Commentary on Ezra Nehemiah Ester Job and Psalms

CHAP. II. Verse 1. Again there was a day]

WHether the next day, or the next Sabbath day, or the next first day of the year, (which is God's day of general Audit, as the Rabbin's will have it) we have not to say. God, as he hath in his eternal counsel fore-appointed everything that is done; so he hath set the times wherein, Eccles. 3.1. such as the creature can neither alter, nor order. This is a comfortable consideration.

When the Sons of God &c.] See chap. 1.6.

And Satan came also among them ] Whether summoned to give an account, or of his own accord to sue out a new Commission against Job, it skilleth not. Restlesse he is; and it behooveth us to be vigilant: not ignorant of his wiles, nor unmindful of his inveterate envy and enmity.

Verse 2. And the Lord said unto Satan, &c. ] See chap. 1.7.

From going to and fro in the earth ] In heaven he comes not; into that earthly paradise he could screw himself, not so into the heavenly. No dirty dog ever trampled on that golden pavement; those that are there, are ex • ra jactum out of Satan's gun-shot; but whilst here, he will ever and anon have a bout with the best; he walks about for the nonce, spying advantages.

And from walking up and down in it ] Doing his feats, and carrying news. It might very well be he, who when Domitian the Emperor was slain by his own servants at Rome, informed Apollonius Tyaneus thereof at Ephesus, where he is said to have cried out the same time; To him Stephan; strike him, kill him. But what a vain-glorious vaunt of an impudent caytiffe was this, that though vanquished as he had been by Job, and beaten on his own dunghill, he should take upon him still in this sort, that he had been walking up and down as a Conqueror or Emperor of this present world? Surely as Job still retained his integrity, so did Satan his vanity; boasting that he came now from visiting his estate; and that nothing rendered hm more glorious then the great number of his subjects which depended upon his will.

Verse 3. And the Lord said unto Satan ] Before he would condemn him, he thus interrogateth him (which he would not vouchsafe to do, when he had deceived our first parents, Gen. 3.14.) but with a very bitter taunt and sharp reprehension; as if God should have said, Art thou not ashamed Satan, thus to answer me, as if I had forgotten what I granted thee in our last assembly, and thus in my presence to dissemble &c?

Hast thou considered my servant Job ] See chap. 1.8.

One that feareth God &c. ] This he did not without God (according to that clause in the new covenant, I will put my fear into their hearts. Jer. 31.40. I, is emphatical and exclusive, q. d. I, and I alone) yet God giveth him the honor of it: as if he himself had been the sole doer. Certum est, nos facere quod facimus; sed ill facit ut faciamus, saith Austin; Sure it is, that we do what good we do; but as sure it is, that God doth all our works in us and for us, Isai. 26.12.

And still be holdeth fast his integrity ] which thou hast striven quasi • icedulà extorquere, by wrinch and wile to get from him; but he hath hitherto held it fast as with tooth and nail. This was a singular commendation, and that's a rare faith, which being long tried, doth not flag and hang the wing. By reason of the overflow of iniquity the love of many shall wax cold, (saith our Savior) but he that endureth to the end shall be saved, Ma • th. 24.12, 13. Lo, it is but a He, a single man that retaineth his integrity; when Many lose their first love, and fall from their former steadfastness, as fast as leaves fall in Autumn. Job would not part with his integrity to die for it: when all was taken away, he laid fast hold on that, and resolved to let go his life sooner. Christ he saw standing over him (as once Steven did) and saying, Hold fast that thou hast, that no one take thy crown from thee. Omnia perdidit qui fidem amisit, saith Seneca. In a common combustion, a man will be sure to secure his jewels, what ever become of his lumber.

Although thou movedst me against him ] That is, against his personal estate, and his children, which are called himself; against these Satan is said to have moved the Lord, to have incited and instigated him, stirring him up with reasons and arguments; as he is an excellent Orator, if he may but have audience. But that the Lord was hereby moved to do ought against Job, must be wisely and rightly understood; for God is immutable and immovable: neither can he be drawn to do anything, but what he hath decreed to do from before all beginnings: but here he speaketh after the manner of men, as if he were prevailed with by Satan's solicitations.

To destroy him ] So Satan would have had it, when God meant to try him only. See the like, Rev. 2.10.

Without cause ] or for nothing (as the word signifieth, chap. 1.10. Doth Job fear God for naught? ) without any provocation or cause on his part procuring it. Not but that there is cause enough in the best, why God should afflict them: But as there was no peccatum flagrans in Jacob, Numb. 23.21. No foul sin of that people, flaming at that time in the eyes of God, or stinking in his nostrils; and therefore Bala •• (the devils Spel-man) could do naught against them by his enchantments, verse 23. So there was not in Job that gross hypocrisy, wherewith Satan had falsely charged him: he was not that mercenary that Satan would have made of him. In vain did that arch-slandere • and accuser of the Saints move the Lord against Job, Gratis, id est, Frustra, saith Lyra; in vain did he assault this stout champion, &c.

Verse 4. And Satan answered the Lord &c. ] This impudent adversary had yet an answer in his mouth, and would not be so set down. Of him and his agents (those false teachers, as the Apostle calleth them) it may be truly said, — Nihil est audacius illis.

Skin for skin. ] Any skin for his own, cattle, servants, children may be easily parted with by him, to save himself in a whole skin, to keep himself whole: others read it, skin after skin, or skin upon skin: both the Cutis and the Pellis shall go, so that life may be preserved: as a man will hold up his arm to save his head, or suffer the loss of a limb to save his life. Ut corpus redimas; ferrum patieris & ignes. Job is still integrâcu • e, skin-whole, saith Satan; and so long there is little trial of him: that man is rich • nough who is well. I read of one, who being asked how old he was, answered, that he was in health: and to another that asked how, rich he was, answered, that he was not in debt, q. d. He is young enough that is in health; and rich enough that is not in debt. Now all this Job was yet, and therefore Satan ill apaid and unsatisfied.

And all that he hath will a man give for his life ] Life is sweet, we say: and man is a life-loving creature, saith the Heathen; fond of life, and afraid of death, which is Natures slaughterman, and therefore the most Terrible of Terribles, as Aristotle styleth it. The Gibeonites refused not to be perpetual slaves, so they might but live. Those that are overcome in battle, are content to be stripped of all, so they may have quarter for their lives. Mariners in a tempest, cast their lading into the sea, though never so precious, in hope of life. If Job may escape with the skin of his teeth, it is some favor: he may not think much to sacrifice all that he hath to the service of his life, his conscience only excepted. Some good people have strained that too for love of life: as when Abraham denied his wife; David changed his behavior; Peter denied his Master; Qu. Elizabeth (though afterwards she could say, When I call to mind things past, behold things present, and expect things to come, I hold them happiest, that go hence soonest; yet) in Queen Mary's time, she sometimes heard divine service after the Romish religion, and was often confessed; yea, at the rigorous solicitation of Cardinal Pool, she professed herself a Romish Catholic; yet did not Queen Mary believe her (saith mine Author) remembering that she herself, for fear of death, had by Letters written with her own hand to her father, both renounced forever the Bishop of Rome's authority, and withal acknowledged her father to be supreme head of the Church of England under Christ, and her Mothers marriage to have been incestuous and unjust. Those good souls did better, that loved not their lives unto death, Rev. 12.11. that by losing their lives saved them, Matth. 10.39. that held with that Martyr, that life is sweet only to such as have their souls linked to their bodies, as a thiefs foot is in a pair of fetters.

Verse 5. But put forth thy hand now ] See notes on chap. 1.11. This God did at Satan's motion, yet non ad exitium Jobi, sed ad exercitium; Jobs temptation is of Satan, but his trial and invincible constancy is of god. God in a sense tempted Job. Satan also: even as the dog may be said to bait the beast, and the owner of the beast too, that suffered him to be baited.

And touch his bone and his flesh ] pinch him to the quick, that not his flesh only may feel it, but the marrow also in his bones, Psal. 6.2. and 32.3. and 51.8. The bone and flesh are the chief materials of man's body, which is fitly compared to a fabric, wherein the bones are the timber-work, the head the upper-lodging, the eyes as windows, the eye-lids as casements, the brows as pent-houses, the ears as watch-towers, the mouth as a door, to take in that which shall uphold the building, and keep it in reparations; the stomach as a kitchen, to dress that which is conveyed into it: the guts and baser parts as sinks belonging to the house &c. as one maketh the comparison. Now in all these and the rest of his parts of body, Satan would have Job to be smitten: and then he made no question of a conquest. Paine is a piercing shaft in Satan's quiver of temptations: hence he stirred up his agents to tympanize and torment the Martyrs with as much cruelty as the wit of malice could devise; but all in vain. Heb. 11.35, 36. Apollonia had all her teeth pulled out of her head (hence Papists make her the Saint for tooth-ach.) Blandina tired those that tortured her. Theodorus was cruelly whipped, racked, and scraped with sharp shells, by the command of Julian, but yielded not. Rose Allen had her hand-wrist burnt by Justice Tyrrell, who held a candle under it till the sinews brake that all the house heard them; and then thrusting her from him, violently said, ah strong whore, wilt thou not cry? thou shameless whore, thou beastly whore, &c. But she quietly suffering his rage for the time, at the last said, Sir, have you done what you will do? and he said yea; and if thou think it not well, then mend it. Mend it, said she? nay, the Lord mend you, and give you repentance, if it be his will. And now, if you think it fit, begin at the feet, and burn the head also; for he that set you a work, shall pay your wages one day, I warrant you. As little got the devil by these worthies, as he did by Jobs biles and carbuncles. We are ashamed, (said one of Julians Nobles to him) we are Ashamed, O Emperor, the Christians laugh at your cruelty, and grow the more resolute.

And he will curse thee to thy face ] Heb. If he curse thee not to thy fade, q. d. then damn me, send me to hell presently. This Satan holds in by an Aposiopesis, being therein more modest then our desperate and detestable God-damn-me's; let them see how they gratify the devil, who curse and blaspheme, or protest openly what they know to be false. This the devil did not.

Verse 6. And the Lord said unto Satan ] who hath his request: it is not always a mercy to have what we wish. Deus saepe dat iratus, quod negat propitius. Be sure we bring lawful petitions, and true hearts, Heb. 10.22. and then we shall have good things, and for our greatest good.

Behold he is in thine hand ] Here God puts his child into his slaves hand to correct, but not to destroy. And surely, if we give reverence to the fathers of our flesh, who correct us for their own pleasure, shall we not much more be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits, chastening us for our profit, and live? The Turks, though cruelly lashed, are yet compelled to return to him that commanded it, to kiss his hand, and to give him thanks, and to pay the officer that whipt them. This last we need not do, but the former we ought, taking God's part against ourselves, and resting contented; though as Paul delivered up some to Satan, that they might learn not to blaspheme, so God deliver us up to him and his agents (such as Satanically hate us, and are divellishly bent against us, Psal. 32.21.) causing us to suffer more then any ever did out of hell; that we may learn not to be proud, secure, sensual, and may preach forth the virtues of him who hath brought us out of darkness into his marvelous light, 1 Pet. 2.9. Let us not say, if God would take the rod into his own hand, I could better bear it: but the tender mercies of that wicked one and his imps are mere cruelties. For 1. this is as if the child should say, If I might choose my rod, I would not care to be whipt: or the condemned Noble-man, If I might choose mine executioner, I would not care to lose mine head. 2. It is but one hand, and many instruments that God smiteth us with. Our enemies are but the men of God's hand, Psal. 17.14. that can do no more then is given them from above, John • 9. •• . God's Masons, to hew us here in the Mount, that we may be as the polished corners of the Temple, Psal. 144.12. God's scullions, to scour up the vessels of his household, that they may shine upon the celestial shelf, as that Martyr said. 3. God ever reserveth to himself the royalty of setting them their task, limiting them their time, and letting out their • edder; hitherto ye shall go, and no further. 4. If they exceed their commission (as they are apt), God's jealousy will smoke against them, Zech. 1.14.

But save his life ] Heb. his soul; put oft for the life, the cause for the effect: Satan shook his chain at Jobs soul, and would have destroyed it; but that he might not do: scratch him he might with his paws, but not fasten his fangs in him. Job could say (for a season at least) as that dying Saint did, My body is weak, my soul is well. His afflictions, as afterwards St. Paul's, reached but to his flesh, Col. 1.24. And see that thou save his life too, saith God: (see how he chaineth up the devil, who would fain have been sucking Jobs blood, and swallowing him down his wide gullet; 1 Pet. 5.8.) Save it, that is, spare it; see that the Spirit fail not before me, and the soul that I have made; I have yet some further use of him, though a lamentable Lazar. You know how through infirmity of the flesh; that is, notwithstanding the infirmity and weakness of my body, I preached the Gospel, saith Paul. and my temptation which was in my flesh you despised not. Daniel, though sick, yet did the Kings business; and Job, though scabbed all over, was yet of great use, and reserved to great honor: therefore Save his life, saith God: and the devil, say the Rabbin's, was as much vexed and wounded with this restraint, as Job was with all his wounds and ulcers. It is surely a vexation to malice, not to do its utmost.

