Commentary on Ezra Nehemiah Ester Job and Psalms

CHAP. XXII. Verse 1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said.]

ABruptly, without any Preface he sets upon Job; (as doth likewise Bildad; chap, 25.) acting the part of a spiteful Caviller, rather then of an ingenuous Accuser; reckoning and ranking just Job among the wicked, not covertly, as before, but overtly and expressly: and then thinking to salve all by an exhortation to repentance, backed with a fair promise of a full restauration. Pulcherrima pa • anesis, sed quid ad Johum, saith Brenz? A very good exhortation, but ill applied. We shall do well to take notice what a dangerous thing it is to give way to unruly passions, which like heavy bodies down steep hills, once in motion, move themselves, and know no ground but the bottom.

Verse 2 Can a man be profitable unto God? ] No, neither doth Job say he can but the contrary, chap. 21.22. Howbeit the God of glory, (as he is called, Act. 7.2. although his glory is as himself, infinite and eternal, and therefore not capable of our addition or detraction (the Sun would shine, though all the would were blind;) yet to try how we prize his glory, and what we will do for him, he hath declared that he accounteth himself made glorious by us, when we get so far as to conceive of him above all creatures.

As he that is wise may be profitable to himself? ] Or, But he that is wise. &c. See Prov. 9.12. which Solomon seemeth to have taken hence. Natural reason taught Plantus to bring in a Country-man animating his son cheerfully to follow his business thus, Thou plowest, harrowest, sowest, and reapest for thyself, to thee shall this labor bring in joy. The word here rendered wise, sometimes signifieth prosperous, quod prudentibus omnia feliciter cedant, because prudent persons do usually prosper.

Verse 3. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous? ] Num volup • est Omnipotenti, &c? Is anything added to his joy? Or needeth he thy manners and virtues to the making up of his perfection? Nothing less surely. True it is, that he solliciteth suitors, John 4.23. and is well pleased with our performances, Psal. 51.6. But it is for our sakes, and to our benefit, and not his own. Like as the Sun when he casteth abroad his beams in the world, seemeth to receive light from some other creatures; whereas in truth they all receive light from him, and not he from them; so it is here: And as the same Sun draws up vapors from the earth, not for itself, but to render them again to the earth, to moisten and fatten it. So God, the true Sun of our souls, draweth from us our sighs and services, not for his own profit, but to rain them down again upon us in so many blessings.

Verse 4. Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? ] Doth he plague and punish thee thus, for fear that in time thou mayest grow so over-good, that he cannot reward thee, or so over-great, that he cannot command thee? No such marter. Others read it thus: Would he reprove thee for thy Religion? Would he come into judgment with thee? q.d. Surely God would not deal thus harshly with thee if thou didst truly fear him: But thou art a wicked wretch, as verse 5. Either God punisheth thee for thy piety or thy sinfulness. Not for the former, doubtless, (for piety is profitable to all things, &c.) therefore for the latter. This is Eliphaz his Argument here. But Austin makes answer (besides what Job doth in the two following Chapters) Fract. in Joan. 124. God chastiseth his best children sometimes for his own glory, as John 9.3. sometimes for their good; as namely for prevention, probation, purgation, preparation, either to the performance of some special service; or to the receipt of some special blessing, &c.

Will he enter with thee into judgment? ] This seemeth to be the same in sense with the former Hemistich: and then it shows Eliphaz his confidence, though he were in an error.

Verse 5. Is not thy wickedness great? ] Why no: God of his grace had kept Job innocent of the great transgression, Psal. 19.13. and that wicked one had not touched him: 1 John 5.18. scil. with a deadly couch; had not thrust his sting into him, or transformed him into sins image. Had Eliphaz ever found Job to be such a one as here he maketh him? Or doth he not by these interrogatories, cunningly come over him (in kindness, as we say) to make him confess it? Had all been true that is alleged, Jobs wickedness must needs have been great, and his iniquity infinite. But to be accused is not enough to render a man guilty; for then who should be innocent? Novit sapiens se ad hoc scamma productum, u • depugnet cum • i • s qui maledict is aluntur, ut venenis capreae. Cato was two and thirty times accused, and as often absolved.

And thine iniquities infinite? ] Heb. There is no end of thine iniquities: and hence it is that thy miseries are so many and so long lasting; commernist • tanta tuis sc • leribus. The wicked indeed are eternally tormented; 1. Because being worthless, they cannot satisfy God's Justice in any time: 2. Because they have an infinite desire of sinning against God. But neither of these could be truly affirmed of Job, That so grave a man as Eliphaz. (whom the Jew-Doctors account a Prophet) should fall so fowl upon his innocent friend: and taking occasion by his great afflictions only, conjecture and conclude him so heinous an Offendor, cannot possibly be excused.

Verse 6. For thou hast taken a pledge, &c. ] Bona verba, quaeso, Eliphaz. How well might Job have cried out, as David afterwards did, Psal. 35.11. False witnesses rose up, they laid to my charge things that I knew not. Here he stands accused, 1. Of inhumanity and cruelty; 2. of Irreligion and Impiety. But he fully cleareth himself of both, chap. 30. and 31. Athanasius in like sort was falsely accused of Adultery in the Counsel of Tyre, Anno 3.43. Eustathius Bishop of Entioch, was injuriously deprived for the same cause, about the latter end of Constantine the Great. Adultery, Heresy and Treason were objected to Archbishop Cranmer. Parricide to Mr. Philpot, Sedition to Father Latimer; to which he answereth. As for Sedition, for ought that I know, me thinks I should not need Christ, if I might so say.

For naught ] Or, unconscionably, as one rendereth it: and herein lay the fault. See Deut. 24.6, 10.

And stripped the naked of their clothing ] If naked, how could he strip them, hilde them, as the word signifieth? Chrysostom useth this Proverb, Nudus nec a c •• tum viris spoiliatur, He that is naked cannot be stripped by an hundred men. We also have a Proverb, Where nothing can be had the King must lose his right. And again,

In the late Germane Wars, the Crabats, at Altroff an University, plundered the Scholars, and put poor Genus and Species to their Ransom. Micah inveyeth against such Canibal Princes, as plucked the skin from the flesh, and the flesh from the bones of the poor oppressed, chap. 3.2, 3. See the Note there. That which Eliphaz here chargeth Job with, but without truth, is that he script off the clothing of the naked; that is, that finding them poor enough, he left them yet poorer: hardly having a rag to hang on their backs, through his extortion.

Verse 7. Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink ] But hast slain him with thirst; when thou mightest have saved him with a cup of cold water. Qui non, cum potest, servat, occidit: Not to do good (when it is in the power of a man's hand) is to do evil; and not to save a life is to destroy it, Mark. 3.4. Not robbing only, but not relieving of the beggar, was the rich man's ruin, Luk. 16. who for a cup of cold water, duly given, might have had heaven, Matth. 10.42. But, what meant Eliphaz to charge innocent and munificent Job with such a cruelty? 1 The man was angry; and

2: He seems not directly to charge him with these crimes; but to urge him to consider and confess, that he could not be but a grievous sinner, who was so great a sufferer. Surely God would never handle thee so hardly, unless thou wert deeply guilty of these or the like enormities.

Thou hast withholden Bread from the hungry. ] Bread thou hadst enough and to spare: but, like a greedy-gut Pamphagus, thou wouldst part with none, though it were to save the life, not of thine enemy (which yet thou shouldest have done, Prov. 25.21. Elisha feasted his Persecutors, 2 Kings 6. Isaac his wrong-doers, Gen. 26.39. by a noble revenge) but of thy fellow-friend and brother by race, place, and grace. Thou hast hidden thine eyes from thine own flesh, when thou shouldest have dealt thy Bread to the hungry, Esa. 58.7. Yea, drawn, out thy soul (and not thy sheaf only) famelic • , to the hunger-starved, and satisfied the afflicted soul, verse. 10.

Verse 8. But as for the mighty man, he had the Earth. ] Heb. But as for the man of Arm, he had the Land. This the vulgar applieth to Job: as if by his power he had wrought all others out, and seated himself alone in the Land; suffering none to dwell by him, but those that he could not over-match. Others by the mighty man understand the strong and wealthy; who are said to be gracious with Job, sharing with him in his Possessions, and partaking of his Privileges, when the poor were slighted and could not have Justice, much less Mercy. Here then Eliphaz accuseth Job of Pride and Partiality.

And the honorable man dwell • in it. ] Heb. Eminent, or accepted for countenance: that is, he who came commended by his wealth, friends, great alliances, honors, &c. was in great request with Job, and might easily carry any cause with him. Hac sunt peccate gravissima, quae non reputant homines, saith Vatablus, These are very great sins, though men little think of it.

Verse 9. Thou hast sont Widows away empty. ] A Widow is a calamitous name, 2 Sam. 14.5. I am indeed a Widow-woman and my Husband is dead. As a Tree whose root is uncovered thriveth not: so it fareth with a widow. R. Jon • observeth, That in Hebrew she hath her name from dumbness, quod m • rit • mortuo respondere non possit adversariis, et se adversus eos tueri, because now that her Husband is dead, she cannot answer her adversaries, or defend herself against them. God therefore hath taken them and their Orphans into his tuition, owning them as his Clients, and commanding all men to be good to them. These if Job had indeed sent away empty, not only not relieving their necessities, but ravishing their estates, adding the misery of poverty to that of their condition, he had surely subjected himself to the fierce wrath of God, their P • tro • by a specialty.

And the arms of the fatherless have been broken. ] Immanis injuria, si ita res haberet, sed calumnia erat, saith Mercer. This had been a crying crime, if it could have been proved against Job; but he was not the man: Some from these words conclude him a Judge; others a King. Doubtless he was a porent person, and by his greatness could have borne out his soulest outrages, breaking through the lattice of the Laws, as the bigger Flies do through a Spider-web. Sed alia de se infrà profi •• bi • ur, saith Mercer here: But Job shall clear himself in the following Chapters: where we shall find him described and charactered to have been the Oracle of Wisdom, the Guardian of Justice, the Refuge of Innocency, the comet of the Guilty, the patron of Peace, and pattern of Piety, to Magistrates especially, in the wise managing of all public Affairs, both of Judgment and Mercy.

Verse 10. Therefore snares are round about thee. ] Flagitium & flagellum sunt sicut acus et filam. Sin and Punishment are tied together with chains of Adamant. Eliphaz having with more earnestness than truth set forth Jobs sins, now discourseth of his snares. Four punishments he assureth him of, and everyone worse than other. 1. He shall be Insnared. 2. Frighted. 3. Benighted. 4. Overwhelmed, if Repentance step not in and take up the matter, as verse 22. And tis as if he should say, Seek not after any other cause of thy Calamities than thy forementioned wickednesses: neither seek any other way to get off, than by confessing and forsaking them, that thou mayst have mercy.

And sudden fear troubleth thee: ] Fear is a troublesome Passion: and sudden evils are very terrible, because they expectorate a man's abilities, and render him helpless, shiftless, comfortless. See this in Saul, who surprised with sudden horror at his destiny read him by the Devil, fell straightway all along on the earth like an Ox, and was sore afraid, and there was no strength in him, 1 Sam. 28.20. Job also had his fears, but then he had his cordials too, that kept him from falling under them.

Verse 11. Or darkness, that thou canst not see. ] Sunt tenebrae supplicia, et damnatorum desperationes, saith Brenz here; By darkness are meant punishments temporal, and eternal. Others understand the text of blindness and confusion of mind, that can neither see the cause of trouble, nor find an issue.

And abundance of waters cover thee ] So that although thou shouldest escape the snares, out-live the fears, run away in the dark, yet how wilt thou avoid the Deluge of Destruction, the over-flowing scourge that carrieth all before it?

Verse 12. Is not God in the height of Heaven? ] Some add out of the next verse, these words, Sayest thou; making Jobs Atheistical speeches (here mimetically fathered upon him by Eliphaz ) an argument of his great wickedness; as if Job should say, and so discover himself (for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, Matth. 12.) to be of Protagoras his opinion, who doubted of a Deity: Or of Diagoras his, who flatly denied it: Or at least of Aristotle's, who pent up God in heaven; and taught that he took little or no care of things done on earth. But what saith the Psalmist? (and Job was of the same mind, whatever the Jew-Doctors affirm of him to the contrary,) Our God is in the Heavens: he hath done whatsoever he pleased in heaven and in earth. The Lord is high above all Nations: and his glory above the Heavens. Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high: who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth? He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, &c. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth to show himself strong, &c. His wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Job had frequently acknowledged and celebrated the power and providence of God, his judgments upon the wicked, his fatherly chastisements upon himself; deeply detesting all such thoughts and speeches as he is here wrongfully made the Author of.

And behold the height of the Stars. ] Heb. The head of the stars; those that are the very highest, and at the top of the visible heaven, the eighth heaven, beyond which some of the Ancients acknowledged not any other. Aristotle saith, That beyond the aspectable and moveable heavens, there is neither body, nor time, nor place, nor vacuum. But the scripture teacheth us, That there is beyond the Stars (how high set soever) a third heaven, a heaven of heavens, the Throne of God, and habitation of the Blessed: The starry sky is but as the brick-wall encompassing this lofty Palace, the glorious and glittering rough-cast thereof.

How high they are. ] Ut vix • o noster possit aspectus pertingere, so high that our eyes can hardly reach them. It is a wonder, that we can look up to so admirable a height, and that the very eye is not tired in the way. Now God is far, far above the stars, omnium supremus, altissimorum altiss • mus, The high and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity, Isa. 57.17. dwelleth in light inaccessible, 1 Tim. 6.16. such as whereof no natural knowledge can be had, nor any help by human Arts, Geometry, Opticks, &c. How then can he see from such a distance what is here done on earth, saith the Atheist? who thinks to hide himself from God, because he hath hidden God from himself? Hear him else in the next verse. See also Ezek. 8.12. and 9.9.

Verse 13. And thou sayest, How doth God know? ] A brutish question, Psal. 94.7, 8. and never of Jobs making. There are a fort of such miscreants as believe nothing but what they see with their bodily eyes: and indeed, for a finite creature to believe the infinite Attributes of God, he is not able to do it thoroughly, without supernatural grace; which therefore must be begged of God, Jam. 1.5. that he would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of our understanding being enlightened, &c. Ephes. 1.17, 18. For want whereof, the wicked, blinded with sin, ask such senseless and blasphemous questions as this in the text, and those like this, Psal. 10.11. Zeph. 1.12. See the Note there. It is a ridiculous thing, saith Pliny, to think that the highest Majesty taketh care of human affairs, a service (doubtless) far below him, and unworthy of his greatness.

Can he judge through the dark cloud? ] Can he discern through such a dark medium? Men cannot see God; and therefore some fools are apt to think that neither can he see them. But that Job was far from any such thought, see chap. 21.16.22. To blame therefore was Eliphaz to charge him with such a wickedness: and all because he had said, that in this life bad men oft prosper, and better men suffer, which yet is verum tanquam ex tripode, very true; and not at all derogatory to the divine providence.

Verse 14. Thick clouds are a covering to him. ] He lieth close hid among the clouds, and seeth nothing. But be the clouds never so thick, Christ's eyes are a flaming fire, Rev. 1.14. And the School of Nature teacheth, That the fiery eye needeth no outward light, but seech extra-mittendo, by sending out a ray, &c. He will freely blot out the sins of his people as a cloud, and their transgressions as a thick cloud, Esa. 44.22. & 43.25. but the clouds cannot hinder him from sight of their sins; for he is All-eye: and darkness and light are both alike to him, Psal. 139.12. A cloud may come between the body of the Sun and us: and the whole. Hemisphere may be masked and over-cast as we call it, but nothing can keep God from eying and ordering all things.

And he walk h in the circuit of heaven. ] Where it seemeth thou thinkest he only manageth matters and beareth rule, and not below. So indeed the Peripatetics thought, and taught. Agreeably whereunto Lysippus made Alexanders picture looking up to heaven, with this Posy,

With which picture Alexander was so delighted, that he proclaimed that none should take his picture but Lysippus.

