3.8.) who can but prophesy? And as a faithful Prophet cannot but prophecy, so the not only faithless, but senseless creatures cannot but do what God hath spoken. That of the