Verse 7. So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord ] The like is said of Cain, when he meditated the murder of his innocent brother, and went to put it in practice. Malefactors amongst us, we know, are indicted in this form. For that thou, not having God before thine eyes, but moved by the instigation of the devil, didst—.

And smote Job ] He pretended to touch him only, verse 5. but let every good man bless himself out of Satan's bloody fingers: his iron entered into Josephs soul, his stroke was very vehement upon Jobs body, making totum pro vulnere corpus: For he smote Job

With sore boils] hot boiling boils, such as the Sorcerers of Egypt were smitten with, Exod. 9.10. and afterwards the limbs of Antichrist, Rev. 16.2. The Indian scab, some say it was, or the French disease, a most filthy and odious ulcer it appeareth to have been, sore and mattery (why else should he so scrape himself with a potsherd, as verse 8.) such as whose sharp and pricking humor penetrated the very bone, and put him to exquisite pain, being worse to him then Augustus his tres vomicae briae carcinomata, above-mentioned: or Philip the second of Spain his loathsome and lousie disease, whereof he died Anno 1598. Carolus Scribanius thus describeth it. This potent Prince for a long time endured ulcerum magnitudinem, multitudinem, acerbitatem, foetorem &c. i. e. Many great, sharp and stinking ulcers, which fastened him to his bed, as to a cross, for a whole year before his death; besides six years torture by the Gout, an hectic fever with a double tertian for two years space feeding upon his bowels, and the very marrow of his bones; besides a most grievous flux for two and twenty days, a continual nauseousnesse of his stomach, an unsatisfiable thirst, a continual pain of his head and eyes, abundance of matter working out of his ulcets, quae binas indies scutellas divite paedore impleret: besides a most loathsome stench that took away his sleep &c. thus he. Think the same, and worse of Job, the object of Satan's utmost malice, and that for a whole year, say the Hebrews; for seven whole years, saith Soudas. Chrysostom compareth him with Lazarus▪ and maketh him to be in a far worse condition. Pineda showeth, that his sufferings were a great deal worse then those of the wicked Egyptians under all their ten plagues; this was a boil, an evil boil, saith the text, one of the worst sort, the most painful and malignant that might be, and this all over his body.

From the sole of the feet, unto his crown ] It was all but one continued sore, universal, as the leprosy, and therefore incurable; threatened as an utmost plague, an evil, an only evil, D • ut. 28.35. If any part were left untouched, it was his tongue and mouth, that it might be free to blaspheme God: and that herein he was not smitten by Satan, some have observed from chap. 19.20. I am escaped with the skin of my teeth, having no sores there, as I have all the rest of my body over.

Verse 8. And he took him a pot sheard ] a piece of a broken pot, for want of better: ointments he had none, nor baths to lenifie his sorenesse. Physicians and friends were far from him. He looked on his right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know him: refuge failed and perished from him; no man cared for his soul. He had still a wife and servants, and (as some think) his household-stuff left him. He should therefore by them have been helped; but they helped on his misery, jeering him, and jesting at him, as he afterwards complaineth. Himself therefore in this necessity, taketh a potsherd, a piece of an earthen-pot, thereby to mind himself, saith Gregory, that he was of the earth, earthy. For which cause also

He sat down among the ashes ] or dust, as repenting in dust and ashes, chap. 42.6. So Jonah 3.6. Matth. 11.22. The Septuagint say, that he sat upon the dirt or dung, for want of a better cushion, and that he was laid without the City, as if for the stink and ill savor that came from him, he was not suffered to be in the City: as Uzziah afterwards being a Leper, dwelt in a house by himself alone, 2 Chron. 26.21. Disce hîc, si aegrotas, saith Lanater, Learn here, if thou be sick, and have help about thee, of friends, food, physic, clean linen, and the like, to show thyself patient: poor Job had none of all this. Nay, the Lord Christ had not whereon to rest his head. Sin autem omni curâ & solatio es destitutus, saith he. But say thou be destitute of all cure and comfort, forced to lie without doors, and upon the hard ground; say thou be in such a condition, that thou canst neither stand nor go, nor sit, nor lie, nor eat (either for want of meat, or want of stomach): comfort thyself with this, and the like examples of the Saints. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and what end the Lord made, James 5.11. He raiseth the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among Princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory, 1 Sam. 2.8. Again, let no man trust to his present prosperity: Job, who heretofore spake not to his subjects but from his throne, was now seated upon a dung-hill: and his hands accustomed to bear the Scepter, were employed to wipe the matter which distilled from his sores, as the French Paraphrast hath it.

Verse 9. Then said his wife ] Was this Dinah, Jacob's only daughter? so the Jew-Doctors say; and that Job had a fair daughter by her, whom Potipher married; and that of her came Asenaz whom Joseph married. They tell us also (but who told them all this?) that she was hitherto spared, when all Jobs outward comforts were taken away, for Jacob her fathers sake. Moreover, the Septuagint here help her to scold, adding a whole verse of female passion, I must now, saith she, go wander, and have no place to rest in, &c. Job said nothing all this while; not because he was either insensible or sullen; but because it was God that did it, Psalm 39.2. and he had well deserved it, Mic. 7.9. I will bear (thinks he) the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him. Yet my soul be silent to Jehovah &c. Satan therefore (who waited for his cursing of God, as a dog waiteth for a bone, but was defeated) cunningly setteth his wife awork, by her venomous words, to make him speak at least, and by her unseemly and sinful counsel, to draw him to do wickedly. Some think, saith Chrysostom, that the devil in the shape of Jobs wife, spake thus unto him; and surely their words agree; He will curse thee to thy face, saith he; Curse God and die, saith she. Chrysostom himself thinketh, that the devil (if he spake not in her, yet) spake by her, as he did once to Eve by the Serpent, and that he borrowed her mouth, using her as a strong Engine, to a wall of adamant, as the choicest arrow in his quiver, to wound Jobs righteous soul; and as a scaling-ladder, whereby to get up into this impregnable tower, as Gregory hath it. He had tried this course before with Adam, and had singular success, Gen. 3.6. he had by his rib (as by a ladder) gotten up to his heart; yea, with his rib broken his head, as one phraseth it, darting in death at the windows of his ears. This he assayed upon Job, but without effect: his ears were waxed up, his heart fixed &c. although he could not but be vexed that his wife should do it; especially since hereby his servants and friends would be encouraged to do the like. O wives, saith one! the sweetest poison, the most desired evil &c. Sir Thomas Moore was wont to say, that men commit faults often, women only twice, that they neither speak well, nor do well. This may be true of bad wives, such as Jezebel who stirred up Ahab (of himself forward enough) to do wickedly with both hands earnestly, 1 King. 21.25. This in Jobs wise might be a particular failing, though a foul one. Women are the weaker vessels, and naturally more passionate: they must have their allowance, as light gold hath. She in the text had no small trials, and he is a perfect man that offendeth not with his tongue.

Dost thou still retain thine integrity?] Cuibono, as he said: what gettest thou by it? Is not this thy fear, thy confidence; the uprightness of thy ways, and thy hope? Lo Eliphaz (who should have had more grace and government of his tongue then Jobs wife) scoffeth religious Job. as some sense that text, chap, 4.6. rendering the words thus; Is not thy fear (or religion) become thy folly? Where is now thine uprightness, and hope of reward? It is an ancient and an ordinary slurre and slander cast upon the ways of God, as if they were unprofitable, as if God were an austere man, an illiberal Lord: as if there were no gain in godliness, nothing to be got by it but knocks, crosses, losses, &c. whereas God is a rewarder of all those that diligently seek him, Heb. 11.6. He recompenseth the losses of his people, as the King of Poland did his noble servant Zelislaus, to whom having lost his hand in his wars, he sent a golden hand instead thereof. He rewardeth the sufferings of his Saints, as Gaius the Emperor did Agrippa, who had suffered imprisonment for wishing him Emperor. The History saith, that when he came afterwards to the Empire, the first thing he did, was to prefer Agrippa, and gave him a chain of gold, as heavy as the chain of iron that was upon him in prison. The devil could have told this peevish woman, that Job did not serve God for naught, chap 1.9. See Mal. 1.10. and 3.14. with the Notes.

Curse God and die ] What cursed counsel was this? and from her who should have administered conjugal help to him? How well might Job have turned her off with Get thee behind me Satan, thou art an offense unto me? These were the devils words and not the woman's, saith Chrysostom; it was her tongue, but the devil tuned it, saith Origen. Curse God and die, for he will not endure thee to live, having once so set thy mouth against heaven, but will quickly set thee packing by a visible vengeance: or, Curse God, and then die by thine own hands; having first spit thy venom in his face for having handled thee so hardly, after so good service done him. Hacket did thus at the gallows, Anno 1591. threatening to set fire on heaven, to pluck God out of his Throne, if he would not show some miracle out of the clouds to convert those infidels that brought him to execution, and to deliver him from his enemies: having the rope about his neck, he life his eyes to heaven, and grinning, said, Dost thou repay me this for a Kingdom bestowed? I come to revenge it &c. O wretch I By the way observe, that Satan is a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (as Hegesias the Philosopher was called) a persuader of people, that death is an end, at least an ease of outward troubles, when as to the wicked death is but a trap-door to hell: we silly fish, see one another jerked out of the pond of life, but we see not the fire, and the frying-pan whereunto those are cast that die in their sins, to whom all the sufferings of this life are but a typical hell, the beginning of those terrors and torments which they shall hereafter suffer, without any the least hope of ever either mending or ending.

Verse 10. But he said unto her ] He did not start up, and lay upon her with his unmanly fist, ( Chrysostom saith, it is the greatest reproach in the world for a man to beat his wife) but he reproveth her, and that sharply, as she deserved: and so did Jacob his best beloved Rachel, when the offense was against God, Gen. 30.2. A wise husband, saith Marcus Aurelius, must often admonish, never smite, and but seldom reprove, and that with the spirit of meekness too, Gal. 6.1. Meekness of wisdom, Jam. 3.13. That was wonderful patience that was exercised by D. Cowper Bishop of Lincoln, who, when his wife had burnt all his Notes which he had been eight years in gathering, left he should kill himself with overmuch study (for she had much ado to get him to his meals) shown not the least token of passion, but only replied, Indeed wife, it was not well done; so falling to work again, he was eight years in gathering the same Notes, wherewith he composed his Dictionary. Job, though somewhat more tart, as reason required, the offense being of so high a nature; yet he breaks not out into fierce and furious language: he saith not, Go, go, thou art an arrant fool, a wicked woman, an abominable wretch, but

Thou speakest like one of the foolish women ] like one of the women of Idumea that have no sap of wisdom or goodness in them, but do whip their gods, (as the Chinois are said to do at this day) when they cannot have what they would have of them, and revile them for neglecting their worshippers. Note here, that Jobs wife might be a good woman for the main, though in this particular she did amiss: but it is a fault in God's people, when it shall be said unto them, Are ye not carnal, and walk, as men? when it shall be said of God's daughters, that they speak or act like one of the foolish women. David's daughters were known by their party-coloured garments, so should God's by the law of wisdom in their lips and lives, by their patient mind made known to all men, by their eximious and exemplary holiness. What should Jobs wife, the Governesse of such a religious Family, the yoke-fellow of such an holy Husband, be talking of cursing God? be speaking after the rate of profane Edomites? The Heathen Comedian can say, that she is a wise woman who can be well content to suffer hardship; and not repine, that it is now worse with her then formerly it hath been: Job would fain bring his wife to this, and therefore addeth,

What? shall we receive good &c] He seeketh to set her down, not with rage, but with reason: and that indeed is the right way of backing a reproof: wherein as there must be some warmth, so it may not be scalding hot. Words of reviling and disgrace, they scald, as it were: But words that tend to convince the judgment, and to stir up the conscience to a due consideration of the fault, they be duly warm, and tend to make the physic work the more kindly.

Shall we receive good at the hands of God, and not evil? ] Shall we not eat the crust with the crumbs? drink the sour with the sweet? bless God as well for taking away, as for giving; accept of the chastisement of our iniquity? receive it patiently, thankfully, fruitfully? Shall we be all for comforts, and nothing at all for crosses? Is it not equal that we should share in both, since it is the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed? Gen. 49.28. Jacob is said to have blessed all his sons. Now he seemed rather to curse Reuben, Simeon and Levi; for he speaks only of evil to them: But because they were not rejected from being among God's people, because they were not cut out of the list (as Dan afterwards was, 1 Chron. 7. Revel. 7.7.) though they were under great and sore afflictions, they are counted blessed. Doles quod amisisti? gaude quod • vasisti, saith Seneca: Grievest thou at thy losses? be glad that thyself art escaped. Be ready at all hours, to send God home again the blessings which he lent us, with thankfulness. There is a complaint of some men, so ungrateful, that if you do them nineteen courtesies, and then deny them the twentieth, you lose all your thank with them: Carry them on your back to the very suburbs of Rome, and not into the City itself, you do nothing for them. God is not to be thus dealt with; especially, since he altereth the property of those evils and crosses which he layeth upon us, turning them to our greatest good, Rom. 8.28. like as the skillful Apothecary turneth a poisonful Viper into a wholesome Triacle. Good therefore and worthy of all acceptation is that counsel of the Wiseman, In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider. Consider? What? This, that God also hath set the one over against the other, and therefore thou must take the one as well as the other: that's but reasonable and equitable. Plato saith, that God doth always 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , act the Geometrician, do and dispose of all things in number weight and measure: such an order and vicissitude he hath set of good and evil in the life of man, that they are as it were interwoven. Accept them therefore, and acquiesce in them both, as the Hebrew word here signifieth.