Augustus also heard with delight,

And the Great Turk, vexed at his great loss in the last Assault of Scodra, most horribly blasphemed against God, saying, That it were enough for him to have care of heavenly things, and not to cross him in his worldly actions. The Atheist here taketh it for granted, That God hath enough to do to walk from place to place in Heaven, (as Princes do in their Progress) and to order those heavenly bodies how they shall affect these lower bodies, by their light, heat, and influence, &c. Fain they would confine him to that circuit or circle (the heavens are supposed to be sphaerical and circular ) that he might meddle no further. Fain they would persuade themselves and others, That God hath cast off the care of earthly business, and committed all to Fate and Fortune: that many might live far more comfortable, if they were less conscientious: that it dothing concerneth God, whether men do or not do this or that, &c. Such dust-heap • s as these may be easily found in every corner; for all places are full of them, and so is hell too. As for Job, the Counsel of these wicked ones was far from him, chap. 21.16. he was the worse to think of them: whatever Eliphaz (by mistake of his meaning at the least) thought of him.

Verse 15. Hast thou marked the old way? ] Heb. The way of old. Broughton rendereth it, the way of the old world: of those ungodly ones before the Flood. Hereby it appeareth, say our Learned Annotatours, that Job lived before the deliverance out of Egypt, because he mentioneth the Creation and the Flood, but not that deliverance; which had he known, it would have affo • ded him an excellent Argument to prove that godly men might be in great afflict on, as the Israelites were in Egypt; and his friends a plausible argument that God useth to destroy wicked men for their sin, as he did the Egyptians in the red sea.

Which wicked men have trodden. ] Heb. Mortals of iniquity, or vanity. Viri nequam & nequaquam, vel nibili; Men of wickedness with a witness. The face of the old world was grown so fowl, that God was fain to wash it with a flood. All was out of order in family, State and Church. In the Family was found Luxury, and unlawful Marriages. In the State, Tyranny, violence, rapacity and injustice. In the Church, contempt of God's Word, and a fond opinion that God did not order all by his Providence. but that a man might do well enough without him. Now that this was the Opinion of those Antediluvian Belialists, some have gathered from this Text, which they read thus, Wilt thou follow the old way; that is, the Tenet of those old sinners against their own souls, whom God for their damnable security and licentiousness (the products of such a portentous opinion) buried all together in one universal grave of waters?

Verse 16. Which were cut down out of time ] Or, Which grew full of wrinkles (as those that have long lien in the water are apt to do) and not time; that is, before that time of life that they had promised themselves on earth; or before they had fulfilled the days of their forefathers, who though wicked above measure many of them, yet the flood could not come, till Methuselah (the last liver of the ten Patriarchs) were laid up. God cuts off some notoriously wicked betime, when in the course of Nature they might have lived longer, that they may do no more hurt, as the Gardener destroyeth young Henbane, and the Country man young Vermins.

Whose foundation was overflown with a flood ] Heb. A river was poured upon their foundation. This some understand of that River of Brimstone and fire poured from heaven upon Sodom and her sisters: But better take it of those in Noah's days, whose foundation (that is, the earth, that foundation of mankind: or their wealth and prosperity, whereon they thought themselves firmly founded, or their lives, &c.) were everslowne with a flood; which came rushing in upon them with mighty force, and drowned the Universe. And here the Hebrews make to be the middle of this Book of Job, wherein they reckon in all One thousand and seventy verses.

Verse 17. Which said unto God, Depart from us ] Atheists, those Antediluvians were; if not Dogmatical, yet practical, such as Job had described, speaking the like language of hell, chap. 21.14. Et maliciose eum Eliphazus talium atheorum numero accenset, saith Mercer, And maliciously doth Eliphaz reckon Job among those odious Atheists, so thinking to cut his throat with his own sword, and confute him with his own words. Malice cares not how truly things are set forth, so it may gall or kill.

And what can the Almighty do for them? ] that is, They asked, what can the Almighty do for them? As if God neither could nor would reward their services: as if he would do them neither good nor evil. The Seventy render it, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 What will he bring upon us? q.d. He threateneth us with a flood, but when trow, and how? Let the day of the Lord come? Isai. 5 19. Where is the promise of his coming, &c? 2 Pet 2. Thus they jeered when it was fitter they should have feared? but what was the issue?

Verse 18 Yet he filled their houses with good things ] Heb. With good; that is, with all precious and pleasant riches, whereof he gave them both plenty and propriety, but no otherwise then as Joseph caused his cup to he conveyed into Benjamins sack the better to furnish out an Indictment against him. And as Benjamins pretended theft was held more heinous, by how much his welcome was the greater, for he had a five-fold portion: so shall it one day fare with such rich wretches, as whose bellies God filleth with his hid treasure, and whose houses he filleth top full with good things.

Well might Eliphaz add, all things reckoned.

But (or yet) the counsel of the wicked is (or be it) far from me ] See these words expounded, chap 21.16. where Job hath the very same. Sed ea vult illi eripere Eliphaz. saith a learned Interpreter. But Eliphaz will needs take them away from him: and it is as if he should say, Thou, O Job, seemest by thy words, and with thy mouth to detest the counsel of the wicked; but thy doings declare the contrary. Whilst thou so many ways celebratest the prosperity of the ungodly. To me therefore, and to all righteous men, who do heartily hare the wicked, and do seriously set forth God's just judgments against them, doth this speech better agree, and more truly appertain, &c. And as for these righteous men, let me tell thee further,

Verse 19. The righteous see it, and are glad ] And as for myself, The counsel of the wicked is far from me: I do therefore abominate their present prosperity, because they shall shortly be for a laughing stock to all good men: The upright shall see it and be glad, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth, as self-condemned, and therefore by the Saints (swallowed up with a zeal of God's glory) rightly derided, Psal. 52 6. and 58.11.

And the Innocent laugh them to scorn ] Not out of ill will, or envy, or other corrupt affection: But 1. For the glory of God, whose Power, Justice and Goodness is hereby evinced and evidenced. 2. For the good of others, who stumble at the prosperity of the ungodly, or else are eased of their cruelty. 3. And hereunto, That it is never the worse for the wicked themselves, that God taketh them off. For if they be Elect, they repent ere they die: as if Reprobates, they are kept hereby from adding to their sin, and so to their torments, which shall be proportionable thereunto. Those that understand this verse of Noah and his sons, rejoicing when they saw the rest drowned, and themselves preserved, render the words thus, The righteous saw it and were glad, and the innocent laughed them to scorn. A late reverend man of God amongst us, in a Discourse of his about the benefit of a good conscience in times of common calamity, brings in Noah and those with him in the Ark, insulting over the perishing old world thus: Now Jubal let us hear one of your merry songs, pipe now, and make yourself merry, as you were wont in gybing at Noah's folly in making a Ship to sails on dry land. What ailest thou Jubal, to howl and wring thine hands thus? Where is thy Harp and Organs now? Now the flood is come, now Noah is in his Cabin, and the water begins to be chin-deep, tell me, O Jubal, whether building of Tents, or building of an Ark be the wiser work? Would you not give all the shoes in your shop, all the tools in your tents, all the cattle in your flocks, to be but where Noah's dog lies? And now Sirs, you that were such men of Renown, Gen. 6.4. you that were the brave Gallants of the earth, now tell me who is the fool, and who is the wise man now. Thus he. Piscator takes the next verse, Whereas (or, though ) our substance is not cut down, but (or, yet ) the remnant of them the fire consumeth, to be spoken in the person of Noah, whom he makes the innocent man here mentioned; and adds, Saying, in the beginning of the next verse; As if Noah coming out of the Ark should wash his feet in the blood of those wicked; and say. God hath preserved me and mine, (our sincerity hath prevailed for our safety) and in his wrath destroyed the ungodly. But I rather concur with Tremellius, and Merlin, and others, who make this verse coherent with, and preparatory to the following famous Exhortation to Repentance, Verse 21, 22, 23, &c. Acquaint thyself now with him, and be at peace, &c. But be sure thou do it now, that is speedily and timeously.

Verse 20. When as our substance is not cut down ] that is, Whiles life lasteth, and whiles it is called today; before death cometh: and after death, judgment: when the remnant of the wicked fire shall consume. Where we have a forcible motive to repent, because we must either • urn or burn, Aut poenitendum, aut pereundum, See Acts 17.31. 2 Cor. 5.10, 11. Heb. 12.28, 29. Eliphaz seemeth here on purpose to have mentioned that fire wherewith wicked men shall be tormented at the last day, and before (for every man's deaths-day is his doom-day ) and to have changed the person.

The remnant (or excellency ) of them the fire consumeth ] That it might the more effectually move men to repent, that they may be delivered from the wrath to come. And here I could willingly take up Chrysostom's wish, Vtinam ubique de Gehenna dissereretur! Oh that men would talk more everywhere of hell fire unquenchable, intolerable, and the fuel thereof made of the most tormenting temper, Isai. 30.33. It was a speech of Gregory Nyssen, He that does but hear of hell, is without any further labor or study taken off from sinful pleasures, and set upon the practice of mortification. But men's hearts are grown harder nowadays, and he that shall observe their impiety and impenitency, may well say to them, as Cato once did to Caesar, Credo quae de inferis dicuntur falsa existimas, I believe thou thinkest all but a fable that is said concerning hell.

Verse 21. Acquaint now thyself with him ] Accommoda 〈◊〉 nune illi • ass • esce cum illo. Converse with God in an humble familiarity; set him at the right hand, Psal 16.8. be ever at his hand, Ut famulus son accensus, as Attendant upon his person. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and let him direct thy paths, Prov. 3.6. Ask counsel at his mouth, aim at his glory, be thou in his fear all the day long, Prov. 23.17. Account it thine happiness to be in communion with him, and conformity to him, in all parts and points of duty. The Lord is with you, if you be with him, 2 Chron. 15.3.

And be at peace, ] Return to him by repentance, from whom thou hast so deeply revolted, and against whom thou hast so shamefully rebelled. For Eliphaz here takes it for granted, that Job had estranged himself from God, and therefore could not possibly be at peace till better acquainted with him, and acquiescing in him, as the Vulgar here hath it. No creature is more fearful then a fish, flying at the shadow of a man; yet it feareth not the roaring Ocean, (which yet Lions, and other fierce creatures fear) because it is of its own nature and acquaintance. A sheep feareth not his shepherd; nor shall we God, if once acquainted with him: Pe •• e shall be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy Tabernacles.

Thereby good shall come unto thee ] Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee, Psal. 128.2. A Coruncopia, a confluence of all manner of comforts and contentments shall betide thee: but then thou must humble thyself to walk with thy God, Mi • . 6.8. by faith walk with God, and by reflection walk with thyself: Compone, & emenda vias tu •• coram Domino, and then thou needest not say with the worldling, Who will show us any good? Psal. 4.6. for God himself will say unto thee, as once he did to Moses, when he gave him but a glimpse of himself and his glory, Ostendam tibiomne bonum, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, Ex • d. 33.19.

Verse 22, Receive, I pray thee, the Law from his mouth ] Now he speaks Job fair, whom before he had sufficiently rippled up, and rough-hewed, without mercy, or so much as truth. That which he here persuadeth him to, is to depend upon God for direction and success in all his enterprises: to consult with him upon all occasions, and not to do ought without his warranty and approbation. God's testimonies were David's delight, and his Counselors, Psalm 119.24. All that advise not with these, must needs be without understanding, a Nation void of counsel, Deut. 32.28.

And lay up his words in thine heart. ] Heb. Put his word, as the Tables were put in the Ark; mingle God's Word with faith in thine heart, as in a vessel: Cor autem sit carnen • fide; the flinty heart is made flashly by faith, and capable of divine impressions.

Verse 23. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up. ] By sin men run from God, by repentance they return to him. Break off thy sins by repentance, and put away iniquity far from thy Tabernacle (for iniquity and repentance cannot cohabit, and he is no true Penitentiary, that reformeth not his family, that setteth not up God, wherever he hath to do) so shalt thou be built up; that is, thou shalt be restored, and all thy losses in wealth and Children shall be made up again: prorsus erigeris qui • am collapsus es: thou, who art now down on all four, shalt be new set up, and made to stand in thy former strength. Only thou must return usque ad Om • potentem, all out as far as to the Almighty, thou must not give the half-turn only as hypocrites do, but with thy whole heart; and as Joel 2.12. see the Note there. Thus Eliphaz discourseth very well, and handsomely of the business in hand: Only he was out in this, That he looked upon Job as an impenitent person, and upon his family as ill-ordered, As also, in that he conceived that true repentance is ever rewarded with outward and inward prosperity: whereas a penitent person may continue under crosses, though God will surely save the humble, as he saith afterwards, verse 29. and, repentance can turn crosses into comforts: and like the Philosophers stone, make golden afflictions, 1 Pet. 1.7. As scarlet pulls out the teeth of a Serpent, so this takes away the sting of a judgment. As wine draweth a nourishing virtue from the flesh of Vipers, &c.

Verse 24. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust ] Which is as much as to say (saith One) thou shalt make pavements of gold; see 2 Chron. 1.15. Psal. 68.30. Then shalt thou have thy desire; for thou shall be rich with content, which is worth a million, as another paraphraseth it. Beza rendereth it thus, Cast thy gold on the ground, (even that worldly pelf, whereto thou hast been wholly addicted) and let the gold of Op • ir beunt thee as the peeble-stonts of the brooks, (make no more account of it than of those small stones) and let the Almighty be thy tower, let him be unto thee as plenty of silver. The Spaniards are said to have found in the Mines of America, more Gold than Earth. Perhaps Eliphaz here promiseth Job, that upon his return to God, his Land should have many rich veins of Gold: And so One paraphraseth this text thus; Then shall you acquit yourself of all your losses, and you shall recover with usury what was taken from you: for, for barren lands which could being forth nothing, you shall have such as in their entrails shall produce Porphyry: and instead of those unprofitable Rocks which made a part of your Estate, you shall have fertile Mines, from whence shall issue Rivers of Gold. Agreeable whereunto is that Exposition of Bren • ius, Repo •• etur pro pul • er • aurum, pro vili preciosum • pro fluv • is ar • nam trabentibus, terrentes a • eis lapillis impleti; Thou shalt have for Dust Gold: for vile things those that are precious: for sandy rivers, golden torrents. An byperbolical expression.

And the Gold of Ophir. ] Where the best Gold grew: possibly the same with Peru, the letters only transposed. Ophir, Gen. 10. was one of the sons of • oktan, who came of Shem, from whom, saith Josephus, a Country in India abounding with Gold, had its name. Him aurum obrizune dictum, quase Ophirizum: Ophir, is here put for the Gold of Ophir: for the word Gold is not in the original.

Verse 25. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defense. ] Or, thy Gold, for the same word signifieth both: chap. 36.19. because Gold is the worldly man's defense, Prov. 18.11. though but a • o •• y one, Zeph. 1.18. Prov. 11.4. Ezek. 7.19. It is as if he should say, Either thou shalt have gold God's plenty; or else, then shalt have that which is better than gold, viz. God the Maker and Master of all the world, saith 〈◊〉 , who rendereth the 〈◊〉 ; And the Almighty: shall be thy choicest gold, and silver, and strength to 〈◊〉 He shall be all that heart can wish, or need require. A friend of Cyrus, in • eno p • on, being asked where him Treasure was? Answered, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Where Cyrus is my friend: Let us answer, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Where God is my friend. When David had said, The Lord is my portion, he subjoined in the next verse, The 〈…〉 pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage, Psal. 10.5, 6. When God had said to Abraham, Law thy s •• i •• , he easily slighted the King of Sol • o ••• ith offers.

And whom 〈◊〉 have 〈…〉 ] Heb. Silver of strengths, or of heights 〈◊〉 that is, at the rulgar interp • epe • h it; 〈…〉 coacer • abit •• tibi; thou shalt have high heaped of silver, store of money 〈…〉 hath the promises of both lives: and if godly men are not 〈…〉 , it is, that godliness may he adtmired for itself? And they must know • 〈…〉 in remporals, shall be made up in spirituals; according to 〈◊〉 which folleweth.

Verse 26. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty. ] As in thine only Portion. Thou shalt enjoy him which is the top of human happiness: solace thyself in the fruition of him, ta •• e and see how good the Lord is, and thereupon love him dearly, Psal. 18.1. not only with a love of desire, as Psal. 42.1, 2. but of complacency, as Psal. 73.25, 26. affecting not only an union, but an unity with him: and conversing with him, as we may, in the mean while, in a fruitful and cheerful use of his holy Ordinances.

And shalt lift up thy face unto God. ] Wrapping thyself in Christ's righteousness, thou shalt draw nigh to God with an humble boldness in duty, and not doubt but he will draw nigh to thee in mercy. It is said of Luther, that he prayed with so great reverence as unto God; and yet with so great confidence, as to his friend.