In all this Job sinned not with his lips. ] Hitherto he did not, though in a pitiful pickle, and much provoked by the wife of his bosom. He did not murmur against God, nor let fly at his wife; he did not threaten her as Lamech, nor fall out with the whole sex, as he that said, Foemina nulla bona est. He doth not wish himself single again, as Augustus did, or hold himself therefore only unhappy because married, as Sylla did. No such unsavory speech falls from Jobs lips, as the Devil wished and waited for it. Neither doth it follow (as some Rabbin's would infer from this Text) that Job sinned in his heart, though not with his lips: for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth would have spoken. Look what water is in the Well, the like will be in the Bucket: and what stuff is in the ware-house, the like will be in the shop. If his heart had been exulcerate, he would not meekly and wisely have withstood his Wives motion to blaspheme. Hitherto certainly, God had helped him. It was the uncouth and unkind carriage of his friends concurring with the increase of his bodily pain, besides the eclipse of inward comforts, that drew from him those passionate expressions, chap. 3.

Ver. 11. And when Jobs three friends ] His familiar friends, that did eat of his bread, as Psal. 49.9. that were as his own soul, Deut. 13.6. his bosom friends, and therefore precious Jewels, such as could both keep counsel, and give counsel. Of such there are but few to be found. Friends, there is no friend, said Socrates. Faithful friends, saith Another, are in this age all for the most part gone in pilgrimage, and their return is uncertain. A Friend is a changeable creature, saith a Third; all in changeable colors like the Peacock, as often changed as moved. Job complaineth of these his chief and choice friends, that they were miserable Comforters, Physicians of no value, &c. Amicitia sit tantùm inter binos, eósque bonos; such as were Jonathan and David. Corporibus geminis spiritus unus erat.

Heard of all this evil ] Whether by the ministry of the good or bad Angels, or of neither, it skilleth not. Ill news is swift of foot, saith the Greek Proverb; and like ill weather, which comes ere it be sent for. The sins and miseries of good people are much talked of, and soon bruited abroad. The Chaldee Paraphrast here telleth of strange businesses, viz. that these three here mentioned (besides the report they heard of Jobs calamity) were moved to visit him by the wonders that fell out with them at the same time: for their trees suddenly withered in their Ort-yards, their bread at their table was turned into raw flesh, their wine into blood, &c. But this may well pass for a Jewish fable: The Author of that Paraphrase was R. Joseph Cacus, nothing so ancient or authentic as he who paraphraseth upon the historical books, but exceeding full of mistakes, and seldom cometh he near the right meaning of the Text, all along the Hagiographa.

They came everyone from his own place ] More then these came to such a sight, no doubt: but these out of a desire and design to condole with him, and comfort him. But it fell out far otherwise: for they tormented Job well nigh as much as Satan himself, though it were of ignorance, and unwittingly, rather then of ill will, or malice fore-thought. Their very silence and gesture before ever they spake a word, did so torment his mind, that at last he cries out in that bitter manner, as chap. 3. like a frantic man, which through some grievous sickness hath lost his wits.

Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhitt &c. Idumeans all (likely) and men of much estimation for wisdom ( Jer. 49.7. Is Wisdom no more in Teman? ) and godliness, as descended all of Abraham, whose care was to catechise his whole Family, and to teach them the ways of God, Gen. 18.19. Their following disputations show as much, wherein they admonish him to repent, assuring him, that he could be no less then a gross sinner, and an hypocrite, because so grievously afflicted. Job answereth their several speeches, tormented in body, perplexed in mind, but stoutly defending his own innocence, and seeming to tax the Lord also; like as dogs in a chase bark at their own Masters. To this, his friends reply sharply from chap. 15. to 22. and he answereth them again with greater boldness and courage then before. Hereupon they begin a second reply, and here Eliphaz and Bildad only spake: The third man fainted and spake no more, for that Job was invincible &c. till at length Elihu moderateth, censuring both parties; and God determineth, to Jobs conviction and final commendation.

For they had made an appointment together to come ] Not by accident, or at adventure, as Origen will needs have it against the Text; but by solemn agreement; it was a pitched meeting. Neither staid they till they were sent for, but came (as friends) to do Job all friendly offices: like as in a fright, the blood and spirits run to the heart to relieve it. A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity, Prov. 17.17. See the Note there.

To mourn with him ] Heb. To shake the head, or other parts of the body, in token of commiseration: to bewail his condition, as Cyprian did the persecuted Saints of his time, Cum singulis pectus meum copulo, saith he: Moeroris pondera luctuosa participo, &c. Who is offended, and I burn not? 2 Cor. 11.29.

And to comfort him ] This they intended, but proved miserable comforters too, by reason of the deceitfulness of their hearts, fitly therefore compared to a broken or a deceitful bow, that carrieth the arrow a clean contrary way. So Jonah prayed unto the Lord. chap. 4.2. He thought to have prayed, but it proved that he brawled: see the Note there. These men's words were as a murthering weapon in Jobs bones; pious they were, and divine all along, but much mis-applied. It is said of them, that they handled an ill matter well, and Job a good cause as ill, especially when once he came to be wet through.

Verse 12. And when they lift up their eyes afar off ] Hence some conclude that Job lay abroad, as lepers used.

And knew him not ] for they had never seen him before, but in a splendidous fashion; now then to see him in such a pickle, that he hàd lost all form and fashion, more like a dead beast, then a living man; this amazed and amused them; they might also by this so sad a spectacle, be admonished of their own mutable and miserable condition ( Aut sumus, aut fuimus, aut possumus esse quod hic est ) and have the same thoughts, as the Psalmist afterwards had, Man being in honor, abideth not; he is like the beasts that perish, pecoribus morticinis, saith Tremellius, the beasts that die of the murraine, and so become carrion, and are good for nothing. Job was now no otherwise to be seen, then as a stinking carcass full of sores, more like then a living man, as he painteth out himself in most lively colors.

They lifted up their voice and wept ] Good men are apt to do so, saith the Poet, & faciles motus men's generosa capit; we are bound to weep with those that weep, and to be both pitiful and courteous, 1 Pet. 3. To him that is in misery, pity should be shown from his friend. (it was so to Job here at first) but he forsaketh the fear of the Lord, Job 6.14. Jobs friends did so, when amazed with the greatness of his calamity, they therehence concluded him an arrant hypocrite, unworthy of any one word of comfort.

And they rent everyone his mantle ] His stately mantle, his robe of state, such as men of great honor used to wear, Stolam regiam. Some Hebrews and Jesuits will have these three friends of Job to have been Kings; such I believe they were as the three Kings of Collen, so the Papists call those wise men, Matth. 1.2. be they what they will; they rent every man his mantle in token of greatest sorrow at their friends calamity, a ceremony not unusual among other Nations, then those of the East. Suetonius telleth us, that Julius Caesar, when he had passed his Army th River Rebican, and was marching toward Rome, he made a speech to his Soldiers, weeping and rending his garment: that thereby he might testify to them what a grief it was to him to fight against his Country: which he would never have done, had there not been a necessity.

And sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven ] They so threw it up into the air, that it might fall upon their heads: to import 1. That all things were full of sorrowful confusion, as here earth and air were mingled. 2. That themselves and all mortals were but dust, Gen. 18. a little dirt neatly made up) and to dust they should return, Gen. 3 little deserving in the mean while to tread upon the earth, or to be above ground, Josh. 7.6. See chap. 1.16.

Verse 13. So they sat down with him upon the ground ] Though his sent and loathsomeness were intolerable, yet they bare him company: this was love and sympathy, thus to sit by him on the ground, then when everyone loathed him, and would not lend him a hand to help to scrape him.

Seven days and seven nights ] Not all this time, but the most part of it, without giving almost any regard to their ordinary rest, and necessary sustenance. Origen saith, they were sustained and preserved all that while without sleep and meat, by a miracle: Others holding it a thing impossible, have therefore judged this whole book to be a parable only.

And none spake a word unto him ] So great was their grief; Curae leves l • quuntur, ingentes stupent. Calvin thinks they were too blame, to be so long silent. Belike, they were loath to be troublesome, and waited a fit opportunity; looking that he should speak first, and harbouring hard conceits of him.

For they saw that his grief was very great ] His pain was extreme, and therefore no time to talk with him. Besides, though they came prepared, yet altering their opinions of him, they doubted how, and what to speak, till at length they became Satan's advocates.

CHAP. III. Verse 1. After this]

AFter so long silence of his friends, and to provoke them to speak, who haply waited for some words from him first, as knowing him wise and well-spoken. Or After this ] After that Jobs pains were somewhat allayed, so that he could breath, recollect himself, and utter his mind: for some troubles are above speech, Psal 77.4 they will hardly suffer a man to take breath; Job. 9.18. (see Esth. 4.14. with the Note) or to hear anything, though never so wholesome or comfortable, Exod. 6.9.

Job opened his mouth ] But better he had kept it closed still; either be silent, saith the Greek Proverb, or else say something that is better then silence. But it may befall the best (lest to themselves) to speak unadvisedly with their lips, as meek Moses did at the waters of Meribah, for which sin of his (some Jews say) that he was damned, because we read not of his repentance. And a like wretched censure they pass upon holy Job for his cursing his day here; saying, that although in words he cursed the creature only, yet interpretatively and indeed, he cursed the Creator; like as he that spitteth upon a Kings picture, or robe royal, doth the same to the King himself. But why do they not then say the same of Jeremy, and pronounce him a Reprobate for cursing his birth day too? chap. 20.14. R. Levi answereth, because it appeareth to be otherwise by Jeremiah's whole prophesy besides. And may we not say the like for Job, if we wisely weigh his words in their right sense, and the end which the Lord made, Jam. 5.11. propounding him for a pattern of patience, not of impatience, whereof, nothing is said against him, though he had his out-bursts, as here; and must have his allowance (as good gold hath when it comes to the scale) that so he may pass. If he had blasphemed God, or denied his providence, ascribing all events to the conjunction of the stars at a man's birth (as the Talmudists falsely gather from this Chapter) Satan had had his design upon him; and God would never have justified him, and preferred him before his friends, as he did, chap. 42. True it is, that chap. 38.2. when he had spoken his mind over-freely, and indeed sinfully (as there is not a man upon earth, that liveth, and sinneth not ) as if the Lord had dealt unkindly, if not unequally with him; God in the end steppeth forth, (as it were, from behind the hangings) over-hearing him, and taking him up: Who is this (saith he there) that talketh thus? how now? After which, Job was not only husht, chap. 40.4, 5. but humbled, chap. 42.6. And truly it should be considered (say both Ambrose and Chrysostom, in Jobs defense) that though patient in the two former Chapters, yet now he begins to be wet to the skin; yea, the drops of God's wrath began to soake into his soul: the devil also set upon him with all violence, as some conceive from the next verse, Job answered and said, so. to some dispute with the devil. Now therefore that he thus falleth a roaring and a cursing his day, it is, saith Chrysostom, as a sick man, who being under the Physicians hands, of whom he is well persuaded, useth all patience towards him; but being in extremity of pain, lays about him, and strikes at the standers by &c. Exemplo Jobi liquet, saith another good Writer; By this example of Job it appeareth, that in extreme trials of the best, it oft falleth out, that pain and grief speaketh, rather then the man himself, and that in the sieve of temptations, upon a more violent sifting, the holes being worn or widened, not the offall only, but some grains of good wheat (that is, of faith) do slip through: which yet the right hand of a gracious God, is wont to gather, and to lay up in the granary of his grace. Job cannot altogether be excused, (saith Ferus upon this chapter) neither is he said, as before, not to have sinned in these following expressions. Rather it is to be held, that the Lord, who before stood by him, now for a time left him, to try what is in man, even the best man living, if he be not strengthened by God continually. David was most courageous when he went against Goliath; but fearful when Saul pursued him. Elijah was most zealous for the Lord of Hosts, when he slew 450 of Baals Priests: Tantus tamen fulminator ad Jezabelis minas trepidat, suctus seipso imbecillior, saith one; and yet this valiant Prophet flieth at the threats of Jezebel, and heareth from heaven, What dost thou here Elias? So Jeremy, Peter, Father Latiemr, Pray for me (saith he) I say, pray for me, for I am sometimes so fearful, that I would creep into a Mouse-hole; sometimes God doth visit me again with his comforts: so he cometh and goeth, to teach me to feel and know mine infirmity. Thus he writeth to B. Ridley; with whom he afterwards suffered at the same stake. His last words were, Fidelis est Deus &c. God is faithful, who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able &c. This was also Jobs comfort, when himself, doubtless; for at this time it was Ego non sum Ego with him and God considered it: for he knoweth our mould, he remembereth we are but dust.

And cursed 〈◊〉 day] Diom, non Deum: his day, and not his God, as the devil would have had it. It was too much howsoever of that: and Job should have opened his mouth to better purpose. In the Revelation, whensoever heaven opened, some memorable matter followed▪ when wisdom openeth his mouth, she speaketh excellent things, Prov. 8.6. When Asaph, opened his mouth, he spake parables, Psal. 78.2. When our Savior did so, he delivered that famous Sermon in the Mount, Matth. 5.2. But Job. alas, in the extreme pain of his body, and anguish of his soul, openeth his mouth; and curseth bitterly: curseth his day in a most emphatical manner, and in most exquisite terms, wishing all the evil to it that it was any way capable of. Now the day that he here curseth, is either the day wherein he suffered such a world of evils, as Obad. 12. Isa. 2.12. Or rather the day which gave occasion to his sufferings, his birth-day, as verse 3 Jeremy did the like by a like infirmity, chap. 20 14 and some others: but never hath any yet been heard to curse the day of his new-birth, nor ever shall; as whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we might be partakers of the Divine Nature; having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust: and besides an entrance ministered unto us further and further into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 2 Pet. 1.4, 11. There is a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a multiplied happiness in holiness.

Verse 2. And Job spake and said ] Heb. answered and said. Answered? whom answered he? The Jew-Doctors say, he answered his friends, who having hitherto said nothing to him, and heard as little from him, at length — rupere silentia 〈◊〉 , and asked him what he ailed? others more probably conceive that Job answered here to some dispute in his own mind, or rather with the devil. Some take this verse for a transition only. Others make it a preparation for Jobs future discourse, to move expectation, and win attention. The discourse indeed is all along to chap. 42.7. Poetical, and very accurate, made up in Hexameters (as Jerome holdeth) not by Job and his friends at the first uttering, but afterwards by Job at better leisure: or, as some think, by Moses whilst a shepherd in Midian, for the comfort of his poor Country-men in Egypt. Mercer saith that his predecessor Vatablus (as he and heard) had found out a way of scanning these Hexameters to others unknown, and to all, the more obscure, because the verse causeth a cloud. The first Hexameter that ever was made in Greek, is said to be this,

Verse 3. Let the day perish wherein I was born ] He curseth his birth-day, which the Greeks call 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : the beginning of a man's Nativity they call the begetting of his misery; because he is non p • iùs natus quam dumnatus, no sooner born but damned to the Mines of misery, Job 14.1. Crying he comes into the world, and before he speaketh, he prophesieth, and saith in effect, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 &c,

This whole life is orespread with sins and miseries as with a filthy morphew; or as Job was with his leprosy: the anguish whereof, together with his inward troubles so grieved and galled him, that he not only crieth but, (which is natural for a man to do) but giving the rains wholly to his grief, he roareth and rageth beyond all reason; and had not the spirit held him back, he would surely have run headlong into blasphemy and desperation, which was Satan's design. But in the Saints, as the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and sometimes getting the upper ground (as it were) bears it down, as here in Job at this present: so the Spirit again lusteth against the flesh, and a great bustle there is in the good soul (as when two opposite things meet together, cold salt-peter, and hot brimstome, there is a great noise; and as when Paul came to Ephejus, there was no small stir about that way, Acts 19.23. &c.) so that ye cannot do the things that ye would, saith the Apostle. As Job cannot do and say the good that he would, because of the flesh; so neither could he do or say the evil that he would because of the spirit: he curseth indeed his day, but not his wise nor friends, much less his God, as those male contents did, Isa. 8.21. Nay, so soon as God came into his mind verse 20. the flesh was thereby, though not altogether quailed and quelled, yet so far daunted and damped, that it kept itself within the compass of weeping and wailing; and God himself, though he find fault with Jobs speeches for unadvised, and sometimes ranging beyond the precincts of godliness: yet acquitting him from all gross sin, he crowneth him with the garland of a famous vict0ory, as Mr. Beza here well observeth. Most wisely therefore and fitly doth Saint James warn us, that in thinking upon Job, we regard not so much what was done while the combat lasted, as what end the Lord make. Jam. 5.11. The Saints do never more prevail and triumph, then when it seemeth otherwise. See Rev. 13.7. with chap. 12.11. they gather strength by opposition, and conquer in being conquered, Rom. 8.37. They repent of their our hursts, as Job did chap. 42. And Qu •• 〈…〉 he is little less then innocent who is afterwards penitent. Yea, it is almost mere to repent of a fault, saith a Father, then to have been free from the fault.

And the night ] He would be sure so • it the time, whether it were day or night. He that is 〈◊〉 out of God's way, know • not where he shall stop, or when he 〈◊〉 step back. Take heed therefore to they ways, that thou sin not with thy tongue, that unruly member.

When God's hand is on thy back, let thy hand be on thy mouth, keep it as with a bridle or muzzle, Psal. 39.1. Passionate speeches te • iter volant, non •• viter violant. The best that come of them, is repentance: Job when he was once out, could keep no mean; but what he had said against day and night, he amplifieth by the parts: and first for the Day ver. 4.5. and then for the Night 6, 7, 8. &c.

Verse 4. Let that day be darkness] thick darkness, as that once was in Egypt, Exod. 10.23. A day of trouble and distress, a day of darkness and gloominesse, a day of clouds and thick darkness, Zeph. 1.15. Let it be a dreadful and a dismal day; let sorrow and sadness overshadow it, let mourning and tears overwhelm it: let it be as when the Sun hideth his head in a mantle of black, and is eclipsed; at which time all creatures here below, flag and hang the head. In the gloomiest day there is light enough to make it day, and distinguish it from night, though the Sun shine not. But Job would have no light to appear on his birth-day. Thus be throweth out words without wisdom, and as Hinds by calving, so he by talking casteth out his sorrows.

Let not God regard it • ] or require it; let it pass as not worth looking after, let him not take care of it, or pour down any special blessing upon it, as he doth upon his people every day, but especially upon the Sabbath-day, God's market day, called by the Jews desiderium dierum, the desire of days, and by the Primitive Christians Dies Lucis, the Day of Light.

Neither let the light shine upon it ] And what is the air without light that first ornament of the visible world? so what are all creature-comforts, unless God shine through them? What a woe-case is that poor soul in, that walketh in darkness and hath none of his light, Isa. 50.10. how lamentable is such an one deserted, • e • ghted! how doth he find himself in the very suburbs of hell itself, where the pain of loss is greater then the pain of sense, 2 Thes 1.9. and to note thus much, Job here, after he had said, Let that day be darkness, addeth as a greater evil, Let not the light shine upon it.

Verse 5. Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it Let it be •• es luctuosus & • ethalis, such a deadly dark day, that each man may think it his last day, fatal and feral, Let there not be dimness only (such as appeareth through a painted glass, died with some obscure color) but horrid and hideous darkness, such as was that at our Savior's passion, when the Sun was totally •••• ed, and a great Philosopher thereupon cried out, either the God of Nature suffers, or the world is at an end. To darkness Job here emphatically addeth the shadow of death. The shadow is the dark part of the thing, so that the shadow of death is the darkest side of death, death in its blackest representation. Now let these stain it, saith he, or challenge it, or espouse it. In nocte funestatur mund • 〈…〉 , saith Tertullian elegantly.

Let a cloud dwell upon it ] Cresc • t 〈…〉 Auxesin oratio. Job heaps up words, like in sound, and not unlike in sense. Grief had made him eloquent: as hoping thereby to ease himself. Let a cloud dwell upon it, a fixed cloud, not such an one as continually hangeth over the Island of St. Thomas on the back side of Africa, wherewith the whole Island is watered: nor such a • dloud of grace as God promiseth to create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, that upon all his glory may be a defense Isa. 4.5. But such as St. Paul and his company were under before the shipwreck, Act. 27. when neither Sun nor star appeared for many days together, the heavens being wholly muffled &c.

Let the blackness of the any terrify it ] or Let the • eat of the day terrify it: as it befalleth those that live under the torrid Zone, where nothing prospereth. The Atlantes (a certain people) are said to curse the rising Sun, it doth so torture them with extreme heat. When the dog star ariseth, those are in ill case who dwell in hot Countries towards the East, they are troubled and terrified. Some take the word Chimrine here rendered blackness, for those 〈◊〉 mentioned by the Prophets, those Chimney-Chaplains of the Heathen idols, and so render it thus, Let the Priests of the day terrify it; that is, Let those who used to observe and distinguish days, note it for a terrible day; other • understand it of the noon-day devils, that should vex people on that day with hellish he •••• and fures: the •• lgar Latin hath it thus, Let, as it were, the b • ternesse • of the day terrify it; and to the 〈…〉 the Chaldee Paraphrast. Job still riseth in his discourse, making use of many poetical figures, and tragical phrases, picked out for the purpose.

Verse 6. As for that night, let darkness seize upon it ] Having spent his spleen upon the day, he now vents himself upon the night, according to that division verse 3. As for that night of mine unhappy conception or birth, let tenebrosus turbo (as the Vulgar here hath it) a dark tempest, or a tempestuous darkness grasp it, or invade it: let it be as dark as pitch, by a darkness superadded to its natural darkness.

Let it not be joined unto the days of the year ] Let nature quite disclaim it, and disjoint it from the day following; let it not be reckoned as any part of time, that measure of all our motions. Some render it, Ne gaudeat inter dies, Let it not rejoice itself among the days of the year, as one of them. The night hath glory by union with the day: this he wisheth taken from it. Disunion and division is a curse: and the number of two hath been accounted accursed, because it was the first that departed from unity.

And let it not come into the number of months ] Deleatur e calendario, let it be razed out of the Calendar, and not have any place in the computation of time. The Hebrews call the Moon and a Month by the same Name; because the Moon is renewed every month.

Verse 7. Lo let that night be solitary ] And so consequently sorrowful; for alonenesse is comfortless, & optimum solatium sodalitium. There is a desirable solitariness: such as was that of Isaac, Gen. 24.63. of Jacob, Gen. 32.24. of Christ, Mark 1. of Peter, Acts 10.9. to talk with God and with themselves. But usually to sit solitary is a misery, Lam. 1.1. (for Satan is readiest to assault, when none is by to assist ) neither is there a greater tie to constancy, then the society of Saints. This the Heathen Persecutors perceived, and therefore banished and confined the Christian Confessors to Isles and Mines, where they could not come together for mutual edification and comfort. There is a Woe to him that is alone, and good reason shown for it by Solomon, Eccles. 4.9, 10, 11, 12. Let no man stye up himself, or affect solitariness: but make conscience of fellowship in the Gospel, as the Philippians did from the first day of their conversion to Christ, Phil 1.5. accounting, that Communion of Saints is a point of practice, as well as an Article of belief.

And no joyful voice come therein ] That is, saith One, No pleasing stillness, (as in other nights there is) to invite the melody of Music. Or, let there be no merry-meetings, feastings and jollities, as was usual in the night-season. Let not so much as the voice of the Cock be heard that night (so the Chaldee here paraphraseth) but the doleful ditties of Screech-owls, and other inauspicate creatures. Let no traveler, that is then benighted, solace himself with sweet songs, or Musicians play from house to house, as City-waits do.

Verse 8. Let them curse it, that curse the day ] As those atri & tetri Atlantes (before spoken of) curse the rising-Sun for scorching them; as despairing persons, and malefactors led to execution, use to curse the time that ever they were born. The help of all such Job here calleth in against the harmless night he banneth, with so much bitterness. Like as that desperate wretch mentioned by Mr. Bolton, who being upon his death-bed, albeit he swore as fast and as furiously as he could; yet desired he the standers by to help him with oaths, and to swear for him. Tremellius here thinks, that Job calls to the stars and winds to help him curse. See his translation of the Text, and his Notes thereon.

Who are ready to raise up their mourning ] Whether they be those mercenary mourners mentioned elsewhere, which, for hire, are wont at Funerals with doleful execrations to lament the day of their Benefactors death; crying out, Oh the day! alas for the day! oh that ever such a day came! See Ezek. 30.2. Or else those that really mourn for their deceased friends; and yearly, as oft as the day returneth, they renew their mourning. These are called upon by Job totos sacco • deplere, to pour out their utmost lamentations and execrations upon this his night. Concerning the word Leviathan, here rendered mourning, whether it be taken for the Sea-Dragon, or the Devil, and what it is to raise him up, and why they cursed him that are ready to do so, with a prepared and meditated active readiness, if I should go about to show the Reader, with the several opinions of Interpreters, I should not only tire him out, but also danger doing as that Vicar of Ausborough did, mentioned by Johannes Manlius: This Doctor of Divinity (for so he was) having read at Tubinga certain Lectures upon Job, at the end of his last Lecture said, that both Job and himself were very glad to be rid of one another: For as he understood little or nothing of Job's meaning, so Job seemed to him to be more tormented with his enarrations, then ever he had been with all his own ulcers. Let them that have a mind, consult the Commentators here.