Verse 27. Then shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall he • r thee. ] Yea, though thou multiply prayer and intorcession for thyself and others (as the word signifieth, and as afterwards Job did for Eliphaz and his fellows, or else it bad gone worse with them) yet he shall hear thee in all: Thou shalt as his favourite, have the royalty of his ear, and he shall say unto thee seriously as Z ••• kiah did once to his Courtiers soothingly, The King can deny you nothing. Iste viz potuit ap • d D • um quod • oluit, said One concerning Luther, That man could have of God whatsoever he lifted. This David took (as well he might) for a singular mercy, Psal. 13. ult. Psal. 66. ult.

And thou shalt pay thy vows. ] i.e. Thou shalt return thy thanks, and so shalt drive an holy trade, as it were, betwixt heaven and earth. Nulla tibi a Deo nisi gratias agendi accasio dabitur. Thou shalt have unmiscarrying returns of thy suits; so that thou must be ready with thy praises •• ter their prayers; for that is all thou shalt have to do. Praise wai •• th for thee, O God, in Zion; and unto thee shall all the vow be performed. O thou that heavest prayers, note thee shall all flash come, with their thanks in their hands as it were.

Verse 28. Thou shalt also de •• es a thing and it shall be established unto thee. ] God will be better to thee than thy Prayers: and prosper all thy Counsels, effect thy designs. The ungodly are not so, as is to be seen in those revolted Israelites, Judge. 2. in King Saul, and in our King Jobs. O • if they have their designs, it is for a further mischief to them: As, if the godly he crossed, it is in mercy: like as it is storied of our Queen Isabel, that being to repass from Z • land into Eagland with an Army, they hath 〈◊〉 been utterly cast away, had she 〈…〉 being there expected by her enemies. But providence, against her will, brought her to another pla •• , where she safely 〈◊〉 . The like is reported of Bishop Jo • el, that being sought for by the Popish Persecutors, he had been caught, but that going to London, he •• st his way.

And the light shall 〈◊〉 upon thy wa •• ] That is to say, God will inspire thee with good counsel and direction in all thine affairs; and turn thin • ill counsels into good unto thee (as the Heathens thought Minerva did to her Athenians, and as the Romans fancied of their God • es • Vibilia, that she set them in their right way when they were wandering) or will shine over them with his blessing, contrary to thy complaint, chap. 19.8.

Verse 20. When me • are 〈…〉 ] And that by the 〈◊〉 of thy Faith; the 〈…〉 out of another, 〈…〉 distresses, 〈◊〉 32.36.) and to believe God upon his 〈…〉 and that against 〈…〉 things 〈…〉 in 〈…〉 thou 〈…〉 and saving of 〈…〉 eyes down: whereof some makes this to be the sense; 〈…〉 be able out of his own experience to 〈…〉 who likewise humble themselves. Junius rendereth this, and the following verse, 〈…〉 and 〈…〉 upon 〈…〉 they be 〈…〉 and 18.24. And hence Jobs intercession 〈…〉

And he shall save the humble person. ] Heb. Him that is low of eyes, as was Job at this time and the Publican, Luk. 18.13. An high look, and a proud heart go together, Psal. 101.5. And as God resisteth such, Jam. 4.4. 1 Pet. 5.5. so he giveth grace to the humble; and not grace only, but glory too; as here; safety here, and salvation hereafter.

Verse 30. He shall deliver the Island of the innocent. ] Or. He shall deliver th • not innocent; him that i • not guiltless: and even such shall be delivered for the purity of thine handi. Thus God gave Z • ar to Lot, and all the souls in the ship to Paul, and the guilty Israelites to Moses. See Jer. 5.1. Or, the innocent shall deliver the Island: Or, Liberabitur v • innocentis, The innocent shall be freed from affliction: so Brenz.

And it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands. ] i. Of thy works, or by the pure hands listed up in Prayer. Semen sanctum statu ••• terra, the Saints bear up the state, Isa. 6.13. they uphold the pillars of the earth by their Piety and Prayers: and therefore when God is unchangeably resolved to ruin a people, he silenceth his Saints, as Jer. 7.16. or removeth them out of the world; as he did Methuselah the year before the Flood. And as one Sinner may destroy much good, Eccl. 9.18. So one Praying Saint may save an Island, a whole Country: it is delivered by the pureness of thy hands. It may be, the work sticks at thee: why then is not thy shoulder at the wheel, when the cart is stalled?

CHAP. XXIII. Verse 1. Then Job answered and said.]

Fiz. IN defense of his own integrity, against Eliphaz his calumnies in the foregoing Chapter. To make Apology to everyone that shall traduce us, • lat • holdeth to be both base and Bootlesse. But when such a weighty man as Eliphaz shell say load upon so innocent a man as Job, Qu •• t • lerit? something would be said in way of answer.

Verse 2. Even today is my complaint bitter ] q.d. After all mine endeavoar to satisfy you, I am still mis-interpreted, and accounted by you my friends no better then a Malcontent and a Murmu • er against God; albeit my laments do no way equal my torments. True it is, that Eliphaz had given him excellent counsel, chap. 22.21.22. &c. but it was to flatter him into the same error that himself held; viz. that bodily and temporal sufferings are a sure sign of a notorious hypocrite. Hence Job never taketh notice of it in this reply: but begins his Apology pathetically and abruptly; and soon falls into an appease to God the righteous Judge, who well knew, (though his friends would take no notice of it) that he complained not without cause • but the contrary.

My stroke is heavier thou my groaning ] Most men's groaning is greater then their strokes or sufferings. Invalidum • mus natura querulum est? Some are ever whining and growling: their lips, like rusty hinges, move not without murmuring and m •• tinying, yea they not only creak but break, as rotten boughs do, if but a little weight be hung upon them. Or as some men's flesh, which if never so little •• ved with a pin, it presently rankleth and festereth. Job was none of these; if he groaned, as he did (and will they deny him that ease of his color? Expletur la •• ry mis, 〈…〉 • olor ) there was very great cause for it, 〈◊〉 his pressures were greater then could be expressed by any signs or words.

Verse 3. Oh that I knew where I might find him. ] that is, God, so oft in his mind and mouth, that his acquaintance might easlly know whom he mean. Aph-H • ; everu •• 2. Kings 2.14. is held by some to be one of God's Attributes. And 〈…〉 , without mention of 〈◊〉 , was an ordinary oath in Plato's mouth, as 〈…〉

That I might come even to his seat] His Tribunal prepared for him, Great is the confidence of a good conscience. See Gen. 20.5. 1 Pet. 3.21. But yet hac certe. omnia andacius dituntur a misero homun • ione; this was too bold a speech for a mortal creature, as God himself(who gave him his wish) will afterwards tell him, chap 38.2. and 40.2. and contrary to that which he had before resolved on, chap. 9.3. See the like failing in David, Psalm 39 1, 3. and 2 Samuel 6.8, 9. In these examples of so good men, we may see how natural it is to us in affliction to rise up against God; as the horse that casteth his Rider, and riseth up against him. This the Poets shadowed out in their fiction of the Giants conspiring to pull Jove out of heaven. That which may be said in favor. of Job herein, is, 1. That ver 6. he professeth to plead with God in God's strength. 2. That being accused by his friends of so foul offenses, he had no other way of clearing himself, then by appealing unto God, whose most just judgment he acknowledged. 3 That he durst not have spoken thus boldly, but in confidence of his mercy. 4 That he would have this his controversy with his friends, (and not his whole life) to be exactly examined and judged by God.

Verse 4. I would order my cause before him ] I would not stick to approach to his Tribunal, there to plead my cause (not against him, as being the Supreme Judge, and not either Plaintiff or Defendant, but) against your false and wrongful accusations, which undoubtedly I would disprove and confute by many forcible and strong Arguments.

And fill my mouth with arguments ] Heb. Redargutions, increpations, reprehensions. A good Orator will first rightly lay down his cause, state the Question, as we call it. 2. Confirm it with reasons: 3. Observe what is said to the contrary, and confute it. Job would do all this, if he might have audience: but if to God all this, Job was much mistaken: And so at another time, when in a better mind he could say, Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication my Judge. If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemns me, &c, chap. 9.15, 20.

Verse 5. I would know the words that he would answer me ]. q.d. I cannot know your minds, O my friends, non understand your words, which yet I believe are little to the purpose: But God (I know) will utter his mind plainly, and approve my cause which you so rashly condemn. Thus John Hus and other Martyrs, when they could not have a fair hearing from men, appealed and applied, themselves to God, committing their cause to him who judgeth righteously.

Verse 6 Will he plead against me with his great power? ] No, for then you were in a woe-case. For if God's breath blow us to destruction, as so many dust heaps, Job 4.9. if he frown us to death, and nod us to destruction, Psal. 80.16. What shall we think of his Almighty power, which none can abide or avoid? Difficile est contra en •• scribere qui potest proscribere: It is dangerous dealing with him, who hath at his command thirty legions, said the philosopher to the Emperor, who would needs crack an Argument with him. And should Job dare to do it with the Lord of hosts as if stronger then he? The thunder of his power, who can bear? The stoutest men quake before him; and as the worms when it thundereth, wriggle into the corners of the earth, ready to run, as Caligula did, under any bed, or any benchhole.

No. but he would put strength in me ] Sic enim ex fidei 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . persuasus, saith an Interpreter. Thus was Job persuaded out of the full assurance of his faith, that God would deal with him as a loving Father, and not as a severe Judge: for who can stand before his wrath, or withstand his will? No man surely can contend with God, unless he put strength in him, as he did into Jacob, Gen. 32. whom he upheld with the one hand, as he strove against him with the other. This foregoing with therefore of Job, hath an excellent commendation in it of his faith and integrity, yet so as that in some things it is blameworthy. For who can come to God's Seat, since he dwelleth in light unapproachable? neither can any one see God and live, Exod. 3.4. For this boldness therefore of his he shall be hereafter sharply reproved; first by Eli • u, and then also by God himself, stepping forth as it were from behind the hangings, overhearing him, and saving, Who is this that talks thus? how now? chap. 38.2, 3.

Vese 7. There the righteous might dispute with him ] There for Th •• ; scil. when God shall put strength into him: the upright or honest man (who draweth near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having his heart sprinkled from an evil conscience by the blood of Jesus Christ, Heb. 10.22.) might dispute with God, but not unless he have that Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Just One, to appear in the presence of God for him, Heb. 9.24. as the Lawyer appeareth for his Client to put by and non-suit all accusations, to plead his cause, and to justify him by the only merit of his righteousness and obedience. All Saint Paul's care was to be found in Christ, when fought for by the Justice of God; not having his own righteousness which is of the Law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, Phil. 3.9. for sordet in conspectu judicis, quod fulget in conspectu operantis, that which is highly esteemed amongst men, is abomination in the sight of God, Luke 16.15 They only may dispute with God, that is, in an humble and laudable manner plead with him, as did Jacob. Gen. 32.24. and Jeremy, chap. 12 •• . who partake of Christ's righteousness imputed and imparted; opposing to the appearances of God's wrath the firm persuasion of his grace, by the Seal of his Spirit, Et • quam h •• non est • mnium! This is few men's happiness.

So should I be delivered forever from my Judge ] Who would quit me by Proclamation: and then I should the less care to be condemned by you my fellow-prisoners. I care not for man's day since he that judgeth me is the Lord, 1 Cor. 4.3, 4. Where note, what boldness and confidence the upright have in God; neither shall they be herein deceived, as Job was not.

Verse 8. Behold, I go forward. ] Heb. Eastward, which is reckoned the forepart of the world; because that eye of the world, the Sun, riseth there; and every man looketh to the rising Sun.

But he is not there. ] sc. In that sort, as I desired to find him, verse 3. he is not visible to me; he is too subtle for sinew or sight to seize upon: his judgments also are unsearchable: and his paths past finding out. True it is, that the whole world is nothing else but Deut explicatus, a Mirrour or Theatre wherein God may be seen; yea, felt, and found out by those that are blind, Act. 17.27. If a man hear a Sermon by night, and in the dark, though he see not the Preacher, yet he knows he is there. So Job questioned not God's Omnipresence; but complaineth that himself was benighted, and forsaken of his hopes to be eased of his troubles, outwardly in body, or inwardly in mind: this is the judgment of the flesh, when under Affliction.

And backward, but I cannot perceive him. ] For indeed he is imperceptible by bodily eyes, neither sitteth he anywhere in this world to decide controversies, as he shall do in the clouds at the last day, when the righteous shall look up, for their redemption draweth nigh; and the wicked shall look on and wail because of him, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Rev. 1.7. they shall look and lament, yea, be mad for the sight of their eyes which they shall see, as Deut. 28.34.

Verse 9. On the left hand, where he doth work. ] i.e. Northward; where God is said to work; either because that in the North-part of heaven are more signs, and of more remarkable influence than in the South: or else because the Northern parts of the world are more inhabited than the Southern, because more temperate; and so there is more of God to be seen there in his works, as letters refracted in a glass. Seculum est speculum, que Deum intucamur.

But I cannot behold him. ] See the Note on verse 8.

He hideth himself on the right hand &c. ] He worketh not so much in the Southern parts of the world: the torrid Zone is unhabitable, &c. Yet the Ethiopian Judges were wont to keep the chief Seat for him empty, when they sat in judgment. And beside the Habassines, that large region of Nu • ia, had from the Apostles time, as tis thought, professed the Christian Faith: though now it hath again, above an hundred years since, forsaken it, and embraced 〈◊〉 , and Idolatry.

That I cannot see him. ] See the Note on verse. 8.

Verse 10. But he knoweth the way that I take. ] Heb. That is with • e. He perfectly understandeth that there is no way of wickedness in me, Psal. 139.24 no sin that I do favor, allow, and wallow in: but that the way that is called • loby, is my delight and endeavor: that I am upright for the main, that my heart is not turned back neither have my steps declined from his way, Psal 44.18. I cannot see him, but he seeth me, and mine uprightness.

When he hath tried me. ] sc. With favor, and not with rigor, ( for then who should abide it? Psal. 143.2.) God promiseth to refine his People, but not as silver, Esa. 48.10. that is, not exactly, lest they should be consumed in that fiery trial. This David knew, and therefore prayed, Examine me, O Lord, and prove me. try my reins and my heart, Psal. 26.2. and 139.23.

I shall come forth as Gold. ] Which is purged in the fire, shines in the water: as on the other side, clay is scorched in the fire, dissolved in the water.

Verse 11. My foot hath held his steps. ] I have followed God step by step, walking as I had him for an example, and pressing his footsteps. This Job speaketh of himself, not as vaunting, but as vindicating and defending his own innocenty; and as giving Eliphaz to know, that he had already done, and still continued to do as he had in the former Chapter exhorted him, verse 21, 22. Acquaint now thyself with God, &c. That's not now to do, saith Job; for my foot hath held his steps. Be at peace: I am so, saith he, for his way have I kept and not declined. Now, can two walk together, and they not be agreed? Receive, I pray thee, the Law from his mouth. What else have I done, faith Job, when as I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips? Lay up his words in thine heart; this I have done ex instituto, saith he; vel pre demenso, more than my necessary food, have I esteemed the words of his mouth. So exact a pattern of the rule was Job; so consonant to Eliphaz his good counsel. Plain things will join in every point one with another; not so, round and rugged things: so do plain spirits close with holy counsels; not so, such as are proud and unmortified. Let these be touched never so gently, nettle-like they will sting you. Deal with them roughly and roundly, they swagger, as that Hebrew did with Meses, saying, Who made thee a man of Authority, &c? Exod. 2.14. Good Job was of another spirit with God, (as it is said of Caleb, Numb. 14.24.) and followed him fully; ornavit doctrinam coelestem piis • fficiis, heavenly doctrine was as the mould, and he as the metal which takes impression from it in one part, as well as another. His constant endeavor was to express God to the world, and to preach forth his virtues or praises by a suitable practice, 1 Pet. 2.9. Gressum ejus retinuit pes men's.

His way have I kept, and not declined. ] sc. In excess or defect, and therefore I am no such flagitious person, as thou, Eliphaz, wouldst make of me.