Verse 9. Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark ] If the stars of its twilight be dark, how great is that darkness? Job would not have this night to have light of stars, or hope of day-dawn, hope of better, or place of worse. And this part of the curse he reserveth to the last place, as worse then any of the former Semblably, that judgment of Pining away in their iniquity, is the last that God denounceth, Lev. 26.39. after those other dismal ones there to befall the disobedient. And that Rev. 22.11, Let him that is filthy be filthy still, is the last, but not the least (of those that befall in this life) threatened in all the New Testament.

Let it look for light, but have none ] Heb. but none. Loss of expectation is a great loss: Esau found it so: and the mother of Sisera, Judge. 5.28. and those shall once, that come knocking and bouncing at heaven gates, with Lord, Lord, open unto us, and shall hear, Depart ye. The hopes of the wicked fail them when at highest: whereas the Saints find that comfort in extremity which they durst not expect: their light shall rise in obscurity, Isaiah 58.10. it shall shine more and more unto the perfect day, Prov 4.18.

Let it no • see the dawning of the day. ] Heb. The eye-lids of the morning; that is, the first breakings of light, the morning rays or beams peeping abroad. These this night must never see. Heaven is a nightlesse day, Hell a daylesse night. Fire there is, but without light: it burneth, but shineth not to those Reprobates who are in tenebras ex ten • bris infeliciter exclusi, infeliciùs excludendi; thrust into outer darkness, a darkness beyond a darkness, as the dungeon is beyond the prison, Matth. 8.12.

Verse 10. Because it shut not up the doors of my mothers womb ] Lest his curse should seem causeless, and he mad without reason, he telleth you here, why he thus poured out his passion; and complaineth so heavily against the day of his birth, and night of his conception, which yet were harmless, and had not deserved to be thus charged, cursed. Because it shut not up, &c. But how could the night do that? Is it not of God alone to shut or open the womb, Gen 20.18. and 29.31.? And was it not he that took David thence? Psal. 18.23. This Job could tell well enough at another time, but now he is quite out of all reason; beating himself with his passions, as the Lion doth with his own tail: yea, like some sullen bird in a cage, he could almost find in his heart to beat himself to death. We use to say, — Res est ingeniosa dolor, Grief is an ingenious thing; yet it maketh a man foolish (the excess of it) as it did Job here: yea it maketh a wise man mad as Solomon saith of Oppression, Eccles. 7.7. and we see it exemplified in Job, especially if the words be thus read, as they may, Because he (that is, God) shut not up the doors &c.

Nor • id sorrow from mine eyes. ] In Scripture, to see good or evil, is to feel it, Psal. 34.12. Jer. 17.6. Isa. 65.16. Job. 33.17. He meaneth, that he had mist those evils which now he met with since his coming into the world, if those doors, being shut, had shut him out of the world. Man is no sooner born, then born to trouble, Job 5.7. yea, man that is born (or conceived) of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble: Miserable he is even so soon as he is warm in the womb, as David phraseth it, Psal. 51.5. If he live to see the light, he comes crying into the world, and an untimely birth may be better then he, Eccles. 5.3. The Hebrews call him Enoch, that is, sorryman; or doleful, miserable, and desperately diseased man, whose living is but to lie a dying. The Greeks, when they would set forth one extremely wretched, they call him 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 thrice-a-men, that is, thrice miserable. And, What is man, faith Seneca? He answereth, Marbidum, pu • re, cassum, à fletu vitam auspicatum: a diseased, rotten, empty thing, beginning his life with tears; as if he wept to think upon what a shore of trouble he is landed, or rather, into what a sea of sorrows he is launching, not unlike the St • eights of Magellan, a sea of that nature, say Geographers, that which way soever a man bend his course, he shall be sure to have the wind against him.

Verse 11. Why died I not from the womb? why did not I give up the Ghost &c. ] Why was I not forthwith carried ab utero ad urnam? from the womb to the tomb, from the birth to the burial? True it is, that infants have the seed of death in them, and the principle of corruption, Rom. 5.14. Everyone (say some Chymicks ) hath his own balsam within him; his own bane it is sure that he hath. But why should Job be so weary of life, and so wish to be rid of it? Is not life a great mercy? Doth not the Philosopher affirm, that a pismire excelleth the heavens in dignity, because it is a living creature? Saith not the Scripture, that a living dog is better then a dead Lion? and why is living man sorrowful, a man for the punishment of his sin? Lam. 3.39. q. d. Let him be never so much punished, it is for his sin; and if a midst all, he be yet a living man, and have his life spared, he need not be so over-sorrowful, and to make such an out-cry, and a wishing himself out of the world, as Job here doth. Life, alas, in its utmost extent, is but a little spot of time between two eternities before and after; but it is a great consequence, and given us for this end, that glory may be begun in grace, and we have a further and further entrance here into the Kingdom of heaven, as Peter saith. This, if Job had seriously and sedately considered (but now alas, as in a hot sever, all the humors were on an hurry) he would rather have done, as they say, Themistocles did; who though he lived till he was about 107 years of age; yet when he came to die, he was grieved upon this ground, Now I am to die, said he, when I begin to be wise.

Verse 12. Why did the knees prevent me? ] Why did the over-officious Midwife lay me on her lap, and not let me alone to perish by my fatal helplessness? Man is a poor shiftless creature; and Pliny rails at nature for producing him so forlorn, naked, and unable to help himself; but he knew not that this was a fruit of sin. Tully indeed could say, (whether he believed himself therein, I know not) Cum primùm nascimur, in omni continuo pravitate versamur, as soon as we are borne, we are head and ears all over in wickedness: but Pliny was not so persuaded, as I have elswehere shown.

Or why the breasts that I should suck? ] Why did not my mother turn tygresse, and cast me out when new born? Why was she not cruel like the Ostriches in the wilderness, that refuse to give suck to their young ones? Rather we may ask, why doth Job out of his deepest discontent, think much of such a mercy; and not rather bless God, first, for filling two such bottles with milk for him, ready against he came into the world? and then, for giving his mother an heart to suckle him, which some nice or unnatural women will not, being therein worse then those Sea-monsters, Lam. 4.3. that succor their young? The Heathens called their Ceres (Queen of plenty) Mammosam, as the Nurse of all living creatures: And there are that derive God's Name Shaddai from Shad a dug: because as he openeth the hand, so he draws out the breast to every living thing. And for his Saints, they may suck and be satisfied with the full-strutting breasts of his consolations, the two Testaments, Isai. 66.11. And whatever Job now (under an heavy temptation, which, like lead, sunk downward, and carried his soul with it) may mis-judge, they may sit and sing thankfully with David, Lord thou (and not the midwife) art He that took me out of the womb; thou (and not my mother) keptst me in safety when I hung upon the breasts: neither then only, but afterwards, for puerilitas est periculorum pelagus, and the Preserver of men keepeth us still from a thousand deaths and dangers. And is this matter of complaint, and not rather of thankfulness?

Verse 13. For now should I have lien still, and been quiet ] Why, but is it not better to be preserved in salt, then to putrefy in sugar? to be emptied from vessel to vessel, then to be at ease, and so to settle on the lees? Jer. 48.11. to be tumbled up and down, as fishes are in the streams of Jordan, then to perish in the dead sea? It is not always (if at all) an happiness to lie still and to be quiet: Life consists in action; and in all these things is the life of my spirit, saith good Hezekiah, who had been in deaths hands (where Job so much desired to be) and could therefore make a better judgment. What haste then was there of his lying still, and being quiet? say that he were assured of his salvation (for else death had been but a trap-door to eternal torments) was there nothing more to be done, but taking present possession? nothing to be suffered with Christ, or ere we come to be glorified with him? Ought not he himself first to have suffered, and then to have entered into his glory? Luke 24.26. And ought not we to be conformed to his image (in sufferings also) that he might be the first-born among many brethren? Rom. 8.29. Let us run with patience (running is active, and patience passive) the • ace that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, &c. and looking off our present troubles (as the word there importeth) which while Job beheld over-wishtly, and was more sensible of then was meet, he brake out in this fort, and shown himself too much a man Let us do up our work, and then God will send us to hed all in good time, Isa. 57.2. Rev. 14.13.

Verse 14. With Kings and Counselors of the earth ] g. d. Those that here have been most negotious, and (as the Grandees of the earth) have had greatest matters in hand, with those should I have been coupled in the grave, that Congregation-house of all living, as it is called, Job 30.23. That long, or old home. Eccles. 12.5. Heaven is called the Congregation-house of God's first, born, Heb. 12.23. and their house not made with hand, 2 Cor. 5.1. But not many Kings or Nobles me • e here. 1 Cor. 1.26. because strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth to it: there must be stripping and stooping, which great men cannot frame to. It was a poor comfort to Hen. 8. to be told upon his death-bed, that he should now go to the place of Kings: And a small commendation to Hen. 2. that some sew hours before he died, seeing a list of their names who had conspired against him, and finding therein two of his own sons, he fell into a grievous passion, both cursing his sons, and the day wherein himself was born; and in that distemperature, departed the world, which himself had so often distempered. He went indeed to his grave, and slept with his fathers; yea, he was royally interred under a stately Monument, meant here (haply) by building desolate places for themselves: Absalom had erected a pillar for this purpose; and the Egyptian Kings their Pyramids, • o perpetuate their memories. Confer Ezek. 26.20. With these, Job, had he died betime, or never seen the light, might have been fellowed: for death is the only King, against whom there is no rising up, Prov. 30.31. and the mortal fithe is master of the royal Scepter, mowing down the lilies of the crown, as well as the grass of the field.

Verse 15. Or with Princes that had gold ] great store of it. Petrarch reporteth of Pope John 22 that his heirs found in his coffers no less then 250 tuns of gold. Boniface the eighth taken prisoner and plundered by the command of Philip the Faire, King of France, had as much gold carried away out of his Palace, as all the Kings of Europe received for one years revenue from their subjects, together with their crown-land. What a Mass of Treasure had Cardinal Wolsey gotten here? and before him Cardinal Beauford, who when he saw that he must needs die, and that his riches could not reprieve him till a further time, asked, why should I die being so rich? fie, will not death be hired? will money do nothing? The Cardinal Sylberperger took so great a pleasure in money, that when he was grievously tormented with the gout, his only remedy to ease the pain, was to have a bason full of gold set before him, into which he would put his lame hands, turning the gold upside-down. Of Nugas the Scythian Monarch it is storied, that when Michael Paleologus the Greek Emperor sent him many rich ornaments for a present, he asked whether they could drive away calamities, diseases and death? this because they could not do, he slighted them. These Princes that had gold, and filled their houses with silver, what would not they have given to have bought off death? but riches avail not in the day of wrath: it is righteousness only that delivereth from death, Prov. 11.4. Thrice happy then are they who are rich to God, as our Savior phraseth it, who have the Almighty to be their gold, and who have silver of strength, as Eliphaz. speaketh, chap. 22.25.

Who filled their houses with silver ] That is, their graves, say some: called the dead men's houses, chap. 17.13. The Jews call the burying-place, Beth-chajin, the house of the living: and they used not only to adorn their sepulchers richly, but also to put their wealth into the grave with them. Josephus saith that Hircanus found in David's sepulcher three thousand talents. And Ier. 8.1. God threateneth that the Chaldeans shall bring out the boxes of the Kings of Judah, and of his Princes, — out of their graves, as searching there for hid treasure; so some conceive. Sure it is, that in the siege of Jerusalem, under Ve • p • sian, there was gold found in the entrails of a Jew that was slain, which caused above twenty thousand of them to be ripped up.

Verse 16. Or as an hidden and untimely birth I had nor been ] As an abortive or miscarrying Embry • that falleth from the mother, as untimely fruit falleth off from the tree. See R • v 6.3. Hidden. it is called, because cast a de • as an unsightly spectacle, that cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darknesses, and his name is covered with darkness, Eccles. 6.4. J •• could have wis • e •• ome way or other never to have been, rather then to have been in so calamitous a • condition: and herein he linned, no doubt, for that 〈◊〉 as of the flesh is flesh.

As infants w • ch • rever • awe the • ight ] but were still-born, as we call them. The word rendered infants, is taken from a word that signifieth to 〈◊〉 , • ee Job 16.15. for children in the womb are compassed about with pollution; and the first she • or blanket wherewith they are covered, is woven of sin, shame, blood, and filth, Ezek. 16.4.6.

Verse 17. There the wicked cease from troubling ] Here they are restless, as being acted and agitated by the devil, who being a discontented, turbulent creature, maketh ado in the world, and setteth his • mps awork to do mischief, and to vex others. The word here rendered wicked signifieth vexatious persons, that worry and weary out others, molestuous and mischievous: In the grave they shall cease from so doing. That was a strange mind of our Edward the first, who adjured his Son and Nobles, that if he died in his journey into Scotland, they should carry his corps with them about Scotland, and not suffer it to be interred, till they had absolutely subdued the Country. This was a deure more Martial then Christian, saith the • hronicler, showing a mind so bent to the world, as he would not make an end when he had • one with •• t, but de • greth his travel beyond his life.

An 〈…〉 ] Hence some Heathens also have counted mortality a mercy and some of them appointed contrary ceremonies to those now in use; for they brought their friends into the world with mournful obsequies, but they carried them out or the world with joyful exequies, all sorts of sports and pastimes, because then they conceived they were at rest, and out o • gun-shot.

Verse 18. There the 〈…〉 ] or 〈◊〉 as do their cruel creditors, and hard task-masters. There, that is in the state of the dead, whether by land or sea, the 〈◊〉 , or 〈…〉 the miserable captives • est, such as were those poor Christians, shut up so close (by Barb • rus • a the Turkish General returning toward Constantinople ) under hatches among the excrements of nature, that all the way as he went, almost every hour, some of them were cast dead over-board. Such were many of the Martyrs kept fast shut up • n • ollards Tower, in the Bishop of London: cole-house, a dark and ugly prison, said Mr. Philpot, as any is about London: but I thank the Lord, I am not alone, but have six other faithful companions, who in our darkness, do lightsomely sing Psalms and praises to God for his great goodness, but especially for this that I am so near the apprehension of eternal bliss: God forgive me mine unthankfulness and unworthiness of so great glory. What pitiful hard usage God's poor prisoners met with in the late troubles, at Oxford especially (from which death God graciously delivered me when I was in their hands) and in the Western parts; see Mr. R • nas Sermon called J • b in the West, where he compareth the enemies cruelty to that of the American Cann • bals, who, when they take a prisoner, seed upon him alive, and by degrees, to the unutterable aggravation of his horror and torment.

They hear not the • ice of the oppressors ] Their harsh and hard speeches, Jude 15. that were as a murthering weapon in the poor prisoners bones, Psal. 42.10. Send me back to my frogs and toads again, where I may pray for you conversion, said one of the Martyrs to his rai •• g adversaries. Art thou come thou villain? how darest thou look me in the face for shame, said S • even G • r • iner to Dr. Taylo • the Martyr • who told him his own freely, but fairly; for the spirit of grace is 〈…〉 Est autem Saran • poctus 〈…〉 , saith Luthex, the devil and his agents are bitter railers, fetching their words as far as hell, to brea • the hearts of God's prisoners. Psalm 69.20. But besides that they have their cordial of a good conscience by them, 2 Cor. 1.12. in the gr • ve they hear not the voice of the oppressor, nor the barking of these dead dogs anymore.

Verse 19. The small and the great are there ] In Calvary are sculls of all sizes, say the Hebrews, Stat sun cuique dies. It is appointed for all once to die, be they great or small, low or high, Mors sceptra liganibus aequat, death makes no difference: Kings and captives, Lord's and losels come then under an equal parity: death takes away all distinctions. William the Conquerors corps lay unburied three days; his interment was hindered by one that claimed the ground to be his, King Stephen was interred at Fever sham Monastery; but since, his body for the gain of the lead, wherein it was coffined, was cast into the river, where at length it rested, as did likewise the dead corps of Edward the fifth, and his brother smothered in, the Tower by Richard the third, and cast into a place called the black deeps at the Thames mouth.

The servant is free from his Master ] Servant is a name of office, he is not his own to dispose of, but the masters instrument, saith Aristotle, and wholly his, till he please to manumit him; if he do not, yet death will, and by taking away his life, give him his liberty: his body resteth from all servile offices for a season howsoever: and if with good will he hath done service as to the Lord, and not to men; he shall receive of the Lord the reward of inheritance, even a child's part; Colos. 4.24.

Verse 20. Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery? ] Job hath not done yet, though he had said more then enough of this matter; but for want of the oil of joy and gladness, his doors move not without creaking, his lips (like rusty hinges) open not without murmuring and complaining: Good therefore is that counsel given by David, Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; take up in time, before it hath wholly leavened and soured you: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. He shall not choose but do evil who is sick of the fret. David had the sad experience of this, when he had carted the Ark, and thereupon God had made a breach upon Uzzah: David was displeased, saith the Text: and how untowardly spake he, as if the fault were more in God then in himself; though afterwards he came to a sight of his own error, 1 Chron. 13.11. with 15.2. And so did Job, no doubt, when come to himself: but here he proceeds to express his peevishness and impatience, yea, against God himself (though not by name, forsan sese cohibens — ob bonae mentis reliquias, saith Mercer, out of his good respect to God, which he still retained:) and calls for a reason, why the miserable should be condemned to live, since death would be much more welcome to them. How apt are men to think there is no reason for that for which they can see no reason?

Verse 21. Which long for death, and it cometh not ] The bitter in soul long for death, those that are in pain or penury, are apt to desire to be dispatched upon any terms, and would freely pardon them, they say, that would give them their pasport. But these for most part, consider not the unsupportablenesse of the wrath to come, that eternity of extremity in hell, that death usually haleth at the heels of it; so that by death, whereof they are so desirous, they would but leap out of the frying-pan into the fire, as Judas did: they do as the asse in the fable, who desired to die, that he might be no more beaten: at post mortem factus est tympanum, but when he was dead, he was made a drum-head of, and so was ten times more laid on, then ever in his life-time before.

And dig for it more then for hid treasures ] Covetousness is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , alldaring, saith an Ancient: and men for love of wealth, will dig to hell, light a candle at the devil, as they say: With such an eagerness of desire do some (that have little reason for it, all things reckoned) long and labor after death, not to be rid of sin, or to be with Christ, as Phil. 1.23. but to be freed from misery incumbent or impendent. Thus Cato (having first read Plato's book of the souls immortality) laid violent hands on himself, that he might not fall into the hands of the conqueror. Thus Adrian the Emperor having lain long sick (and could get no help by Physicians, but was the worse for them, as he complained at his death) would gladly have slain himself, if those about him would have suffered it. It is said that Severianus. whom this Emperor injuriously put to death, wished of God, at Adrianus, quamvis mortem obire percupiat, tamen non possit, that Adrian might desire to die, and not be able, or find opportunity. There is an Epistle of his extant, saith the Historian, wherein is set forth, what a misery it is to desire to die, and yet to be denied it. This was the case of those Popelings, Rev. 9.6. And in particular of Roger Bishop of Salisbury in King Stevens time; who, through long and strait imprisonment, was brought to that evil pass, • t vivere notuerit, mori nescierit, live he would not, and yet die he could not. This is a very typical-hell, and a fore-taste of eternal torment.

Verse 22. Which rejoice exceedingly ] Joy till they skip again, so Broughton rendereth it. Strange, that any should be so glad of death that last enemy, that slaughter-man of nature, and harbinger of hell to the ungodly! but this the devil hideth from them, till he hath them where he would have, and whence there is no redemption. What was it else that moved Augustus at his death to call for a Pl • udite; or that made Julian the Apostate to die so confidently; and many now-adays that have little reason for it to be so prodigal of their lives, and seemingly fond of death? Is it not because they are fearfully blinded by the god of this present world, who holdeth his black hand before their eyes, left they should see the evil consequents of death, and be saved? which because they do not, what do they else but rejoice exceedingly (or with exultation, as the word here signifieth) in their woeful bondage, and go dancing to hell in their bolts, not so much as desiring deliverance. A man that is to be hanged next day, may dream overnight he shall be set free; nay, that he shall be a King, and rejoice therein accordingly: but the end of such joy is heaviness.

Verse 23. Why is light given to a man whose way is hid? ] i.e. Why is the light of life continued to him who is in a maze or labyrinth of miseries, whereof he can see no cause, and whereout he can descry no issue? no hope at all appeareth of ever either mending or ending. Therefore Vale lumen amicum, as he in Saint Jerome said, sweet light adieu; Quin morere ut merita es, as she in the Poet, Be thine own deaths-man. Seneca counts it a mercy to a man in misery, that he may by laying hands on himself, set out his life when he will; and this he calls valor and man-hood. But we have no so learned Christ, neither may we leave our station till called for by our Captain, but must stand to our arms, and as good Soldiers of Jesus Christ, suffer hardship, 2 Tim. 2.4. His word to us is the same as the Kings was to his Son the Black-Prince, either vanquish or die: and as she in the story said to her son when she gave him his Target, See that thou either bring this back with thee, or else be thou brought back dead upon it out of the battle. It troubled Job that he could not see his way, and that God had hedged him in, viz. with a thorn-hedge of afflictions, Lam. 3.7, 9. Hos. 2.6. so that he could find no way out. But what if he could not, nor any man alive? yet the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, 2 Pet. 2.9. He hath his way in the whirlwind, and his judgments are a great deep, Psal. 36.6. Sometimes secret they are, but ever just. Surely it had been more meet for Job to have said unto God, That which I see not, teach thou me, &c. yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have I waited for thee; the desire of my soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee, Isa. 26.8.

Verse 24. For my sighing cometh before I eat ] It cometh unsent for, as evil weather useth to do, and most unseasonably surpriseth me at my repast; I mingle my meat with my tears, with every bit of bread I have a morsel of sorrows • and I mingle my drink with weeping, Psal. 102.9. though indeed Jobs was not so much a shower of tears, as a storm of sighs, and a volly of roarings, betokening extremity of grief, such as was beyond tears, and vented it self as the noise of many waters; for my roarings saith he, are poured out like water. I am as hungry as a Lion roaring on his prey, and as violent as the Torrents ranging the fields; and yet I neither have leisure nor lift to eat my bread: as loath to prolong such a troublesome life, but that I must, or be guilty of self-murder. Mr Fox reports of Mr. John Glover, that not long after his conversion, upon a mistake of the sense of that text, Heb. 6.5, 6. he was strongly conceited, that he had fallen into the unpardonable sin, and must necessarily therefore be damned: and in that intolerable grief of mind, although he neither had not could have any joy of his meat, yet was he compelled to eat against his appetite, to the end, to defer the time of his damnation so long as he might. Now who can tell how near Jobs case might come to this, since the devil was both Author and Actor in a great part of both these Tragicomedies?

Verse 25. For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me ] Heb. I feared a fear, and it came upon me. Had Job been wicked, this had been no wander, Prov. 10.24. Job 15.21. Or had his fear been sinful, it had been l • sse pity. Prov. 29.25. John. 11.48, for why should he, by a painful 〈…〉 , suffer before he needed? and send for his crosses before they came? A good man should 〈◊〉 all (and so consequently fearful) in nothing, •• il. 4.6. he should hope the best, and beat bravely 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , saith Demosthenes, whatever God sendeth. The Epicunts held, that a good man might be cheerful under whatsoever miseries: 1. In consideration of honesty and integrity. 2. In consideration of those pleasu • es and to 〈◊〉 that formerly he had enjoyed, and now cheered up himself with. Of neither of these was Job to seek: But whereas it might be said unto him, Is it fit for thee, who hast hitherto been so happy, now to take on so heavily, because thus and thus afflicted? Truly, saith he, I was never so happy as you took me for; because (considering how moveable and mutable all outward things are) I always feared lest I should out live my prosperity: that which now also is unhappily befallen me. Sylla had been happy, si eundem & vinc • ndi & 〈…〉 f • cisset, saith One: that i • , if he had made an end of conquering and of living together: but that he did not. In him and many others it hath appeared, that mortality is but the stage of mutability. This, holy Job had oft forecasted with himself; and though in his passion he here alled •• it as a reason why he took no comfort in his meat &c. yet, in true account, it could be no grief unto him, nor offense of heart (as she once said to David, 1 Sam. 25.31.) since it was a fear of wisdom and caution; a fear of the head, and no • of the heart; a fear of diligence, and not of diffidence.

Verse 26. I was not in safety ] i.e. I counted not myself simply the safer and happier man, because of creature-comforts: but knowing their uncertainty, I held at a distance, and hung loose to them all.

Neither had I rest ] I set not up my rest here, as did Nebuchadnezzar, Dam. 4.4. and that rich fool, Luke 12.10 and the purple whore, who sitteth and saith, I shàll see no sorrow. Once indeed, Job said, (but not so well) I shall di • in my • est, and multiply my days at the sand: Chap. 29.18. And so (by a like 〈◊〉 , which was quickly confuted) David said in his prosperity, I shall never be moved, Psal. 10.6, 7. But for the main and the most part, Job was otherwise minded. A godly man may be master of, and busied about these palterments of this present world, but not satisfied in them as adequate objects: he looks upon them all, in their greatest luster, as Hir •• did on the Cities Solomon had given him, which he called Ch •• ul, that is, a land of dirt. He minds the things above, most of all.