Verse 12. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips ] i.e. Ab ip sissimo Dei verbo, from the very word of God, that sure Cynosura, which he that holdeth straightly to, may truly say, Lord, if I be deceived, thou and thy word hath deceived me. But of that there is no danger, since the Scripture is the invariable Canon or Rule of Truth, saith Irenaeus, the Cubit of the Sanctuary, the Touchstone of Error, the divine Beam, and most exact Balance, as Austin and Chrysostom style it: yea, the very heart and soul of God, as Gregory. And if Job lived before the word was written, yet not before the Law of Nature, and the Traditions of the Patriarchs: which whiles they remained uncorrupted, were the commandment also of God's lips; as having been received from his very mouth; and might far better be called ipsissimum Dei verbum, than the Popes pronunciata, which Cardinal Hosius profanely and blasphemously pronounceth to be the very Word of God.

I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. ] I have preferred (Heb. I have hi • , or laid up, as men do precious things, as house-keepers do Provision for their Family) them before my bodily food, my daily bread: and we see what pains men take, what shift they make, U • been sit ventri, ut lateri, for food and raiment, and other things requisite to the preservation of this life present. Now Job knew that God's holy word is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as Athanasius calleth it, the Souls nourishment; and that the promises are pabulum fidei, the food of Faith, as another calleth them; that we may better want bread, than that bread of life. Hence he esteemed it more, not only than his dainties or superfluities, but then his substantial food, without which he could not live and subsist; more than his appointed portion (so some render it) set out for him by the divine Providence, which cutteth out to every man his allowance I had rather be without meat, drink, light, anything, every thing, saith One, then that sweet Text, Come unto me all ye that are weary und heavy laden, &c. I would not for all the world saith Another, that that one verse John 17.24 [Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world] had been left out of the Bible. And again, There is more worth (saith the same Author) in those four Chapters, John 14, 15, 16, 17. then in all the Books in the world besides. Luther said, He would not live in Paradise without the Word; as with the Word it were no hard matter to live even in hell itself. Of old they were wont to say, It were better for the Church that the Sun should not shine, then that Chrysostom should not preach to the people. The Jews at this day will not omit prayers for their meat or labor. They divide the day even the working-day, in three parts, the first ad Tephilla, for prayer; the second ad Tara, for the reading of God's Law; and the third ad Malacca, for the works of their Calling. And when they have read one Section, they begin another, lest they should seem to be weary of their task. Whereas if we read but a Chapter, (not a quarter so long as one of their Sections or Paragraphs) O what a weariness is it his neither begin we till we have looked over the leaf to see how long it is; so soon sated are we with this heavenly Manna.

Verse 13. But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? ] He is ever like himself, not mutable, inconstant or various, as men who are (as Tertullian saith of the Peacock) all in changeable colors, as often changed as moved. God's name is, I am, Exod. 3.14. And if Pilate could say, What I have written, I have written, nothing shall be altered; how much more may the Lord, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever? His Decrees are immutable, his power irresistible. Some think that Job complaineth here of God's absolute power, and little less then tyrannical, exercised against him an innocent person. If so, Job was surely much to blame, since God's absolute power is never sundered from his Justice; and it must be taken for an undoubted truth, that his judgments are sometimes secret, but always just.

And what his soul desireth, even that he doth. ] Id est, Cupit ac facit statim: ejus voluntas est executio; that is, He desireth and doth it forthwith; his will is present execution. It is his pleasure to lay load of afflictions upon me, but wherefore it is, I know not. But Job should have known that as God is a most free Agent, so his will is not only recta but regula; neither may any man here presume to reprehend what he cannot comprehend.

Verse 14. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me ] He hath performed all my necessaries; so Vatablus rendereth it: 'tis the same word that was used for appointed or necessary food ver. 12. Voluntas Dei, necessitas rei; God hath decreed thus to deal with me, and therein I must rest satisfied.

And many such things are with him ] I know not but that there may be many more sufferings yet decreed to come upon me in his secret counsel. Fiat volunt •• Domini. Godly people though they know not many times what the Lord will do, and how he will deal with them; yet they always know that he is a merciful father to them, and will order all for the best. This should content them, and keep them from chatting against God; and from nourishing hard conceits of him, or heavy conceits of themselves, as if wicked because afflicted.

Verse 15. Therefore am I troubled at his presence ] At the consideration of his formidable Power and Majesty, I am troubled and terrified: troubled at my present calamities, and afraid of fiercer. This verse then seemeth to be a correction of that wish of his above verse 3. and not unlike that ch: 13.21 Withdraw thine hand far from me, and let not thine dread make me afraid. Then call then, and I will answer, &c.

When I consider, I am afraid of him ] I have always imagined that as it were weakness to fear a man, so it were madness not to be afraid of God. Let me be accounted timorous, rather then temerarious.

Verse 16 For God maketh my heart soft ] Methinks I feel it fall asunder in my bosom like drops of water, and dissolved with manifold afflictions; so that I am hardly able to hear up any longer; I am almost done, as we use to speak, and my heart faileth me. How should it do otherwise when God with-draweth from his the supplies of his Spirit, Phil 1.19. that Spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind, 2 Tim. 1.7. Acts 20.22. saith that great Apostle. And now behold I go bound in the Spirit up to Jerusalem, &c. Whereupon One gives this good Note, The Spirit hemmeth us about, comprehendeth and keepeth us. When a man's own strength would fall loose, this supernatural strength stayeth and strengtheneth it. Hence that of David, Psal. 138.3. In the day when I cried unto thee, thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. So Psal. 27.14. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart, which else will melt (as did the hearts of the men of Jericho, Josh. 2.11) like metal melted with fire, or like ice thawed into water, and spilled upon the ground, which cannot be taken up again. And this is the soft heart Job here complaineth of: God had dispirited him, and

The Almighty troubleth him ]. sc. With the thoughts of his Almightiness. See Psal. 39.11. and with so many miseries growing upon him. Now it is not amiss for God's people thus to be melted and troubled otherwhiles: for by this means shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit, to take away his sin, Isai. 37.9.

Verse 17. Because I was not cut off before the darkness ] i.e. The afflictions that now are upon me. It is a mercy to some to die betime, as Josiah, and those righteous ones, Isai. 57.1. who were taken away from the evil to come. when God's glory was to pass by, he put Moses into the hole of the rock: so he sometimes doth his servants, till the glory of his Justice hath passed upon others.

Neither hath he covered the darkness from my face ] i.e. He hath neither prevented my troubles by death, as I wished he would have done, chap. 3. Nor yet will he put an end to them by the same means: for, Mors erumnaruns requies (Chancers Motto) Death is a rest from trouble. To the tossed soul it is as Mount Ararat was to Noah, where the Ark rested; as Michal was to David, a means to shift him out of the way, when Saul sent to slay him: or as the fall of the house was to Samson, an end of all his sorrows and servitude.

CHAP. XXIV. Verse 1. Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty.]

HEB. Why are not times hidden from the Almighty? q.d. Who could think any otherwise, that had not been at the Sanctuary, Ps. 73.17. and there heard, Woe to the wicked, it shall go ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be (sooner or later) given unto him? Isai. 3.11. The Jew-Doctors conclude, (but falsely) from this Text, that Job denied the Divine Providence. And the Vulgar Latin, to salve the matter and save Job from the imputation of Epicureanism, takes the boldness to leave out the Interrogative, Why, and rendereth it thus, The times are not hidden from the Almighty; lest, by making it a question, Job should affirm, that times and events are hidden from God, or at least should wish and desire that they were so. Vatablus thinketh that Job here putteth on the person of one that denieth God's Providence, or at least doubteth of it: as if he should say, Ye, my friends, say that nothing is hidden from God, and I now demand of you how the times, and those things which are done in time, can be otherwise then hid from him, when as we see wicked men so to take their swinge in sin, and yet, for ought we see, to escape unpunished? It should seem by his winking at wicked practices, that he takes no care how things are carried in this present world; as certainly he would do, were he diligens mundi Oeconomus, ant rerum humanarum conscius. This indeed might stagger a David or a Jeremy in a passion, as Psal. 73.2. &c. Jer. 12.1. and make a Diagoras or an Averroes, turn Atheist. But Job was better instructed in this point, as appeareth by many passages in this Book; see chap. 21.16, 22. Neither can any such thing be concluded from this Text, if we take in the latter part of the verse.

Do they that know him, not see his days? ] The whole verse should be read thus, Why are not times hidden from the Almighty, seeing they that know him, de not see his days? that is since his most knowing servants could never observe the times and the seasons (of punishing graceless persons here) which he hath put in his own power, Act. 1.7. Abraham indeed (by special favor) was told that Sodom should be suddenly destroyed: And Moses could say, Wrath is gone out from the Lord, take a Censer, &c. Numb. 16.46. As any one is more faithful and familiar with God, so much better and earlier doth he discern his judgments on the wicked, and is affected therewith. See Hab. 3.16. with the Note. But there is no certain rule given us, by what punishment to conclude a man wicked, neither can we safely say at what time, or what manner and measure God will punish the ungodly in this present life. That of Austin is very right, Some wicked God punisheth here, lest his providence; and but some, lest his patience and promise of judgment should be called into question.

Verse 2. Some remove the Land marks ] Here he instanceth in all sorts of wicked persons, with their seculi laetitia, impunita nequitia: they go point blank against God's Commandments; they please not him, and are contrary to all men; and yet who but they, so long as it will last? Some remove (or touch ) the Landmarks, which the very Heathens held to be sacred, and not once to be touched. Numa King of Romans made a Law, that if any hid or removed a Land-mark, he should be slain by the next that met him, as a sacrilegious person, or public Pest. God's Law curseth such an Offendour, Deut. 27. and the Civil Laws pass sentence of death upon him. The Chaldee Paraphrast and old Rabbins understand this and the following Offences, of the old world, full of rapacity and impiety. But are there not the like and worse evils found also amongst us, upon whom the ends of the world are come, in these last and worst times, as Bernard fitly yoaketh them? Read the Catalogue and compare. Reckon also, that you then read or hear this Chapter aright, when applying each passage to yourselves, you learn to wash your hands in innocence, or at least in tears for these abominations: As also, if ye be not offended at the prosperity of those who fall into all or but some of these wickednesses, since the time is at hand when account must be given of all things done in the body, whether good or evil.

They violently take away flocks and feed thereon ] Though they eat that on earth which they shall digest in hell. Or, and feed them; viz. openly and impudently, with as much insolence as injustice; and as if they had got them by right, and not by rapine and robbery. Lavater upon the Text maketh mention of a certain Helvetian Tyrant, who violently took away the Oxen from the Plough of an honest Countryman, and told him that it was fit that Clownes should draw the Plough themselves, without the help of Oxen.

Verse 3 They drive away the Ass of the fatherless ] The only Ass of Orphans, those helpless, shiftless creatures, so merciless are these abigei, which is no small aggravation of their injustice, (see 2 Samuel 12.3) For all sins are not equal, as the Stoics once held, but lighter or heavier according to their circumstances. To rob the rich is a great offense, but to pillage the poor is far greater.

They take the widows Ox for a pledge ] Without which the cannot plough: or. Her Cow, as some render it, without which the and her children cannot live. A poor bodies livelihood is his life (as that poor widows was, Mark 12.44. and the like is said of the Haemorrhoisse, Luke 8.43) crush this snail in his shel, and you kill him. Now therefore albeit it be not unlawful to take a pledge for security in some cases; yet courtesy must be used, and mercy must be shown to Orphans, Widows, Strangers, and such like, because they are God's Clients, and he hath taken them into his special care and tuition.

Verse 4. They turn the needy out of the way ] Either to make room for themselves as the only men. Stand back, say the Sodomites to L • t, Gen. 19.9. Stand further off, say those in Isaiah, See Prov. 30, 14. Ans. 8.4. Or else, because when these Spoilers are abroad, they beset the ways, and no Traveler, be they never so poor and needy, can pass freely by them; insomuch that they are constrained to leave the broad beaten way, and everywhere to seek out by-ways and unknown passages, to escape their hands.

And the poor of the earth hide themselves together ] Lest after their Cattle driven away, as before, themselves, • t mancipia nexa, as slaves linked together, should be taken and carried away by them to such base Offices, as are mentioned in the next verses. Tyrants are looked upon as so many Comets, or Tempests: Attilas styled himself, Deiflagellum, et Orbis vnstinatem. The scourge in God's hand, and the worlds waste-good: He arrogantly said, That the Stars fell before him, the Earth shook under him, and that he would make the Inhabitants thereof wriggle into corners, as worms do into their holes when once it thundereth. We know who they were (even those Worthies of whom the world was not worthy) who hunted as Partridges by their cruel Persecutors, and driven out from house and home, wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth, Heb. 11.38. where they found the wild Beasts more mild and merciful to them, then those hard-hearted Tyrants.

Verse 5. Behold, as wild-Asses in the desert, go they forth to their work ] These barbarous and brutish Oppressors, skillful to destroy, do live in this world, as the wild-Ass doth in the wilderness, roving and rambling up and down for booty, whereunto early in the morning they prepare and harness themselves, as if this were their trade and occupation whereby they must needs get their living. Hic labor, hoc opus, vel artificium corum est, saith Lavater. As man goeth forth unto his work, and to his labor until the evening, Psal. 104.23. so do these greedy Cormorants, these evening Wolves (as Micah calleth them) these spoilers that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds, when the morning is light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hands. And they covet fields and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away, &c. Mich. 2.1, 2. Job had suffered much by the Arabian spoilers, those wild-Asses, who continue their old trade to this day, catching and snatching, vivitur ex rapto: neither can they be repelled or restrained by reason of their multitudes, and their incredible swiftness.

The wilderness yieldeth food, &c. ] Their pillage is their tillage, their rapine their revenue, whereby they maintain themselves and theirs: as the wild-Ass picks out a living in the desert. But shall they thus escape by iniquity? Have they no other ways to work? no better Mediums? Never think it: In thine anger cast dawn the people. O God; Psal. 56.7. He will do it: for the words are prophetical, as well as optative. Treasure of wickedness profit nothing, Prov. 10.2. Mammon of iniquity, is the next odious name to the Devil; and to the Devil it will bring a man, 1 Tim. 6.9. English Hubertus, a covetous Oppressor, is said to have made this, Will; I yield my Goods to the King, my Body to the Grave, my Soul to the Devil. Pope Sylvester 2. is said to have given his Soul to the Devil for seven years enjoyment of the Popedom.

And for their Children ] We have a profane and false proverb, Happy is that Child, whose Father goeth to the Devil. O faithful drudge! said a graceless Son once of such a Father, who died and left him great store of ill-gotten goods.

Verse 6. They reap everyone his corn in the field ] The poor oppressed are made by them to inn their crops, and tread their vintages in the end of the year; as the Hebrew importeth, without either meat or wages, or so much as a cup of drink, as the eleventh verse sets forth: which is extreme cruelty, and flatly forbidden, Deut 24.14, 15. and order taken that the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the corn should not be muzzled, Deut. 25.4. Quantum igitur judicium, saith Brenz, how great judgments of God then will light upon those who do that to men of the same flesh, of the same faith, of the same country with themselves, which they ought not to do to the brute creatures they make use of? Quo • malum in Germania frequent • ssimum est; V • igitur Germaniae. This, saith he, is a common sin in Germany, woe therefore to Germany. Think the same of England, and take notice that this is one of those crying sins that entereth into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath, Jam. 5.4. and he will hear, for he is gracious, Exod. 22.27. The words are otherwise sensed by some: but this to me seemeth most suitable to the subsequent verses.

Verse 7. They cause the naked to lodge without clothing ] viz. By denying and detaining from them that they have earned, wherewith they should provide them garments, which are so called, quasi gardments: because they serve to guard men's bodies from the injury of the weather. They cause them to lodge naked, because they have no clothing; so some read the text, they lay them open to the pinching cold of the night. And what a misery it is to lie a cold and wet, and not to have wherewith to keep us warm and dry, in winter season especially, who knows not? Hîc disce Deo gratus esse, saith Lavater. Here then learn thankfulness to God, thou that hast not only a warm and wholesome lodging-room, but also good store of bed-clothes; and those of the better sort too. Abuse not these blessings to pride and luxury, lest God turn in upon thee spoilers and plunderers, who may leave thee little enough; leave thee nuaum tanquam ex mari, as they did many in these late shredding and stripping times, Ezek. 25.4. God threateneth to send the men of the East to dwell (as so many Lord-Danes ) in their Palaces, and to eat their milk, &c. When the Children play with their meat, and cast it to the Dogs, what can the Father do less, than bid, Take away?

Verse 8. They are wet with the showers of the mountains ] Wet they are, but not at all refreshed as this word (here only found in the Bible) signifieth sometimes among the Rabbins. Cold comfort they find abroad; and at home they dare not abide, lest rich men should oppress them and draw them before the judgment-seats, Jam. 2.6. or drag them to prison for refusing their drudgery. Hence they are forced to live in the mountains, and desert places, in extreme misery.

And embrace the Rock for want of a shelter ] Like Conies or wild Beasts, glad of any lurking place, that may keep them out of the hands of unreasonable and wicked men. What hardship have many worthy men in all ages suffered from persecutors and oppressors (in Dio • lesians days especially) driven out of house and harbor, and glad to take up in any hole, there to lie on the cold stone instead of a warm bed, (as that good Dutchess of Suffolk, with that noble Gentleman her Husband did in the Low-countries, whiter they fled from the Marian persecution) till, as Elias once under the Juniper, they wish themselves out of the world? Iterùm hîc disc • gratias Deo agere, saith L • vater. Here again learn to give thanks to God for this great benefit, if thou mayest stay at home, and not be forced to fly for thy life, or for conscience-sake; for home is home, as we say, and very desirable: and the Apostle reckons it for a piece of his sufferings, that he was 〈◊〉 , and had no settled station, no certain dwelling place, 1 Cor. 4.11.

Verse 9. They pluck the fatherless from the breast ] What can be more to be pitied than a fatherless suckling? Who less to be molested or violenced than the Mother doing that office to her babe? In the Parisian Massacre, one of the murderers took a little one in his arms, who smiled upon him and plaid with his beard; yet this barbarous wretch was so far from compassion, that he wounded it with his dagger, and so cast it all gore blood into the River. The story of the Infant of the Isle of Garriser, thrown back into the fire, out of which it had sprawled, is well known. So is the savage inhumanity of that merciless Minerius the Popes Champion, who at Merindol • in France, cut off the Paps of many which gave suck to their Children; which looking for suck at their Mothers breasts, being dead before, died also for hunger. Well therefore might our Savior say, Beware of men, Mart. 10.17. It had been better the Indies had been given to the Devils of hell, said those poor Natives, than to those bloody Spaniards, who dashed the Mother in pieces upon their Children, as once at Betharbel, Hos. 10.14.

And take a pledge from the poor ] Misery, which should beget pity in them, begetteth but audacity, and inviteth them to ruin the poor, and fill their houses with their spoils. Some render it thus, They take the poor for a pledge; sc. putting them to their ransom, and mean while enslaving them.

Verse 10. They cause him to go naked without clothing ] Naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to their shame, and danger; as Esa. 20.4. So dealt the Popish Bishops with the poor Protestant Albigenses, at the Rendition of Carcass • n, in France; they let them have their lives upon condition, that both men and women should go thence stark naked; those parts that cannot well be named, being laid open to the view of those Pope-holy Cruciates.

And they take away the Sheaf from the hungry ] Or, The handful; that little that they had leazed; snatching the ears of corn out of their hands, and condemning them thus denuded and despoyled, to a death which is so much the more cruel, as it is tedious and languishing. Some read it thus, And those that carried their Sheaves, they made to go away hungery: either not feeding, or not Paying their harvest-laborers, and other servants. It is noted in History as a cruelty in the Athenians, that they put an engine about their servants necks called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and it reached down to their hands, that they might not so much as lick of the Meal when they were sifting it.

Verse 11. Which make oil within their walls, &c. ] See the Note above on verse. 6. and on verse. 10.

Verse 12. Men groan from out of the City ] viz. Under the pressures of their oppressors. Thus did Jerusalem that faithful City, when once become an harlot; it was full of judgment, righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers, Isa. 1.21. The like die the City of Rome, when, under the Government of Marius set up against Sylla, she cried out that the remedy was worse than the disease: and under Pompey, Calamitas nostra magnus est: and under the Caesar's, that the names of their good Emperors might all be set down in the compass of a signet-ring: and again under the Popes, that for many years together she had not had the happiness to be ruled by any but Reprobates: Hen, hen, Domine Deus, saith Fasciculus temporum, bitterly bewailing Rome's misery under her turbulent Tyrants, Hildebrand, Urban 2. (whom Cardinal Benno worthily calleth Turban ) Boniface 8. and many other such like Monsters. Of most great Cities it may be said, as of that strange vineyard in Palestin • , Isa. 5.7. God looked for judgment, but behold oppression (Heb. a scab. ) for righteousness, but behold a cry.

And the soul of the wounded (of the deadly wounded) crieth out ] sc. For grief; and in prayer to God for ease.

Yet God layeth not folly to them ] Deus non ponit prohibitionem, so one of the Rabbins rendereth it. God putteth not a stop to the proceedings, he punisheth not those Tyrants, who do oppress whole Cities, making their lust a Law, and overbearing all right with their Volumus & jubemus: nothing at all moved with the groans of the oppressed City, or with the out-cries of the wounded. Word for word it is, Deus non interponit insuls • m quid, God interposeth not anything insulse or unsavory; that is, he suffereth not any cross mean while to befall them: Yea, he so carrieth the matter, as if he favored them; yea, approved and prospered their crafty and cruel practices: For they live happy, obtain victories, are magnified among men, they flatter themselves in their own eyes, until their iniquity be found to be hateful, Psal. 36.2. Mean while, foelix scelus virtus vocatur; as the Orator speaketh, their prosperous villainy is called virtue: and if any man mutter against them, yea if he cry them not up, he is looked upon as a Traitor, as Thraseas that noble Roman was by Nero.

Verse 13. They are of those that rebel against the light ] Against the common light of the Sun, say some, which they are ready to curse, (as the Atlantes, a people of Ethiopia, are said to do) and could wish extinct, that they might sin unseen. Others more fitly understand it of the light of Nature and Scripture; against which wicked Atheists rise up and rebel; as malecontents and mutineres do against lawful Authority. In the poor blind Ethnics it is to be seen that some few Principles and Notions of good and evil, right and wrong, truth and falsehood, are yet to be found in corrupt Nature: like as when Cities and great Buildings are over-thrown by War, some Towers, some Pinnacles survive the violence. Now some desperate sinners against their own souls, take the boldness to tear out these Principles, that might any way disturb their course in sin; and to take an order with their natural consciences, clapping up those Prophets from God, close Prisoners, Rom. 1 18. till at length all that little light is lost, that rush-candle quite extinct. When wine is poured out of a cup, the sides are yet moist. But when it is rinsed and wiped, then remaineth not the least taste. Even so that glimmering of divine Light left in the natural man is so defaced by obstinacy in sin, that not the least spark thereof remaineth. These Bars have flown so long against that light, that at length they have put it out. And whereas to those that live under the Ordinances, there is another light risen, viz. that of God's Word and works, graceless wretches shut their windows, lest this light should come in upon them, as the Pharisees did: they hate it because their deeds are evil, saith our Savior: they spurn and scorn at it, saith Solomon, Pro. 1. they are willingly ignorant, saith Peter; they wink willfully, saith Justin Martyr; Ut liberiùs peccent, libenter ignorant, saith Bernard: they rebel against the light, as Balaam did when he set his face toward the wilderness, and would needs curse howsoever. Or as Pharaoh, who sat not down under the Miracle Moses wrought, but sent for the Magicians. How many are there at this day, who after conviction, get the Bit betwixt their teeth, like unruly Horses, and run away?

They know not the ways thereof ] A carnal heart is not willing to know what if should do, lest if should do what it would not do. Of such Bernard saith, that they seek straws to put out their own eyes with. If they seek after God's ways, it is but as a coward seeketh after his enemy, with an hope he shall not find him: So he is loath to find, and fears to know; therefore he searcheth no further, than will serve his turn; and the little light he hath, he putteth not under a bushel, but under a dunghill Woe be to these rebels, these Soli • uga, that refuse, or abuse Gospel-light. Turks and Pagans shall have an easier judgment. It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, saith Peter, then after they have known it, &c. 2 Epist. 2.21. Gravis est lux conscientiae, saith Seneca; but grav • or est lux Evangelii, say we: if this light be hated by any, it is merely because it stands in the light of their wicked ways, as the Angel did in Balaam's way to his sin.

Nor abide in the paths thereof ] They have no stability, nor settledness in well-doing. They follow not on to know, but soon give over the pursuit and practice of holiness; not caring to add to Faith Virtue, and to Virtue Knowledge, &c.

Verse 14. The murderer rising with the light ] Betimes, whiles it is yet darkish: for here Job showeth how those that do evil hate the light, and take the fittest opportunities for a dispatch of the deeds of darkness, daily digging descents down to Hell, and hastening thereto, as if they feared it would be full before they come thither. They spend therefore the whole day in wicked pranks and practices, proùt videtur commodum, as shall seem best for their purposes, interdin latrones, nocte fures agunt. By day they do what mischief they may in woods and deserts: at night they return into the City, and there play the thieves, hoping to do it un-observed. Thus every such one may better say then that Ancient did, Totum tempus perdidi, quia perdite vixi, I have lost all my time, by spending it loosely and basely: I have been too faithful a drudge to the Devil, whom Christ calleth a murth • rer; and Tertullian calleth Furem Veritatis, a thief of the Truth. Two notable Thieves of Naples, (whereof one was called Pater-noster, and the other Ave-Maria ) had murdered an hundred and sixteen several persons, at several times and in divers places. These were worthily put to a cruel death by the Magistrate: who possibly might by his connivence and slackness in doing his office, be himself guilty of some of those murders: since, to restrain justice, is to support sin: and not to correct, is to consent to the Crime. Hemingius maketh mention of a Felon, who was indicted of seven murders: while the Judge was studying what grievous punishment should be inflicted upon such a bloody villain, an Advocate steps to the Bar, and pleading for him, proved, That the Judge was guilty of six of the murders: for th •• the Felon was not put to death for the first offense.

Killeth the poor and needy ] Without Authority, (such as Magistrates have to kill Malefactors, and Soldiers in a lawful Battle to kill their Enemies: Sum Talbotti pro occidere inimic • s meos; this blunt boisterous sentence was written upon the renowned L. Talbots Sword, whilst he warred in France ) and without any present necessity for his own lawful defense, as Exod. 2.22. when he must either kill or be killed: provided that he endeavor first to save himself by flight if possibly he can: For that Tenet of Soto, a Popish Casuist, is the most false, That it is lawful for a man in his own defense to kill another, because it is a shame to fly. And that also of Navarrus, that for a box on the ear, it is not unlawful to kill another, for the recovering of his honor.

And in the night is as a thief ] That is, very thief: for this as, is magis expre •• 〈◊〉 veritatis, as Mercer speaketh, he would not seem to be, but yet is an arrant thief, ending the day with theft, which he began with murder. How these two sins go commonly coupled, see Hos. 4.2 and Isai. 13.16.

Verse 15. The eye also of the Adulterer wa • teth. ] Observeth, expecteth, and longeth till it cometh. Ut videas ill • m non precare infirmitate sed malitiâ, saith Vatablus; This showeth, that he sinneth not of infirmity, but of forethought, malice and wickedness; which he plotteth and ploweth (as the Scripture phraseth it) purveying for the flesh, Rom 13. ult. putrifying alive, under a • abe, of impure lusts, and daily perishing therein, as Tiberius at Caprea, by his own confession. This beast was not ashamed of his detestable filthiness; as being a most impure and impudent defiler of other men's beds. But the Adulterer here spoken of, seeks the covert of the twilight, and another of a disguise. He putteth hu face in a secret place (so the Hebrew hath it) wrapping it in his cloak, or getting on a Vizzard, which (saith he) shall render me unknown, and none eye shall see me. For as for God's eye, either he conceits him blind, or presumes him indulgent, not doubting or an easy and speedy pardon. This is charged upon David, 2 Sam. 12.10. Because thou hast despised me. &c. viz. in thinking to sin secretly, not considering mine All-seeing eye, not caring though I looked on, &c. therefore shall all come to light, verse 12. Sin secretly committed, shall be strangely discovered: yea, perhaps the sinner himself shall confess his sins, as Judas: So sooner on later, God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, Ecclesias • es 12.14. See also Ecclesiasticus 23.

Verse 16. In the dark they dig through the earth, &c. ] Heb. He digs through houses; i.e. the Adulterer doth, to come at his Strumpet, with whom he had agreed upon a place of meeting for that evil purpose, and in whose bosom by night (the dark and black night, as Solomon calleth it, Prov. 7.9) he spareth not to bury his name, substance, soul and carcass, whilst they glut their unclean desires by the favor of the darkness. This is a bitterness beyond that of death, Eccles. 7.26. But the devil presenteth his Butter in so Lordly a dish, that the soul spies not the hammer and nail in his hand, till he have driven it into the Temples. Roger Mortimer, who digged that hole at Nottingham Castle, and was afterwards hanged at Tiburn, (a just reward of his Ambition and Uncleanness) had the experience of this.

They know not the light ] i.e. They brook it not, but run full butt against it, because it discovereth and disquieteth them. See on ver. 13.

Verse 17 For the morning is unto them as the shadow of death ] i.e. They are in deadly fear lest the light should bewray them, and expose them to condign punishment. How fearful was Judah of being shamed, after he had thus sinned, Gen. 38.23? And how forward to save his credit by sending his Kid by the hand of that hang by Hiram? That young man in Terence, was sore ashamed to be seen in the Eunuchs garment, a token of his Uncleanness; whereas to have done the deed did nothing so much trouble him. But the children of light hate and shun sin more for the filth that is in it, then for the fire that is in it: the blackness of that coal offendeth them more then the heat of it. Plato condemneth the Poets for setting forth Jupiter's Adulteries, whereby the people were drawn to the like wantonness; and for saying, it were no matter though men did commit sin, so they could hide it. Si non caste, saltem caute, say the Popish Shavelings, who are sometimes taken in the manner, as was that carnal Cardinal Cremonensis, the Popes Legat here, in Hen. 8. days, and Dr. W • ston Dean of Windsor in the Raign of Queen Mary, apprehended in Adultery, and for the same deprived of all his Spiritual Livings by Cardinal Pool. Pope John the twelfth, being taken a bed with another man's wife, was killed immediately by her husband. In Germany a Gentleman of note and his Harlot, were served in like sort, as Luther relateth. So was Re ••• ldus the Eighth, King of Lombardy; and Sergui a King of Scotland. Of all these, and many more esusdem furfuris, it may well be said, as here, that being noted and notified, they were in the terrors of the shadow of death. Which death to escape.

Verse 18. He is swift as the waters ] He stays not long in a place, but flies away swiftly (like the River Tigris, swift as an arrow out of a bow) to avoid punishment. Heb. He is light upon the face of the waters. The meaning • s (saith One) they are as a light thing upon the streams of water running swiftly, and carrying it away with speed. Some, that it is spoken in respect of their swift passing on from one wickedness to another, or their never being settled after such wickedness committed, but always ready to be overturned as a ship that is unballasted, and so to be drowned in the sea.

Their portion is cursed on the earth ] Cain -like, they wander up and down, à cord suo facti fugitivi; but their sin will surely find them out; neither can they run out of the reach of God's rod, &c. This Job saith, lest any should gather from what he had said before, that it should be always well with the wicked, and ill with the godly. Some take it curse-wise thus, Let their portion on earth be accursed, neither let them turn themselves to the Vineyards; scil. either to dress them, or to taste of the fruits of them.

He beholdeth not the way of the Vineyards ] That is, say some, to run away by them, which were common ways to Cities, but by some other obscure byway that he may not be found. In Vineyards something is to be done at all times, that way therefore they take not, lest they should be discovered and punished. Beza rendereth it, He turneth not into the way (that is, the nature) of the Vines, which by cutting and pruning, sprouteth out, and becometh more profitable. Others sense it far otherwise. The concise brevity and ambiguity of the words, together with the change of number, hath caused a cloud upon them.