Yet trouble came. ] Although I ever kept myself within the bounds of humility and modesty, and so took the safest and wisest course to secure that I had, and to gain a settled estate; yet all's gone, and I am left a mirror of misery: What can any one make of his? This is a riddle to me: here I am gravelled and benighted.

CHAP. IV. Verse 1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite.]

THen, when Job had laid about him in this sort: and, giving his tongue too much liberty to lash out, had uttered words little better then blasphemous and contumelious against God: Then Eliphaz, Temanites ill, the first-born of Esau, (saith R. Solomon ) brought up in the bosom of Isaac, and so inured to Revelations from on high. Others think he descended of Teman, nephew to Esau &c. A man of great wisdom he was, and of grave discourse: One that could speak his mind fitly, and durst do it freely. He seems to have been 〈◊〉 chief of the three for age and authority, and therefore begins: pretending to be moved thereunto by zeal for God's glory, not a little impaired by Jobs impatiency savouring of hypocrisy, and arguing 〈◊〉 ficto fucatáque carde fuisse, that he had b • en little better then a dissembler. A causeless and uncharitable charge, enough to have driven him into desperation. The Rabbin's speak so well of Jobs three friends, that they use to say in a Proverb, Let a man either get him such friends as Job had, or else get him out of the world, (like as Chrysippus was wont to say, Aut mentem, aut restim comparandam ) But Gregory the great saith, that these three, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar do fitly set forth heretics, who begin to speak smoothly at first, as if they meant no hurt to him to whom they speak, but only good, to purchase his benevolous attention, but soon come to speak words which much hurt the hearer, and greatly trouble him &c.

Verse 2. If we assay to commune with thee ] Or may we assay to commune with thee? Art thou in case to be counseled? and will not an essay to this purpose further trouble thy patience and distemper thee? the ear which tasteth words (as the mouth doth meat) if filled with choler, can relish no comfort: and the easiest medicines, on mildest waters, are troublesome to sore eyes. Honey causeth pain to exulcerate parts, though in itself it be sweet and medicinal: children, though at other times they like it and 〈◊〉 in, yet they will not endure to have it come near their lips, when they have the 〈◊〉 some patients are mad against their medicines: and some hearers rage at a reprob •• Eliph ••• knew not but that Job might do as much, and that having newly been in a fearful fit of passion, he might fall into another, as Jonas did; the • rifice of his corruption being not yet closed up by repentance: Hence this preamble by way of friendly insinuation. The like art useth Paul with Philemon, and with the Corinthian often.

But who can with-hold himself from speaking? ] Who that hath any piety toward God, or pity to his offending friend? we use to say, He that receiveth a courtesy sell • th his liberty; but true love will not be tongue-tied. Our Savior's mouth was not stopped with all the good cheer that Simon the leper made him, Luke 7. neither entertained he the Pharisees with fewer menaces, then they did him eft-soons, with messes of meat. Job had been doubtless very friendly to his friends, who yet spare him not: and had they done it aright with the meekness of wisdom, they had shown themselves friends indeed, there being not a better office or evidence of love then this, Lev. 19.17. Friends, as Bees, are killed with the honey of flattery, but quickened with the vinegar of reproof, so it be well managed. The Eagle, though she loveth her young ones dearly, yet she pricketh and beateth them out of the nest when they are ready for flight.

Verse 3. Behold thou hast instructed many ] sc. to do each days duty with Christian diligence, and to bear each days crosses with Christian patience, thou hast donit well: But how comes it now to • pass quod dicta factis erubescant, that thy present doings shame thy former saying? and that (as it was noted of Demosthenes the Orator) thou art better at praising of virtue, then at practicing of it? Turpe est Doctors &c. Should not the Physician first heal himself? and ought not the preachers word be Spe •• emur agendo; let our profiting appear to all men, let our lives be a true transcript of our Sermons. What a shame was it, that Hilary should complain that the people's cares were holier then the preachers hearts: and that Erasmus by a true jest, should be told, that there was more goodness in his book of the Christian Soldier, then in his bosom! Eliphaz from this ground would here argue, that Job was little better then an hypocrite; a censure over-rigid, it being the easiest thing in the world, as a Philosopher observed, to give good counsel, and the hardest thing to take it. Dr. Preston upon his death-bed confessed, that now it came to his own turn, he found it somewhat to do, to practice that which he had oft pressed upon others.

And thou hast strengthened the weak hands ] Loose and lax, feeble and infirm, through many terrors and troubles: to these thou hast spoken words which have been as sinews to their hands, and as strength to their joints. Job had comforted the feeble-minded, or the dispirited, the sick at heart, and sinking under the sense of sin, and fear of wrath, 1. Thes. • 14. This is an harder work then to raise the dead to life, saith Luther: this •••• ne of a thousand can skill of, Job 33.23. he must have feeding lips, and an he ••• g tongue that shall do it. O quam hoc non est omu • um▪ The Christian Romans were able to do it; chap. 15.14. And holy Job was both able and apt, for he did it to many. True goodness is diffusive of itself, and is therefore compared to the most spreading things, as fire, water, Sun-light; &c.

Verse 4. Thy words hav • upholden him that was falling ] So forcible are right words, well timed and fitted to the present necessity: they shore up the tottering, they catch him before he comes to ground, and prevent his fall. This made Latim • r bless God that ever he came acquainted with that fellow-prisoner of his, that Angel of God (as he called him) John Bradford; he and Ridley, so long as they lived, upheld Cranmer by their words and letters; who soon after fell, to the grief of the godly party, but rose again by repentance. It is storied of Urbanus Begius, a famous Dutch Divine, that meeting with Luther at Goburg, he spent a whole day in conference with him about matters of great moment, of which himself writeth, that he never had a more comfortable day in all his life. The Earl of Darby's accusation in the Parliament house against Mr. Bradford, was, that he did mo • e hurt (so he called good, evil ) by letters and conferences in prison, then ever he did when he was abroad by preaching.

Thou hast strengthened the feeble knees ] That bend and buckle under a back-burden of afflictions: this was to be like unto God, who doth not crush, but cherish the worm Jacob; he doth not break the bruised • eed, nor quench the smoking flax: he H • spiseth not the day of small things, nor slighteth the well meant weaknesses of his upright-hearted people. Now Job as a partaker of the Divine Nature, resembled God herein, and made it his work to comfort the abject, to strengthen and straighten those that were bowed down with pains and pressures, to be eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame, chap. 29.15. to distribute spiritual alms, which is far the best in many respects, as were easy to instance.

Verse 5. But now it is come upon thee ] This is a galling. But hitherto Eliphaz had commended Job: now he dasheth all, and draweth a black line over that he had spoken once. To commend a man with a But, is a wound instead of a commendation, it sounds like that which is said of Naaman, 2 Kings 5. • . he was an honorable and a valiant man, But a leper, it sprinkleth black upon white, and so smutteth a man's good name, which is slander in an high degree.

It is come upon thee ] What is come? the evil thou fearedst, by thine own confession, chap. 3.25, 26. Or now it is come to thy turn to act what thou hast taught others.

And thou faintest ] Thou art down on all four, most shamefully degenerating into a faithless pusillanimity, and unbelieving impatiency, to the scandal of the weak, and scorn of the wicked, Nay, thou art not only in a maze, but in a rage, so that thy reason seems tired as much as thy strength; thou layest about thee like an Hercules furens, a man stark mad. See the word used in this sense, Prov. 26.18 Gen. 47.13.

It toucheth thee, and thou art troubled ] It toucheth thee, but so tender thou art, and delicate, that a light touch disquieteth thee: like as some men's flesh, if but razed with a pin, rankleth strait. Invalidum omne naturâ querulum, saith Seneca, the weaker anything is, the more complaintfull.

And thou art troubled ] Pitifully put toit, as if utterly undone, because touched a little; Mira vero constantia! But is this you that were the great teacher, that were so forward and forth-putting to press others to a patient and peaceable behavior under God's hand? should not thy words be made visible by thine actions? and thy patient mind ma • e known to all men, since the Lord is at hand? Hypocrites can talk of duty, as if their tongues did run • p • n pattens, they talk by the talent, but act by the ounce, as did those Pharisees Matth. 23.3. Rom. 2.21. that shamed goodness by seeming good. Eliphaz here reproacheth Job for such an one, as both here and everywhere, he and his two companions are too hot and harsh in their censures passed upon him; which God also giveth them the telling of, chap. 42.

Verse 6. Is not this thy fear, thy confidence &c? ] Or thy folly, q. d. Is not thy religion a mere foolery? and hast not thou rather acted religion, play's devotion, and the fear of God, then been serious therein? This was a most bitter scoff, a cruel shake, and came near his heart. Like as nothing vexed David more then when they laid his religion in his dish, asking, where is now thy God? So here. By this alteration that affliction hath wrought in thee, thou mayest easily see what thou art, viz. a very painted hypocrite: hard weather shows what health: empty vessels set near the fire, crack quickly. At the parting way, every dog followeth his own Master. Afflictio virum arguit, &c. Affliction shows a man, it turns the inside outward, the bottom of the bag upward; bringing that which was at the bottom, to the top: as that stick cast into the water, made the iron swim, 2 King. 6.6. Doth it not appear (saith Eliphaz here) that thou hast been merely mercenary, serving God whilst he prospered thee; and now kicking against him, because he afflicteth thee? See how near this man cometh, saith Mercer, to that first instigation of Satan, chap. 1.9. in hoc Satanae factus minister, herein acting the devils part though unwittingly, as Peter also did, Matth. 16.22, 23.

The uprightness of thy ways and thy hope? ] q. d. Thou hast taken to thyself many fair titles, and made a great flaunt, as if there were none such; but what is it all come to? Is it any better then a flask, a foppery, a name, and not a thing? Or if it be a reality, make proof of it. True grace is operative, and will not lie dormant.

Verse 7. Remember, I pray thee, whoever perished being innocent? ] Why? that hath many a one, as the world counteth and calleth perishing; the Righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart, Isa. 57.1. And it was given unto the Beast to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them, Rev. 13.7. So it seemed to be, though so it never was, Rev. 12.11. The first man that died, died for Religion; so early came Martyrdom into the world: and John Baptist was put to death in prison, without all show of law, right, or reason, as if God had been nothing aware of any such matter, as that Martyr phrased it. Indeed, if Eliphaz meant it of perishing eternally; neither Job, nor any one else could produce an instance of a godly man so perishing; but for temporal miseries, 'tis sure, that never any out of hell have met with more then the most holy and harmless heirs of heaven; see Heb. 11. and you will say so. But the Scriptures, haply, were not written when Eliphaz uttered this speech; howbeit, he might have observed the contrary to what he here seemeth to affirm, appealing to Jobs own experience for proof. And the truth is, if men were so well read as they might, in the story of their own lives, they might have a Divinity of their own, by noting experiments; such as that 119 Psalm is in a manner wholly made up of. Remember, saith he here: and the Philosopher saith, that experience is nothing else but multiplex memoria, because of the memory of the same thing often done, ariseth experience. Eliphaz therefore, after that he had given Job his turn to search his experiences, brings forth his own in the next verse.

Verse 8. Even as I have seen ] And therefore can boldly say: for what so sure as sight? See Numb. 11.23. Gen. 34.1, 2. Diligent inspection of a thing, and deep consideration upon it, makes confidence, which is the fruit of experience.

They that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness ] Here's plowing and sowing, a mystical husbandry. Sinners are sore laborers, great pains-takers; they plot and plow; they sow and reap, they dig and delve, Prov. 16.27. they weave and spin, Isa. 59.5. They busy their heads, and beat their brains, as hard students in their black-art: they labor even unto lassitude, Jer. 9.5. Hence they are called workers of iniquity; (the vulgar rendereth this text Qui operantur iniquitatem ) and sin is called a work of the flesh. How can those but work hard in digging descents to hell, who have the devil for their task-master, who continually spurs them on to a quick dispatch of the deeds of darkness? Arant, serunt, occant scelera, as the devils hinds and horses, they drudge night and day, turning up all the corruptions in their hearts and conveniences in the world, for the effecting of their wicked devises.

And sow wickedness ] Nemo repent fit turpissimus. Sin goeth on gradually (here is first plowing, and then sowing) wicked men and seducers grow worse and worse, til at length they are even Satanized; being transformed into sins image, and bereft of all passive power of awaking out of the snare of the devil, being taken alive by him at his pleasure, 2 Tim. 2.26.

Reape the same ] Not the same day it may be, but too soon to their sorrow, they receive the guerdon of their sin. Sooner or later, it is sure, he that soweth iniquity, shall reap vanity, Prov. 22.8. Jer. 4.18. As everybody hath its shadow, so hath every sin its punishment: and many times, the one is so like the other, that a man may safely say, such a punishment is the product of such a sin, Gal. 6.7. Men shall reap the same they sow, and good reason. Give them blood to drink, for they are worthy, Rev. 16.6. God loves to make him a name amongst men by his Art of Justicing (as One calleth it) in that most exact way of counter-passion, or retaliation: And Adonibezek hath got him a fame of ingenuity, by acknowledging as much, Judge. 1.7.