Verse 19. Drought and heat consume the snow waters ] Here also brevity hath bred obscurity. Snow waters as they are more subtle, so they sooner sink into the dry earth; so die the wicked's, quickly and easily. See chap. 21.13, 31. There are that read the whole verse thus, In the drought and heat they rob, and in the snow waters; they sin to the grave; that is, they rob (and run into other flagitious practices) in all weather, Summer and Winter, and never give over till they die. They persist in their sins (saith Calvin ) wherein they have been nuzzelled up, even to their grave. This is a good sense. Luther tells of one filthy Adulterer, so set upon that sin, that he was heard to utter these abominable words, If I were sure to live here forever, and that I might still be carried from one Brothel-house to another, I would never desire any other heaven then that. Vae dementiae, & impietati. This beastly man breathed out his wretched soul betwixt two harlots. Once I knew a most odious Adulterer of seventy years old (saith another great Divine) who having wasted his flesh and state with harlots, and lying near death, was requested thus, Potter, call upon God; he replied with his ordinary oaths, Pox and Wounds, is this a time to pray? I knew, (saith a third Reverend man) a great swearer, who coming to his death-bed, Satan so filled his heart with a madded and enraged greediness after sin, that though himself swore as fast and as furiously as he could, yet (as though he had been already among the bannings and blasphemies of hell) he desperately desired the standers by to help him with Oaths, and to swear for him. Athenaeus reporteth of one covetous Mammonist, that at the hour of his death, he devoured many pieces of Gold, and sewed the rest in his coat, commanding that they should be all buried with him. And our Chroniclers write of King Edward 1. that he adjured his son and Nobles, that if he died in his Expedition against Bruce King of Stots, they should not interre his Corps, but carry it about Scotland, till they had avenged him on that Usurper.

Verse 20. The Womb shall forget him ] Some read it, The merciful man forgetteth him; scil. because himself was merciless. Or because he was a trouble to the world, and a common Pest, therefore good men are glad to be so rid of him; and instead of sighing over him, say, Let the worm feed sweetly on him, 'tis well he is gone, as he lived wickedly, so he died wickedly; let him be no more remembered or honourably mentioned, but molder away, and fall as a rotten tree. Others interpret the words of the sudden and easy death of the wicked, thus, The womb shall forget him; that is, saith Beza, being once dead, neither his mother nor his wife do bewail and lament his death, because without that pain and torment, that many suffer when they depart the world.

The worms shall feed sweetly on him ] Moritar impunitus, he maketh the worms a feast with his fat Corps (as Dr. Taylor Martyr made account to have done, if buried in Hadley Church-yard) and feels no pain.

He shall be no more remembered ] And this is reckoned up as a piece of his happiness See Eccles. 8.10. with the Note there.

And wickedness ] that is, the wicked person, that crooked piece that can hardly ever be set straight again.

Shall be broken as a tree ] As a rotten tree blown down by the wind.

Verse 21. He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not ] Who had more need to be comforted, then further afflicted. But Homo homini Daemon. Jacob and Elkanab loved and comforted their wives under this cross. The Vulgar rendereth it, He hath fed the barren, whereupon some expound it of wicked men's feeding Whores, and maintaining them for their pleasure; keeping them barren, that they may keep their beauty.

And doth not good to the widow ] i.e. Doth her much hurt; for not to do good, is to do evil, Mark 3.4. He hath afflicted his barren wife, and evil entreated the poor desolate widow his mother. What marvel then if the womb forget him, &c. if his wife bewail not so unkind an husband, nor his mother so unnatural a son, as verse. 30 Thus Beza here.

Verse 22. He draweth also the mighty with his power ] i.e. He hath brought them by force under his girdle, and compelled them to do him homage and service.

He riseth up. ] In the fullness of his might, as a King against whom there is no rising up, Prov. 30.31.

And no man is sure of life ] Which the Tyrant taketh away at his pleasure. Or thus, The Tyrant himself, after he hath made all cock-sure, as he may think, is not yet sure of his own life, dare not confide in his best friends: Dionysius for instance, and our Richard the third. The Hebrew is, And he is not sure of life.

Verse 23. Though it be given him to be in safety ] Heb. It is given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth. His safety and prosperity was given him for a better purpose; but (as if God had hired him to be wicked) he abuseth it to creature confidence, leaning too hard upon the arm of flesh.

Yet his eyes are upon their ways ] Nevertheless God prospereth them (according to Psal. 34.11.) Or, as others sense it, God eyeth their wicked ways, and designeth them to destruction. And the next verse seemeth to make for this Interpretation.

Verse 24. They are exalted for a little while ] Or, They are exalted, but within a little while they are not. This former part of the verse needeth no Exposition, saith an Expositor. And as for the later

They are taken away as all other, they are cut off as the tops of the ears of corn ] It may be understood of the like violence, wherewith Tyrants shall be cut off, by which they have cut off other mighty and great men: as Thrasibulus King of Milesians by striking off with his staff certain ears of corn, and Tarquin King of Romans by doing the like to certain Poppies in his Garden, signified their minds to have diverse chief men beheaded: which was accordingly accomplished. So Mithridates King of Pontus, by one Letter caused the death of fourscore thousand Romans, trading throughout Asia. Now God loveth to retaliate as hath been said before. See it exemplified in Adonibezeck, Agag, Haman and others.

Verse 25. And if it be not so now, who will make me a Lyar? ] Quis ementietur me? Who shall disprove or confute what I have affirmed? viz. That God doth many things, the depth whereof we cannot fathom, and that he lets wicked men many times spend their days in pleasure, and end them without much pain. this I will abide by, and I would fain see the man, qui ansit & possit, who can and will maintain the contrary.

CHAP. XXV. Verse 1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said.]

A Pithy and ponderous speech he here maketh, though little to the purpose; for he quite digresseth from the question in hand concerning the wicked's flourishing, and Saints sufferings, and chooseth to sing the fame song with his fellows, concerning the power and Purity of God above all Creatures. See Job 4.18. and 15.15. Some men are of that mind, that they will never be said or set down, but strive to have the last word. This was Peters vanity and the rest of the Disciples, Math. 26.35. which our Savior winked at till time should confute them, as it also did soon after.

Verse 2. Dominion and fear are with him ] God is therefore to be feared, because Lord over all. If an earthly King be so Dread a Sovereign, if an apparition of Angels hath so amazed the best men, who would not fear that King of Nations, since to him doth it appertain? Jer. 10.7. God is greatly to be feared in the Assemblies of his Saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about him, Psal. 89.7. Power and terror are with him, so the Vulgar hath it here. He that is able to destroy both body and soul in hell, is surely to be feared, yea therefore to be feared, Matth. 10.28. If servants should fear their Masters because they have power over the flesh, Col. 3.23. what should we do, since he can sooner undo us, then bid it be done?

He maketh peace in his high places. ] Or, Among his high persons, those heavenly Courtiers the Angels and Saints. By an unchangeable Decree God keepeth all persons and things in the heavens, both visible and invisible in a most firm and quiet condition, so that there is no clashing, but an happy harmony amongst them. He appeaseth (saith One) the differences of the Elements, and obligeth them to force their own inclinations, to preserve the quiet of the world. He shakes all the heavens with so much evenness, that in the contrariety of their motions they never disorder themselves. Finally, He maintains peace amongst the Angels, and tempering his Justice with his Goodness, he makes himself equally loved and feared of those blessed Spirits Therefore Job did ill (saith another Interpreter) to offer to make a disturbance there, (as Bildad at least conceited he did) where there was all peace.

Verse 3. Is there any number of his Armies? ] God is Lord of Hosts: and (as the Rabbins well observe) he hath his upper forces and his lower forces, as his Horse and Foot ready pressed. The upper are here chiefly meant, viz. the Angels and Stars, as appeareth by the Context. An est numerus expeditorum? so Brenz rendereth it; Tremellius, turmariorum, of his Troopers? they are innumerable, and yet no variance amongst them: this is admirable. The Army of Nineveh was quiet, no falling out nor complaining in their hosts, therefore did their King march on, pass through, Nahum. 1.12. the Turks Military Discipline at this day, is beyond that of all other Nations in the world besides; yea beyond that of the old Greeks or Romans. There is no quarrelling heard at any time amongst their many soldiers, no nor any words at all. Perpetuum silentium tenent ut muti, saith Cuspinianus: There is perpetual silence kept, and most ready obedience yielded to the dumb signs and noddings of their Officers. But all this is nothing to that in heaven. Of God's Hosts, together with their number, order and obedience: see my Treatise called, the Righteous Mans Recompence pag. 868.869.

And upon whom doth not his Light arise? ] that is, his Sun, that Prince of Planets, but servant of the Saints, (as his Name importeth) whose going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. Psalm 19.6 It is called, His Light, because as he made it, so he gathered into it as into a Vessel, that first light, which before was scattered here and there in the heavens. Some there are that understand this Text of the light of God's Omniscience; others of his Benificence: Qui • est quem non superet luce bonitate suae? Who is it whom he overcometh not with the light of his goodness: Surely all the good that is in the Creature is but a spark of his flame, a drop of his Ocean.

Verse 4 How then can man be justified with God? ] Homo frivolus, so the Tygurines translate: How can frivolous man, sorry man, Morbis mortique obnoxius, Man subject to diseases and death; how can such a man, so mortal and miserable, a mass of Mortalities, a Map of miseries, a very mixture and compound of dirt and sin, be justified with God? How can he be perfect of himself without the gift of grace, without an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Just One, who alone is the propitiation for our sins, 1 John 2.2. Rom. 3.25. who is made unto us of God, wisdom, righteousness, &c. 1 Cor. 1.30?

Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? ] And therefore born in sin and under a curse, the sign whereof appears in the woman's bearing and bringing forth, Gen. 3.6. Our whole Nativity is impure. Hence in the Law it is commanded, that the woman should be unclean seven days, that the child should be circumcised on the eighth day; and that the mother should remain three and thirty days in the blood of her Purification, Levite. 13. for by Nature we are all children of wrath: and That which is born of the flesh, is flesh. Neither can any one bring a clean thing out of an unclean, Chap. 14.4. See the Note there. Surely as a slave begetteth a slave, so doth a sinner beget a sinner. Hence we are loathsome to God, as a toad is to us, because poison is in the nature of it. Infantes ergo non sunt inson • es; Infants are not Innocents, though we commonly call them so, because free from actual sin, they having not yet sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression, as the Apostle expresseth it, Rom. 5.14. But the first sheet or blanket wherein they are covered, is woven of sin, shame, blood and filth, as may be seen Ezek. 16.4, 6, This should teach us modesty and lowly-mindedness.

Verse 5. Behold even to the Moon, and it shineth not. ] i.e. Either descend in thy thoughts from the highest Orbs as low as the Moon: Or else ascend from Gold, Gems, Jewels, and other Orient resplendent Creatures, as high as the Moon and Stars, and comparing them with the surpassing Majesty of God, thou shalt find no more beauty or brightness in them then is in a lump of earth, or clod of clay: those heavenly Lights will appear to be as so many snuffs. Or if thou canst discover no spots and blemishes in them, yet God can, without the help of any such Perspective Glasses as Gali •• aeus gat him, to descry mountains in the Moon. Some think it was by Moon light that this speech was uttered, and therefore the Moon is mentioned. But as the Moon is confounded, so the Sun also is ashamed when the Lord of hosts will display the beams of his glory, Isai. 24.23, and 60.19. There is a Learned Interpreter who thus paraphraseth the Text: Consider, that by reason of the Fal of man, the very creatures, that in themselves are sinless, yea the very Moon and Stars (that are so far from earth, and so near to heaven) have contracted defilement, and are blemished: so that with God, for man's sake, and by man's sin, even they are not accounted free from pollution in his sight: Thus he. The visible heavens are defiled by our sins, and must therefore be purged by the fire of the last day; as of old the Vessel that held the Sin-Offering was to be broken if earthen, or to pass the fire, if of better Metal.

Yea, the Stars are not pure in his sight ] What ever they are in ours. A thing that I see in the night may shine, and that shining proceed from nothing but rottenness. There is a comparative imperfection and impurity in the Stars and Angels, chap. 4.18.

Verse 6. How much less man that is a worm ] He saith not, as a worm, but a worm itself. So Psal. 22. I am a worm and no man; nullificumen hominis. as Tertullian somewhere phraseth it. David in the Arabic signifieth a worm (saith One) to which he may seem in that Psalm to allude. The word here rendered a worm, signifieth a small worm bred in cheese or flesh, a Mite, a Maggot. Others say, it signifieth rottenness, which hath no strength. Hereby man convinced of his infirmity, vanity and impurity should learn Virium suarum 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 agnoscere, to give glory to God, and to take shame to himself.

And the Son of man which is a worm ] Lumbricus, quo vix quidquam contemptius nominari potest; So vile and abject a creature is man: The greater is God's mercy to look upon such a walking dunghill: Learn hereby to know God and thyself, which is the highest point of heavenly wisdom.

CHAP. XXVI Verse 1. But Job answered and said]

BIldad had vexed him with his impertinencies and superfluous discourses of God's Attributes, as if Job had denied them, or doubted of them, which was far from him, witness this Chapter. He therefore rippleth up Bildad with a continued smart irony, in the three next following verses, letting loose the reins to his justly conceived grief and indignation, and invading his adversary with these sharp questions by way of wonderment.

Verse 2. How hast thou helped him that is without power? ] q.d. Full well hast thou done it, surely. (See a like irony Mark 7.9. and 1 Cor. 4.8, 10) Thou art a very goodly comforter, and with a great deal of Wisdom thou hast framed thy discourse to my present necessity. Thou lookest upon me as a poor, forlorn, strengthlesse, fruitless creature. Thou shouldst therefore have set thyself to support me and shore me up, by uttering not only commoda, sed & accommoda, things true and profitable, but things fit and suitable to my distressed condition. Thou hast spoken much of the Majesty and purity of Almighty God (wherein I well accord thee) but these are words of terror, such as I can hardly bear. Of strong Physic we say, Quod nec puero, nec seni, nec imbecillo, sed robusto • conveniat, That it is not for children, or old folks, or weak ones, but for the stronger sort; it is not for every complexion and state. So neither is every discourse for all sort of people. It is a singular skill to be able to time a word, Isai. 50.4. and to set it upon its wheels, Prov. 25.11. to declare unto a man his righteousness, which not one of a thousand can tell how to do it like him, Job 33.23. to seek to find out pleasant words, such as have both goads and nails in them, Eccles. 12.10, 11. (to prick them on to duty, and to fasten them to the right, as pales are to their rails) to divide the Word of God aright, 2 Tim. 2.25. and to give everyone his portion in the due season, Matth. 24.45. Not as he in the Emblem, who gave straw to the dog, and a bone to the Ass. The good Word of God, is well applied, is profitable to all things, as is here hinted; scil. to help the powerless, to save the strengthlesse, to counsel the ignorant, and to set forth things as they are, that there may be no manner of mistake; but then it must be wisely handled, and the help of God's holy Spirit must be implored, verse 4. that it may be a Word of reconciliation, a savor of life unto life, 2 Cor. 2.16. and 5.19. and whatsoever else is said in commendation of it, Psal. 19.7, 8, 9, 10. Mercer interpreting this verse and the two following, H • c de Deo accipio, saith he: These things I understand concerning God, and it is as if Job had said to Bildad, O how bravely helpest thou him that is weak, and pleadest for him that is forlorn, as if God wanted thy patronage and defense! No question but thou art a man fit to advise him, and to set him in a course that he cannot otherwise hit on: This is a good sense also. But what meant Brenz to bring in Job blaspheming here, as thus, Quem juvas? impotentem? salvas brachium invalidi? Cui consulis? insipienti? &c. Whom helpest thou, O God? the impotent? savest thou the arm of the strengthlesse? Whom counsellest thou? the ignorant? &c. q.d. Surely thou shouldst do so by promise, and it would well become thee to do so by me: But (alas) thou dost nothing less; and hence it is, that I still stick in the briars, &c. Upon this gloss we may write as the Canonists do sometimes, Palea, or, Hoc non credo.

Verse 3. How hast thou counseled him that hath no wisdom? ] q.d. Thou lookest upon me as a fool and an Atheist; but this thou dost with far greater folly: for I am not the man thou takest me for, but can say as much for God as thyself, and more too: and if I were such as thou wouldst make of me, I might so continue for any help I should have by thy counsel. The like hereunto we may say to the Papists and other Seducers, who pretend to tender our good, to counsel us for the best, and to wish our salvation.

And how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is? ] Heb. the Essence, or the Reason, or the naked truth: q.d. What ado hast thou kept to tell me, no mere then I knew before? wherein thou hast fairly lost thy labor, and missed of thy design, if ever thou intendest to counsel and comfort me. Very wisely hast thou done it, I must needs say for thee.