Verse 9. By the blast of God they perish ] He puts himself to no great pain to punish them: but blows them away as so many dust-heaps: he nods them to destruction, saith the Psalmist, Ps 80.16. he can as easily do it, as bid it to be done. If the Lord do but arise, his enemies shall be scattered: and all that hate him fly before him. If he but put his head out of the windows of heaven, as it were, and say, Who is on my side, who? all the creatures (who for fear of him had hid themselves, as worms wriggle into their holes in time of thunder) shall look out presently, and offer him their service: so that he cannot possibly want a weapon to tame his rebels, or a way to bring the wicked to condign punishment. He is Eloah, as he is here called; that is, The puissant One, the mighty strong God, as Isa. 9.6. before whom all Nations are as the drop of a bucket, or as the dust of the balance: No more able to stand against him, then is the glass-bottle against a Cannon shot; or down-thistle before a whirl-wind. Behold, I will send a blast upon him (saith God concerning Sennacherib, 2 King. 19.7.) and so set him going. So elsewhere, he threateneth to tread down his stoutest enemies, as straw is trodden down to the dung-hill. Neither shall he much trouble himself in doing this: For he shall only spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth, spreadeth forth his hands to swim, &c. Isa. 25.11, 12. to signify, that he shall do it with greatest facility. The motion in swimming is easy, not strong; for strong violent strokes in the water would rather sink then support. It is said, that by a look of his out of the pillar of fire and of the cloud, he troubled the host of the Egyptians, Exod. 14.24. and as the Rocks repelled the boisterous waves, — Co • antia frangere, frangunt; so did He the enemies of his people.

By the breath of his nostrils they are consumed. ] Heb. By the wind of his nostrils. This is the same with the former. Only it is conceived, that Eliphaz here alludeth to the manner of the death of Jobs children by a mighty wind; so strong as if God himself had breathed it out. By the breath of his mouth He made the world, Psalm 33.6. and by the same breath can He as soon, and as easily unmake it again; as he did in the general Deluge, whereunto the Chaldee Paraphrast holdeth that Eliphaz here referreth: the remembrance of which standing monument of God's wrath was fresh and well known when this was spoken.

Verse 10. The roaring of the Lion &c. ] Lest any should think, saith an Interpreter, that the blast of God above-mentioned carrieth away only staws and feathers, light and weak persons into perdition, Eliphaz addeth the weightiest and the strongest, The roaring of a Lion &c. q. d. God by his blast can take away or break the strongest, the mightiest lion-like men &c. Under the shadow of which allusions he closely strikes at Job. who was once a great man, a fierce spoiling Lion in the apprehension of his friends, and yet God brought him down. Of tyrants and Oppressors compared to Lions, and why, see Nahum 2.11, 12. with the Note: and Prov. 28.15. with the note. The proverb is, The Lion is not so fierce, as he is painted. But no words can sufficiently set forth the savage immanity and cruelty of absurd and wicked men. See that of Nebuchadnezzar graphically described, Jer. 51.34. He hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.

The teeth of the young Lions are broken ] Or, pulled out, that they may no more devour the flesh, and drink the blood of God's poor afflicted, that fell into their str • ng-ones. Thus David had prayed, Psal. 58.6. and this he had proved, Psal. 3.7. Thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek-bone: thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. God with his hard and heavy hand had so boxed and buffeted them; that they spat forth some of their teeth; and for the rest, they might go seek them in their throat; as Dares that bold champion in Virgil, (whom when he had been soundly beaten by old Entellus ) his fellows led away.

A just hand of God upon such as exercising regiment without righteousness, ravin and rend, as Lions greedy of their prey, plucking off the skins of their poor subjects, and pulling out their teeth; as Melancthon telleth of one Tyrant, who to get great sums of money out of his people, used to send for them: and if they refused to answer his demands, he would first knock out one of their teeth, and then another, threatening to leave them toothless.

Verse 11. The old lion perisheth for lack of prey ] As not being able to hunt, and get it. The meaning is (saith One) that men who reign like Lions, that their children who equalled them in cruelty, that their wives who surpassed them in insolency, do end their lives tragically; All this is true for the most part. Eliphaz speaks of what is usually done, saith another, Or he speaks of what God can easily do at any time: and of what God may justly do at all times: If he suspend this justice, it is for weighty reasons &c. Some wicked men God punisheth here, saith Augustine, lest his Providence, but not all, lest his Patience and promise of Judgment should be called into question.

Verse 12. Now a thing was secretly brought to me ] Heb. was brought to me by stealth, closely and privily, so as others were nothing aware of it. See Act. 22.9. with 9.7. Saul's companions heard his voice, but not Christ's. By this vision Eliphaz would convince Job, that none are afflicted but those that have well deserved it: since the best are defective and blame-worthy, though they should be puriores coelo afflictione facti, as Chrysostom saith, as those good souls were, that prayed Peter out of prison, Acts 12.5. Some are of opinion, that this vision either came from his fantasy, and so was none: or else, by an illusion from Satan. But Mercer holds it to have been a true vision from God; although Eliphaz abuse it in his mis-application thereof to Job, playing the Sophister, after a sort, whilst he quite changeth the state of the question, which at this time was, Whether we ought to judge of a man's life and behavior by the greatness of those troubles and miseries that he doth suffer? This vision he describeth verbis magnificis & ampu • l • sis, as for me a thing (or a word ) was stolen upon me, or secretly brought to me, &c. But what so great a secret was this, saith Calvin, that God alone is perfectly righteous, and all men unrighteous in comparison of him? For answer, he calleth it a secret (though it be a plain and evident truth) because few consider it, and improve it to an humble submission to God, and suffering his judgments. See a like expression, Psal. 78.2, 3. &c. I will open my mouth in a parable, which yet was nothing extraordinary, but Poetically set out. So Psal. 49.4. The happy and secure estate of Saints in trouble, is described, and the contrary; which though an ordinary argument, and often treated of, yet is called the great wisdom, the dark saying &c.

And mine ear received a little thereof ] Nonnihil, pauxillum, quippiam, not all that it might, but as much as it could, as being but a narrow-mouthed vessel. Vide ut modeste loquatur, saith Mercer; see how modestly the man speaketh, not taking upon him any perfection of knowledge, though he were a man of great understanding; his ear caught somewhat of that was repealed, and but somewhat. The best men, whilst here, know but in part: for why? We prophesy but in part, 1 Cor. 13.9. Such is our weakness, and narrow-heartedness, that we cannot take in all of all; no, nor any part of all in the full latitude and extent of it. The greatest part of that we know, is the least part of that we know not, saith a Father. Hence those modest expressions of some Philosophers, and others: This only I know, that nothing I know, said Socrates: I know not so much as this, said another, that I yet know nothing. My greatest knowledge, said Chytraeus, is to know, that nothing I know. And albeit I am otherwise ignorant, saith another, yet of mine own ignorance I am not ignorant. Not only in most other things am I to seek, saith Austin, but even in the Scriptures (my chief study, and trade of life) Multo plura nescio quam scio, there are many more things hid from me, then what I yet understand, John 14.4, 5. Thomas seems to contradict Christ: Austin thus reconcileth it, they did partly know whither Christ went, but durst not once believe that they had any such knowledge; they did not know their own knowledge. The best here can see but God's back-parts, and live, as Moses. Isaiah saw but his train in the Temple, and the latter end of that too. Eliphaz his ear caught but the later end, as it were, of a sentence, only that which the echo resounded, a particle of the whole that was whispered secretly to him. Howbeit, that he received but a little, was not from neglect of the rest; but from inability to receive more or to receive it more perfectly.

Verse 13. In thoughts from visions of the night &c. ] Or in thoughts of the visions of the night. It appeareth by this and other circumstances, that this vision was no fiction or holy fraud (as some have conceited) to bring Job to a sight of his sin. Let Papists praise their St. Dominick for his holy hypocrisy which he taught his Disciples to make use of, to bring people the better to a good esteem of the faith, and love of virtue. Eliphaz was a better man, then to deal in such depths of the devil: and with such deliberate gravity, put a lie upon God. He was really plodding, he was in thoughts, the word properly signifieth branches or bought of trees, which are many, thick, intertwined, and crossing one another. In the multitude of my perplexed thoughts within me, saith David, thy comforts have refreshed my soul, Psalm 94.19. The same word is rendered vain thoughts, or wavering cogitations, Psal. 119.113. Such as David's soul hated. Carnal hearts are exchanges, and shops of vain thoughts, stews of unclean thoughts, slaughter-houses of cruel and bloody thoughts, a very forge and mint of false, politick, undermining thoughts: but Eliphaz his thoughts were better busied; his top-thoughts, those uppermost branches of his soul were concerning God, and the things of his kingdom: when other men became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened, he had visions of God. In the night-season, when dead sleep fell upon others, he slept, but his heart waked, and was free to receive revelations, and to contemplate of them: or perhaps, he was broad awake at that time of night, that he might the better converse with God and his own soul. Abraham had many such sweet visions: Isaac walked out into the fields for the purpose: Jacob met with God in this manner, both at Bethel, and at Penuel. Daniel had visions both of the day, and of the night: so had Paul, and other Apostles. The Monks make long relations of revelations, and apparitions that they have had. So do the Enthusiasts, and high-attainers; but we are not bound to believe them. Matthew Paris reporteth of Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of London, Anno Dom. 1161. that one night musing of the difference betwixt the King and Becket, Arch-bishop of Canterbury, he heard a terrible voice, saying, O Gilberte Foliot, dum revolvis tot & tot, Deus tuus est Ascarot; he taking it to be the devil, answered boldly, Mentiris daemon: Deus meus est Deus Sabbath. Aeneas in Virgil, is said to have his visions and conferences with his deceased friends. Satan loves to imitate God in what he can, that he may deceive with better success: but we have a most sure word of prophesy, and yet a more glorious light of the Gospel, Heb. 1.2. The promised day-star being risen in our hearts, 1 Pet. 1.19.

Verse 14. Fear came on me, and trembling ] Fear in the inward man, and trembling in the outward. And this is God's method still; the more he draweth nigh to any man, the more doth rottenness enter into his bones, and he is horribly afraid of God's judgments, with David; he trembleth at his word with Josiah, that it may be the more efficacious in his soul. Let us have grace (saith the Apostle) whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. For even our God also (and not the God of the Jews only) is a consuming fire, Heb. 12.28, 29. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , saith Basil: Our King will be served like himself, served in state: and although he alloweth us an humble familiarity, yet he expecteth our reverential fear; acquainted he will be with us in our walks of obedience; but yet he takes state upon him in his ordinances, and will be trembled at in the addresses we make unto his Majesty; he looks we should bring with us a legal faith, and a legal repentance, as well as an Evangelical; and that we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling, Philip. 2.12. Terrors and humiliations prepare and posture the heart for revelations; never is it right, till a man lie low at God's feet, putting his mouth in the dust, and crying out, Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth: there shall be only fear to make them understand the hearing: fear met Eliphaz, and made way for the heavenly vision.

Which made all my bones to shake ] Heb. the multitude of my bones, or the number of my bones, how many soever they be, and they are as many (say the Hebrews) as there are affirmative precepts in the Law. These pillars of my body shook sore, and threatened a downfall.

Verse 15. Then a spirit passed before my face ] Some render it a wind, as a messenger or fore-runner of God near at hand, as 1 Kings 19.11. But better, a good Angel in some bodily shape, Psal. 104.4. Luke 24.37. for else, how could he be seen of Eliphaz, gliding rather then going, as a ship upon the face of the waters?

The hair of my flesh stood up ] Horripilatus sum; In a fright the heart falleth down, the hair standeth up; the blood hastening to the heart to relieve it, as soldiers do to the castle, when all is likely to be lost.

Verse 16. It stood still ] As now ready to speak: an ambulatory voice is hardly heard: The Heavens indeed, are walking preachers, but then they utter but these three words, saith Hugo, in all Languages, Accipe, Redde, Fuge; that is, Receive mercies, Return duties, Fly offenses, and their just punishments.

But I could not discern the form thereof ] Heb. The aspect or countenance. He was so frighted, that his eye could not do its office distinctly, to discern the thing that was just before it. It is natural to a man to fear at the sight of an Angel; what then will wicked men do at the last day, when the Son of man shall bring all his Angels, not leaving one behind him in heaven? Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men: and oh that we could persuade them!

An image was before mine eyes ] But I could not tell what to make of it. It is not the will of God that man should represent him by an image. The Jews, after the captivity, were so far from idolatry, that they would not admit a Carver or Painter into their City. The Turks will not endure any image, no, not upon their coins, because of the second Commandment. Varro saith, he that first brought in Imagery (and that is thought to be Ninus King of Babylon ) superstitionem auxit, metum dempsit, increased superstition, and took away fear. The wiser heathers held, that God was too subtle for sinew or fight to seize upon: and the Greek Painters, when they would draw the image of their Jupiter in a Table, they were still mending it, but never ending it; saying, that herein they shown him to be a god; for that they might begin to paint, but could not perfect him.