Verse 4. To whom hast thou uttered words? ] And as thou thinkest, words weighty, and worthy of all acceptation, when in truth there is no such matter: Bubbles of words they are, and big swollen fancies, sed cui bono? What tack is there in them? and to what good purpose are they? Melancthon makes mention of a certain good man, who reading Aristotle's Discourse concerning the Rainbow, conceited thereupon many strange speculations, and wrote to a friend that he had far outdone Aristotle in that matter. But coming afterwards to the University, and disputing there upon that Subject, he was found to be utterly out in those fancies of his, which indeed were no better then a sublime dotage.

And whose spirit came from thee? ] Or, Came out of thee? Was it by God's Spirit that thou spakest, or thine own rather? For there is a spirit in man, but the Inspiration or the Almighty giveth them understanding, Job 32.8. Job would not have Bildad think and term his discourses to be divine Inspirations, or such admirable pieces, rare sayings, being but vulgar and ordinary businesses. Muncer the arch Anabaptist wrote a Book against Luther, wherein he boasteth much of the Spirit, and of Prophetical Light, accusing Luther for unspiritual, and one that savoured nothing but carnal things. The Antinomians use to call upon their hearers to mark; it may be they shall hear that which they have not heard before, whenas the thing they deliver after so promising a preface, is either false, or what is taught ordinarily by others. Some read the words thus, Whose Spirit admired thee? for the spirit goeth as it were out of itself after those things it admireth. The Hebrews expound it thus, Whose Spirit hast thou quickened, or confirmed by these thy words? Who is the wiser or the better for them? Quam animam per hac fecisti? What soul hast thou gained to God by thy Doctrine? Confer Gen. 12.5 the souls which they had made, that is, brought to the true fear and service of God.

Verse 5 Dead things are formed form under the waters ] Here Jobs tongue, like a silver bell, begins to found out the great things of God far better then Bildad had done, beginning at the bottom, and declaring that nothing is bred or brought forth, whether animate or inanimate, fish or other things in all the vast and deep Ocean, but it is by his decree and power. The Septuagint or Vulgar, for dead and lifeless things, render Giants, and understand thereby Whales, those huge Sea Monsters formed under the waters.

And the Inhabitants thereof ] That is, saith One, other fishes in general, which are in the Seas where those Whales are: For there is that Leviathan, and there are creeping things (that is, smaller fishes) innumerable. And in particular certain little fishes that are noted always to swim with the Whales, as Guides of their way, that they may not unawares coming into muddy places, be miered there. Aristotle calleth them Muscles; Pliny, Musticets.

Verse 6. Hell and destruction are before him ] Here beginneth a Magnifical and stately description of the Majesty of God; and 1. from his Omniscience; 2. From his Omnipotence. For the first, Hell and destruction are before him: Not the grave only, but the neathermost hell, that most abstruse part of the Universe, and most remote from heaven, God's Court. Of hell we know nothing save only what the Scripture saith of it in general, that there is an hell, and that the pains of it are endless, easeless, and remediless, &c. but God only knoweth who are in hell, and who is yet to be hereafter hurled into it. It is the Saints happiness that to them there is no such condemnation. Rom. 8.1. that over them this second death hath no power, Rev. 20.6. That if hell had already swallowed them up (as they sometimes when deserted feel themselves to be in the very suburbs of it) it could no better hold them, then the whales stomach could do Jonas. Luke 22.31. Satan hath desired to have th • e; scil, to hell, but that he shall never have; for they are the Redeemed of the Lord, saved from the wrath to come, and may triumphingly sing, Death, where a thy sting? Hell, where's thy victory? &c.

And destruction hath no covering ] that is, Hell the place of destruction, the Palace of King Abaddon, (so the Devil is called, Rev. 9.11) and so hell is called in this Text, because thereinto are thrust all that are destined to destruction, all the brats of fathomlesse perdition, such as was Judas the Traitor, who went to his place, and all wicked ones, who shall surely be turned into hell, with all those that forget God. Psal. 9 17. This place is not covered, saith Ferus here, but open to God, for whomsoever he will cast thereinto.

Verse 7. He stretcheth out he North ever the empty place ] Heb. Over Toh • . Aristotle saith, that beyond the moveable heavens, there is neither body, nor time, nor place, nor vacuum. But on this side of the heaven there are bodies, time, place, and as it may seem to some, an empty place: for so the Air is here called, over which, and not over any solid matter, for a foundation, God hath spread and stretched forth the heavens which are here called the North, because they are moved about the North-Pole, and besides the North is held the upper part of the world, according to that of Virgil,

Hence it is here put for the whole heaven, which held up by the Word of God's power, without any other props, leaneth upon the liquid Air, the Air upon the earth, and the earth upon nothing.

And hangeth the earth upon nothing. ]

The earth hangs in the midst of heaven, like Architas or Archimedes his Pigeon, equally poised with his own weight. Of this great wonder, the Philosophers after much study, can give no good reason, because ignorant of this, that God hath appoined it so to be, even from the first Creation, Psal. 104.5. Heb. 1.2. The Poets fable, that Atlas beareth up heaven with his shoulders: but we confess the true Atlas; viz. the Lord our God, who by his Word alone beareth up heaven and earth: And it is here fitly alleged as an Argument of his Almightiness. The greatness of this work of God, appeareth hereby, saith Merlin, that men cannot spread aloft the thinnest curtain, absque fulcris, without some solid thing to uphold it.

Verse 8. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds ] Heb. Clouds, which yet have their name from thickness, because they arise from Air condensed. In these God bottleth up the rain, and there keepeth it in by main strength (as the word signifieth) though those vessels are as thin, and thinner then the liquor that is contained in them. This duly weighed, were enough to convince an Atheist, especially if he consider how.

The cloud is not rent under them ] And so causeth a cataclysme to drown the earth, as sometimes at sea especially, great hurt is done this way among ships, by a spout, as Mariners call it, the Greeks 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and the Dutch Ein Wolckenbruch, or Heavenbreach; viz. when clouds cleave asunder, and discharge themselves all at once, for a great mischief to mankind. Now that God thus binds up these heavy vapors, and keeps them in the clouds as a strong man in a Cobweb, till brought by the winds whithersoever he pleaseth to appoint them, they drop upon the earth buy little and little, to make it fruitful; this is a wonderful work of God, and should bring us to the knowledge of his Power, Wisdom and Goodness, Rom. 1.19, 20. see Job. 38.37. Jer. 5.22.

Verse 9 He holdeth back the face of his Throne ] i.e. Of heaven, Isai. 66.1. which he eftsoons overcloudeth and muffleth up or masketh, with a veil: mystically, by the Face of his Throne, we may understand the knowledge of his glory: for this is held from us so in this world, that we cannot perfectly know him as he is, but must content ourselves with a learned ignorance, 1. Joh. 3.3. Here darkness is, and will be under his feet, Psal. 18.9.

And spreadeth his cloud upon it ] It is fitly called, his cloud, because 1. It is his handy-work, Psal. 18.11. Gen. 9.14. Job 28.26, 27. and 37.15, 16. and 38.9. Psa. 104.5. His Sun draweth up those vapors, which being thickened in the middle Region of the air, by the cold encompassing and driving them together, become a cloud. 2 He used it of old as a sign of his glorious Power, and gracious presence with his people, Exod. 13.21. and 16.10. 2 Chron. 5.13, 14. And as a figure of Christ's guiding and protecting his Church through the wilderness of this world, Isai. 4.5, 6. 3. He still rideth in state upon the clouds, Isai. 19.1. Christ was by a cloud coached up to heaven, Act. 1.9. and shall come in like manner, Apoc. 1.7. and 10.1. We also shall then be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the Air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord, 1 Thessal. 4.17. —O mora! Christ veni.

Verse 10. He hath compassed the waters with bounds ] Decreto circinavit superficiem aquarum: He hath as it were with a pair of Compasses drawn a circle about the sea, that it may not pass to drown the earth. Confer chap. 38.8, 10, 11. Psal. 33.7. and 89.10. and 104 9. Prov. 8.29. So he drew a circle round about the earth, Prov. 8.27. doing all with infinite Wisdom, Pondere, mensura numero, &c. He founded the earth not upon solid Rocks, but fluid waters. And that it floteth not upon them, nor is shaken with them (as oft as there is a tempest in the Ocean that begirteth it) neither yet is overflowed by them, this is the wonderful-work of God. Aristotle in his Book De Mirabil • bus, admireth it, and acknowledgeth God's providence, which elsewhere he denieth. Terminum aquis prescripsit, saith Job here. And this either he had from Moses. Gen. 1.10. or, if he lived before Moses, as it is most likely he did; he had it, as he had many other things, by tradition from the Fathers. Sailors tell us, that as they draw nigh to the shore, when they enter into a haven, they run as it were down hill, And yet men are said to go down (not up) to the sea in ships, Psal. 107.23. See a reason hereof in this Text, and Psal: 104.96. An vero non stupendum est? saith Lavater. But is it not a wonderful thing, that so fierce an Element, so huge a mass of waters, tossed by the winds, should be bounded and bridled by sands, confined and kept within their prescribed place and shore? Especially if the water be (as some affirm) ten times bigger then the earth, the air then the water, the fire then the air.

Until the day and night come to an end ] Heb. Until the consummation of light with darkness; that is, till time shall be no more, till the end of the world, when all things shall be let loose to devastation, and the sea shall overflow the Land again, as that then it shall, some would gather from this Text.

Verse 11. The Pillars of heaven tremble ] i.e. the Angels, say some, who tremble out of conscience of their own comparative imperfections. The best of Saints on earth, say others (according to Gal. 2.9. Rev. 3.12. Prov. 9.1, 2.) who tremble at God's Word, Isai. 66.2. and have many concussions by afflictions. But better understand the Firmament of heaven, Hag. 26, 7. Matth. 24.29. The Powers of heaven shall be shaken, they shall quake with the loud check of his Thunder claps. Or the high and mighty mountains whereon the heavens seem to rest, as on so many pillars, shaken by Earthquakes, and sometimes with great astonishment removed out of their places.

And are astonished at his reproof ] As all the beasts of the field are at the roaring of the Lion; Ut quis a gravi & magnae pot • stat • vire. objurgatus, iremit & •• hementer solicitus est, as a slave chidden by a Prince trembleth, and is aghast.

Verse 12. He divideth the sea with his power ] i.e. With his strong winds causing tempests, see the like Isai. 51.15. so that it lieth as it were in ridges, the top of one wave far from another, Jer. 31.35. That was a strange thing that is reported to have fallen out at London the last week. On Monday Aug. 14, 1654. by reason of the great winds the Tide was so low in the Thames. that boys waded over it from the one side to the other, the old Watermen affirming, they never saw it so before.

And by his understanding he smiteth through the proud ] Heb. Pride, or Rahab, which is oft put for Egypt; as Psal. 87.4. and 89.10. Isai. 51.9. whence some would have Pharaoh meant: others the Devil: others, the Whale dashing against a Rock, or driven to shore where he is taken: others, the proud waves of the sea, as chap 38.11. disabled by God to stir more; as a man mortally wounded, is to fight longer. An instance hereof we have in the history of Jonas, and another in the Gospel, Mat. 8. and 14. As God is powerful enough to raise storms, so he is wise enough to lay them again, Psal. 107.25, 29.

Verse 13. By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens ] Spiritu ejus coeli sunt ipsa pul ••• cudo. By his Spirit the heavens are beauty itself, so Vatablus. rendereth it. That Three •• One, and One in Three, wrought in the Creation, see Psal. 33.6. By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth Here Jehovah, his Word and his Spirit, are noted to be the Maker of the world, so Gen. 1. The Heathens had some blind notions hereof, as appeareth by Plutarch, who reporteth that in Thebe a Town of Egypt, they worshipped a God whom they acknowledged to be immortal; but how painted they him? In the likeness of a man blowing an egg out of his mouth; to signify, that he made the round world by the Spirit of his mouth. Upon the heavens especially, God hath bestowed a great deal of skill and workmanship, as appeareth, Heb. 11 10. and Psal. 8.3. where heaven is called, The work of God's fingers; a curious divine work: a Metaphor from them that make Tapestry. Garnished it is with Stars, as a Palace is with stately Pictures, besides the inward beauty which is inconceivable. There is something of a Sapphire in the Hebrew word here rendered Garnished, and Revel. 21. search is made through all. the bowels of the earth to find out all the precious Treasures that could be had. Gold, Pearls, and precious Stones of all sorts, and what can these serve to? only to shadow out the glory of the walls of the new Jerusalem, and the gates and to pave the streets of the City? See also Isai. 54.11, 12.

His hand 〈◊〉 formed the crooked Serpent ] Enixe est, peperit, hath •• ough • forth as by birth, hath formed the most deformed and dread ••• . Creature in the earth Or those flaming Dragons flying in the Air (Meteors • mean;) Or the Constellation in heaven called the Dragon, betwixt the two Bears, and not far from the North-Pole ( Est hos sane maximum, & maxim conspicuum in coelo fidus, &c. ) Or lastly, those Sea-Dragons the Whales, which Mercer thinketh most likely to be here meant; and compareth Isai. 27.1. Psal. 104.26, Job. 40.20. Neither need we wonder, saith he, that the beginning of the verse is of heaven, and the end of the sea: for Job would show and set forth two admirable works of God, in two extremes of the world viz. in heaven above, and in the waters under the earth. his Power and Wisdom shineth everywhere in the Creatures, neither can a 〈◊〉 easily sook besides a miracle. Job therefore insisteth not long upon particulars, but as one lost in the labyrinth of Admiration at so great things, he 〈◊〉 shuts up

Verse 14. Lo, these are parts of his ways ] Or rather, Particles of his Works: Extrema sunt viarum ejus so the Tigu •• es translate it: these are the ends, extremities or utmost parts of them, the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as Saint Paul calleth it, that which may be known of God, par 〈◊〉 treaturaru • , Rom. 1.19, 20 as the Sun may be seen in the water after a soft, but in ro •• , as the Schools speak, in the Cirele where in it runs, we are not able to behold him so something of God may be seen in his Works in his Word, his back parts we may see and live, as Moses Exod. 33. His truth in the Temple, as 〈…〉

But how little a portion is heard of him? ] Heb. What a 〈◊〉 , or sh •• of a word or thing, is heard of him? As when one heareth the latter end only of a 〈◊〉 that which the echo resoundeth, and no more: it is 〈◊〉 a 〈…〉 cannot know, we are as narrow mouthed vessels: Ye are not able to 〈◊〉 what I have to say to you, saith Christ to his Apostles, John 16.12. And to the people h • sp • ke as they were able to hear, Mark 4.33. and not as he was able to have spoken. Lequimur de Deo non quantum debemus, sed quantum possumus. saith Gratian the Emperor, We speak of God, not so much as we should, but so much as we can. We prophecy but in part, and what wonder, since we know but in part, 1 Cor. 13. In human things, the wisest men have professed, that the greatest part of what they knew, was the least of that they knew not: how much more in things divine? By no expressions do we so fully set forth God, saith Scaliger, as by those which set forth our ignorance. Our safest Eloquence concerning God, is our silence, saith learned Hooker.

But the thunder of his power, who can understand? ] Heb. Of his powers; that is, his powerful thunder: which whilst Alladius King of the Latins would by certain Engines (that he had made him) imitate, he justly perished by a Thunderbolt from heaven, his house also, wherein he had attempted so to do, was consumed with fire from heaven, as Dionys. Halicarn. and Orosius testify. Some by thunder here understand God's astonishing presence and utterance of himself. Others, his force and grandeur, his notable and thundering exploits, which shine all the world over, and to which if all that have been instanced shall be compared, they will appear to be but as a few heat drops to a great shower of rain. He that shall go about co declare them, shall be forced to say with the Poet,

CHAP. XXVII. Verse 1. Moreover Job continued his Parable, and said]

IT was Zophars turn, and Job waited a while, as it was fit to see whether he, or any other of them would take up the bucklers again against him; which when they did not, (as hearing his high expressions concerning God's Power and Providence, and haply having now a better opinion of him then before) he asswageth his grief by defending his innocence, and maintaining his opinion, in the five following Chapters. Here be is said, after some r • spit, to e • assume his Parable; which hath its name in Hebrew from L • rding it, and bearing sway, because allegories and figurative speeches bear away the bell, as they say, from plainer Discourses; are more gladly heard, or read, sooner understood, and better remembered. The word rendered continued. is in the Original, added 〈◊〉 lift up; importing either, that he spake now with a courage, as we say, and with a greater Emphasis, as having silenced his adversaries; or that he uttered himself in an higher style, and his matter were Master-sentences, Maxims Axio ••• , Speeches of special precellency and predominancy; such as might well challenge a throne in the minds of all men.

Verse 2. As God Liveth, who hath taken away my judgment ] Job well knew the Nature and end of an Oath, which is to put an end to all strife and controversy among 〈◊〉 , Hab. 6.16. For more Authority sake therefore to his ensuing Discourse, as taking God to witness in a matter of so great moment and that his friends might the better believe him, he doubteth not to begin his speech with a private oath, (for a public is that which is taken before a Magistrate, who upon just cause may exact it) which, so it be sparingly and warily used, is not unlawful as appeareth by the example of Jacob and Laban, Boaz and Ruth, Jonathan and David, scil to help the truuth, in p •• essi • y, and when the other party will not otherwise be satisfied. But what 〈…〉 to say, that the God, whom he so solemnly taketh to witness, had taken 〈◊〉 his judgment? Can the righteous Judge do otherwise then right? Or doth not the 〈◊〉 know that he i • punished less then his iniquities deserved, 〈…〉 A Job was at present under a so • e temptation, and being pressed out of measure above strength, he spake unadvisedly with his lips, and is afterwards barely told of it by Elihu, chap. 34.5 The best faith, if long tried, may flag and hang the wing. Moses at Meribah. David at Gath, Elias under the Juniper, sufficiently show, that every new man is two men: that the flesh eftsoons lusteth against the spirit, and that the best may have their outbursts, yet so, as that the seed of grace still abideth in them, and some way shows itself; Job here for instance. He complaineth of God's severity, but stormeth not against him. He blustreth, but he blasphemeth not. He holdeth himself hardly dealt with by God; and yet whilst he so solemnly sweareth by him, he thereby acknowledgeth him a witness of his conscience, a Patron of Truth, a Lover of Right, an Avenger of Perjury, and lastly, the Author and Arbiter of his life, which he resolveth rather to let go then his Innocency: He can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth, 2 Cor 13.8.

And the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul ] Heb. Hath imbittered. Job should have remembered, that bitter potions bring sweet health, and that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the bitterness would soon be past: but he remembered only (at present) the affliction and the misery, the wormwood and the gall, Lam. 3.19. Now no affliction (but especially soul-affliction) for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby, Heb. 12.11. But patient Job wanted patience to wait for that Adeo nihil est in nobis magni, quod non queat minui; such failings are found in the very best.

Verse 3 All the while my breath is in me ] Periphrasis vitae, — Dum spiritus hos regat a • tus; Whiles I have an hour to breath, I will hold to this Oath of mine: neither may you ever hope to dispute me out of mine integrity. Life is described by breath, which when it faileth, the man dieth, 1 Kings 17.17. Psal. 146.4. Isai. 2.22. Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils, every moment ready to puff out. What is man (saith Naz • anzen ) but soul and soil, breath and body, a puff of wind the one, a pile of dust the other, no solidity in either? Jovinian the Emperor, was choked with the smoke of charcoal. Pope Adrian with a fly, getting into his throat as he gaped. The Cardinal of Lorraine was lighted to his Lodging, and to his long home both at once by a poisoned Torch. Defer not (saith One) since at the next puff of breath thou moist blow away thy life.

And the spirit of God is in my nostrils ] He seems to allude to Gen. 2.7. or some tradition of the Fathers to like purpose. Acts 17.25. God giveth to all life and breath, and all things. And again, verse 28. In him we live, and move and have our being, Wherefore let everything that hath breath praise the Lord, Psal. 150. ult. Yea, let every breath (as some read it) praise the Lord. Let it be as the smoke of the Tabernacle, as Pillars of Incense ascending up to heaven. Tam Dei meminisse opus est, quam respirare.

Verse 4 My lips shall not speak wickedness ] Which I should do, should I, contrary to that which the Spirit of God witnesseth to my conscience, through a feigned humility confess, that I have been wicked. Let God's dejected servant take heed, left by the temptation of Satan, and the misgivings of their own evil hearts of unbelief, they be drawn to bely the work of God's spirit in them, and to hold themselves utterly void of grace, because not endued with such and such measures of grace. Learn to distinguish between imbecility and nullity: show yourselves faithful in weakness, though but weak in faith. There is an allowance to gold, with which it may pass: neither is it to be cast aside, because it wanteth some grains, and hath a crack. Nec vinum rejicimus e • si facem habeat, saith Spin • us. God seeth nothing amiss in that man whose heart is upright. 2 Chron. 15.17. He lays the finger of mercy on the sears of his people's sins, as that Limner in the Story. He will not crush, but cherish that worm Jacob.

Nor my tongue utter deceit ] No, for that were to speak wickedness, yea; to speak yourself wicked. For the remnant of Isratl, shall not (by betraying the truth) do iniquity, nor speak lies: neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; Zeph. 3.13. For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie so he was their Savior, Isai. 63.8.

Verse 5 God forbid, that I should justify you, ] scil. By saying as you say; viz. that I am an hypocrite, and secretly guilty of some soul practices, for which I that grievously suffer. I know nothing of this Nature by myself. God forbid, Absit, res profana sit mihi. The Hebrew word signifies, a profanation, or profane thing. It was the same they used, when they rent their clothes at blasphemy.

Till I die, I will not remove my integrity ] My perfection some render it, and so God accounteth it, when the bent, frame and tendencies of the heart are for him; though the man's wants be many and great. This Job knew, and would hold to. Let not the Devil baffle us out of our integrity.

Verse 6. My righteousness I hold fast ] As with tooth and nail, yea, though it be to the loss of my teeth, as it befell that valiant Sir Thou as Challoner, who served, when he was young, under Charles 5, in the Expedition of Algier, where being shipwrackit, after he had swum till his strength and his arms failed him at the length catching hold of a Cable with his teeth, he escaped, not without the loss of some of his teeth.

And will not let it go ] scil. Upon your persuasions or suspicions, so long as the bird in my bosom continueth singing.

My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live ] His heart must needs reproach him who habitually doth evil, what good show soever he doth make before men; and though he hide his wickedness with no less subtle sleights, then once Rachel did the Idols, Rahab the Spies. Conscience is God's Spye, and man's Overseer. It is In ••• , Judex, Vindex: neither is a body so torn with stripes, as a mind with remembrance of evil actions. This Job knew, and would therefore keep his conscience clear. This was also Saint Paul's greatest, both care, Acts 24.16. and comfort, 2 Cor. 1.12.

Verse 7 Let mine enemy be as the wicked ] q d. I need wish my greatest enemy no greater hurt, then to be as the wicked, for then he is sure to be wretched. So far am I from saying, that God favoreth the wicked, or that he always suffereth them to escape unpunished.

And he that riseth up against me, as the unrighteous ] Or, froward and perverse. This is the same again in other words: and it is well noted to be a popular manner of speaking, wherein when men express an abomination of a thing, they wish it so their enemies; taking it for granted, that the power of malice is so great, that no man can express it in the wish of any particular evil. See the like phrase, 2 Sam. 8 32 1 Sam 25.26. Dan. 4.29.

Verse 8. For what is the hope of the hypocrite, &c. ] Here Job proveth himself to be no hypocrite, by his and their different character and carriage, especially under affliction. Though God kill Job, yet he will trust in him; but what is the hope of the hypocrite, &c? He that maketh a bridge of his own shadow, must needs fall into the brook. The common hope thinks it takes hold of God; but it is but as a child that catcheth at the shadow on the wall, which he thinks he holdeth fast in his hand; but soon finds it otherwise: so shall the hypocrite at death, his hope shall be then as the giving up of the Christ, and that is but cold comfort. Whiles he was in health, and had all well about him, he nourished strong hopes of God's favor, and the rather because he gained and gathered wealth apace. So bladder like is the soul that is filled with earthly vanities, though but wind, it grows great, and swells in high conceitedness: but if picked with the least pin of piercing grief (how much more when struck with deaths dart) it shriveleth to nothing, and is ready to say as one rich w •• ch did on this death-bed, Spes & fortuna valeta; Life and hope adien to you both at once.

Though he hath gained ] Or, When he hath been covetous; raking together 〈◊〉 , • em, qu • cunque modo rem; See this notably exemplified in that rich fool, Luke 12. whose life and hopes ended together.

When God taketh away his soul ] Extrabet, Shall pull it out by violence, as a sword out of its • eath, when God shall make a breach upon their Cittadel: come upon them by forcible entry, turn them out of their cottages of day by 〈…〉 , cut them in twain, as he did that evil servant, Matth 4. tear their bodies and souls asunder, as a man teareth the bark from the tree, or the shell from the f • sh, leaving it naked. Where then shall be the high hopes of the Hypocrite? And O what a dreadful skreek giveth his guilty soul then, to see it self launching into an infinite Ocean of scalding lead, and to consider that it must swim naked in it forever?

Verse 9. Will God hear his cry ] Here's another distinctive Note between a hypocrite and an honest man. As many are said in Daniel to cleave to the better side by flattery, so many false signs will come in, and flatter a man (when he is in health and prosperity) and give their testimony, speak the same thing that true evidences do; but this will not always hold.

When trouble cometh upon him? ] Then the hypocrite will cry, and make pitiful moans; as a prisoner at the Bar begs for his life. Then Joab and Adonijah will run to the horns of the Altar, who till then little cared to come there. But with as ill success they cry to God as Saul did, 1 Sam. 28.15. and as other of David's enemies did, Psal. 18.41. For either God answereth them not at all, Ezek. 21.2, 3. Or else he answereth them according to the Idols of their hearts, Ezek. 14. gives them bitter answers, as Judge 10.13, 14. Or if better, it is for the good of others, and for a further mischief to themselves, that he may snatch away his own and he gone, H • l. 2.9. and that he may consume them after he hath done them good, Josh. 24.20 their preservation proveth but a reservation.

Verse 10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty? ] viz. When trouble cometh upon him, as in the former verse. No, this is Christianorum propria virtus, a practice that none can skill of but God's people, saith Hier • me, to rejoice in tribulation, and then to continue instant in prayer ( Rom. 12.12.) for deliverance, with some confidence grounded upon former experience. Cr •• cui •• is inuncta est, saith Bernard. Together with the Cross, they have an unction from the Father: anointed they are with that Oil of gladness, Spirit of glory and of God, which resteth upon • he • ; and refresheth them amidst all their sorrows and sufferings: and hence their delight in the Almighty, yea though he frown and lay upon them, as he did upon J •• , with his own bare hand. Not so the hypocrite; for why? he hateth God an his heart, as doth every evil-doer, John 3.20. Est 〈◊〉 talium p • na Deus, utpot • 〈◊〉 est: • t quid talibus am invisu • ? God is light, and therefore hated as a punishment to such inanspicate night-birds. He is holiness, but the hypocrite filthiness, as his name also importeth: How th • n can be delight himself in the Almighty? What complacency can there be, where is such an • tter contrariety? They that love the Lord, ha • e evil, Psal 81.2 • 〈◊〉 so doth not any hypocrite: leave it he may, but not loath it: Pa • t with it he may (as Jacob did with Benjamin. lest otherwise he should starve; or as 〈◊〉 with Michael, lest he should lose his head) but his heart is glued to it still, he hath a months mind to be doing if he durst. Finally, He is without faith, and therefore without joy and peace of conscience. And as for his Spider-web of hope, a little wind bloweth it down. The world hath his heart, and so the love of the Father cannot be in him, 1 John 2.15. He leaneth upon the Lord, and saith, Is not the Lord amongst us, Mic. 3.11? yet is he rootedin the delights of life: Like as the Apricock tree leaneth against the wall, but is fast rooted in the earth.

Will he always • all upon God? ] Heb. I • every time? No, nor scarce at any time. Indeed as beg • rs have learned to 〈◊〉 , so have some hypocrites to pray. Isai. 26.16. They have poured forth charm, when thy chastening was upon them. When he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned and inquired after God, Psal. 78.34. But this was only a prayer of the flesh for • ase, and not of the Spirit for grace. They spoke God fair (as the Devil did Christ) only to be rid of him. Thus 〈◊〉 when on the rack, ro •• ed out a concession, and called for a Prayer. Joa • in danger of death hangs on the horns of the Altar. The Captivated Jews fasted and prayed for seventy years, to get off their thaines, rather then their, sins, Zech. 7.5. which Daniel therefore reckoned lost labor, chap • 13. But many wi ••• d men, though in prosperity they have some short-wishes (such as was that of •• la •• s, Numb 23.10. wherewith compare that of David, Psal, 26.9. and see a difference) or perhaps are able by strength of wit and one money to pray handsomely: yet in adversity they set their mouths against heaven, 〈…〉 Wolves, and howl upward, they curse their King and their God, and look upward, saith Isaiah, chap. 8.21. they murmur and mutiny, as the Israelites in the wilderness, they banne and blaspheme, as did that Israelitish woman's son, Lev. 14.11. and Micah's mother, Judge. 17.2. A Parrot may be taught to talk like a man (Histories tell us of one at Rome that could repeat the whole Creed ) but let him be but beaten, and he returns to his own natural harsh voice. So an hypocrite, while all goes well with him, may seem very devout at his Orisons, but lay thy hand upon him (saith Satan to God concerning Job, presuming thereby to prove him an hypocrite) and he will curse thee to thy face, chap. 2.5. But say he be somewhat better conditioned (as they call it) and for a while pray to God for ease and help; yet he will not pray always, he will not persevere in prayer, follow on to pray, wait upon God for an answer, and be content to want it, if God see good to deny it. He cannot draw nigh to God with a true heart (such a heart as is well satisfied, if God may be glorified, though himself be not gratified) in full assurance of faith, Heb. 10.22. Which is, saith Brenz, Orationis medulla, the marrow of prayer. Hence Saint James calleth it, the prayer of faith, chap. 5.15. Afflictions cause a Saint to seek out God's Promise, the Promise to seek Faith, Faith to seek Prayer, and prayer to find God; to find him at length; For he is a God that hideth himself, Isai. 45.15 But what saith faith? I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him, Isai. 8.17. See this exemplified in the woman of Canaan, who fetched Christ out of his retiring room by the force of her faith, Mark 7.24. and prayed on, though denied. She would not be said nay, or set down either with silence or sad answers, but shown herself a woman of a well knit resolution, such as could credere invisibilia, sperare dilaia, & amare Deum se ostendentem contrarium, as Luther speaketh: Believe things invisible, hope for things deferred, and love God when he shows himself most angry and opposite. Now this the hypocrite (who is an Infidel) cannot skil of. He is short spirited and cannot hold out in prayer, cannot (as our Savior taught by that Parable, Luke 18.1.) always pray, and not faint, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 shrink back, as sluggards do in work, or Cowards in War. Oratio est res ardua, & magni laboris, saith Luther. Prayer is a hard work, and a man must tug at it and stick to it, as Jacob did, who wrestled and raised dust as the Hebrew word signifieth: he held fast, and hung on, yea he held with his hands when his thigh was lamed. Let me go (saith God bespeaking his own liberty) No, thou shalt not, saith Jacob, until thou bless me. Lo, such is the generation of them that seek God in sincerity, of them that seek thy face; this is Jacob, Psal. 24.6. One thing have 〈◊〉 desired of the Lord, and that I will se • k after, saith David, Psal. 27.4. If his suit had not been honest, he would never have begun it: But being so, he will never give it over till he hath prevailed: he will pray till he faint, and then to it again, Psal. 119.81, 82. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer, Rom. 12.12. So doth not the hypocrite, for want of an inward principle. If God come not at a call, he is out patience, and ready to say with that profane Prince, 2 Kings 6.33. Behold this evil is of the Lord, and what should I wait for the Lord any longer? Away to the Witch of End • r, to the god of E • ron. Flecter • si neque • saperos, Acheronta moveh • . This Job would not do, and therefore no hypocrite.

Verse 11. I will teach you by the hand of God ] That is, by the help of God, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , or concerning the hand of God, what is in the hand of the Lord (so the Septuagint) what things he is wont to do by his power, and what are his usual proceedings, his actual and efficacious providence, Act. 4.28.

That which is with the Almighty I will not conceal.