Exposition of Job 1-3, Title page – Errata
AN EXPOSITION WITH PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS VponUpon the three firſt CHAPTERS of the Booke of IOB.
Delivered in XXI. Lectures, at MAGNUS neare the Bridge, London.
By JOSEPH CARYL, Preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolnes-Inne.
JAMES 5. ver. 10, 11.
Take my bretheren the Prophets, who have ſpoken in the Name of the Lord, for an example of ſuffering affliction, and of patience.
Behold we count them happy which endure. Yee have heard of the patience of Job, and have ſeene the end of the Lord: that the Lord is very pitifull, and of tender mercy.
LONDON, Printed by G. Miller, for Henry Overton in Popes-head-Alley, and Luke Fawne, and Iohn Rothwell in Pauls Church-yard. M.DC.XLIII.
IT is this eleventh Day of May, 1643. Ordered by the Committee of the Houſe of Commons in Parliament, concerning Printing, that this Book, intituled (An Expoſition upon the three firſt Chapters of IOB) be printed for
Henry Overton.
Luke Fawne.
Iohn Rothwell.
IOHN WHITE.
TO THE CHRISTIAN READER, To thoſe eſpecially of this City, who have bin the Movers and Promoters of this work.
THis Book of JOB beares the Image of theſe times, and preſents us with a reſemblance of the paſt, preſent, and (much hoped for) future condition of this Nation. As the perſonall proſperity of Job, ſo his troubles looke like our Nationall troubles; and why may not the parallel be made up, by a likeneſse in our Reſtauration? Job was the most flouriſhing, the greateſt man, of all the men of the Eaſt. We are the greateſt, and lately were the moſt flouriſhing Nation, of all the Nations of the North. Our Oxen (like his) were ſtrong to labour, our Sheep brought forth thouſands, and ten thouſands in our ſtreets, our garners were full, affording all manner of ſtore; our ſonnes (like his) as plants growne up in their youth, our daughters as corner ſtones poliſhed after the ſimilitude of a palace. There was no breaking-in nor going out, no complaining (in reference to outward wants) in our ſtreets. We waſhed our ſteps with butter, and the rock powred us out rivers of oyl. The Candle of God ſhined upon our Heads, and the ſecret of God was upon our Tabernacles: Our roots were ſpread out by the waters, and the dew (of bleſsings) lay all night upon our branches. Unto us the Nations gave ear and waited, & kept ſilence at our counſel; After our words, they ſpake not again, and our ſpeech dropped upon them; If we laughed on them, they believed it not: our glory was freſh in us, and the light of our countenance they caſt not down: we choſe out their way, and ſate chief and dwelt as a King in the army, as one that comforteth the Mourners. Surely, a happy people were we, being in ſuch a caſe, yea moſt happy were we, having the Lord (many ways declaring himſelfe) for our God. And had we (as theſe mercies did oblige us) fill'd up, or labour'd to fill up th'other part, the better part of Jobs character? Had we beene a People perfect and upright, fearing God and eſchewing evill? We might (according to the promis'd, and often experienc'd tenour of Gods dealing with his people) have continued and encreaſed in all that happineſſe unto this day.
But We (herein unlike to Job, and) like a fooliſh Nation and unwiſe, have ill-requited the Lord, yea, we have requited the Lord with evill, for, and in the midſt of all this Goodneſſe. Our Provocations have bin many, and our Backe-ſlidings have bin multiplied. Our ſinnes have put a Sword into the Hand of God: And God in Juſtice, hath put a Sword into the Hands of unjuſt men, men skilfull to deſtroy. He hath made Babylonians the rod of his anger and the ſtaffe of his Indignation againſt us. He hath given Commiſſion to Caldeans and Sabeans, who rob and ſpoyle us. Our young men are ſlaine by the edge of the Sword, and the ſtinke of our Campes comes up into our Noſtrils. How many ſad Meſſengers have haſtened unto us (as unto Job) with the Reports of Cities ſurrendered and plundered, of Townes fired and pillaged, of Villages and Countries laid waſte, and almoſt deſolate. Now ſeeing all this is come upon us, is it not time for us (with Job) to rent our Garments (yea our hearts with godly ſorrow) and falling upon the ground, worſhip God and ſay, The Lord hath (freely) given, and the Lord hath (juſtly) taken; Bleſſed be the Name of the Lord. Our ſinnes have brought theſe ſorrowes, let not our ſorrowes bring in more ſin, by cauſing us to murmur against, or charge God fooliſhly.
God never ſends ſuch troubles upon a Nation, (he doth ſometimes upon a Perſon and did upon Job) without cauſe; that is, without reſpecting ſinne as a cauſe. Job might ſay (in one ſenſe) My Uprightneſſe and my Integritie have procured theſe things unto me; But wee must ſay, our way and our doings have procured theſe things unto us: This is our wickednes.
Yet (though all this evill hath been done by us, though all theſe evils are come upon us, yet) there is hope in our Iſrael concerning this thing, yea, I beleeve, there is merciemercy in and from all theſe evils, to us and all the Iſrael of our God. OnelyOnly, what Integrity we have, let us ſtill hold it ſtedfaſtly, what evils are (and what evils almoſt are not?) amongſt us, let us reforme them ſpeedily; Without this, at leaſt, without hearty deſires, and faithfull endeavours after this, wee may preſume, but we cannot beleeve or hope our Deliverance. I grant, that whenſoever God reſtores us, he must reſtore us freely, and must both make us good, and doe us good, for his owne Name ſake, in Jeſus Chriſt: For as he hath puniſhed us leſſe then our ſinnes deſerve, ſo whenſoever, or in what degree ſoever he reſtores us, it will bee more then any, or all our repentings and reformings can deſerve: yet he commands us to repent and reforme, that we may be reſtored. God never delivered any people for their Repentance, and rarely any (if any) without Repentance. Yea I may ſay it plainely, that he never delivered any (in MercieMercy) without Repentance, for either he gave them Repentance, before they were delivered, or Repentance (which is farre the greater bleſſing of the two) with the Deliverance. Better have our troubles continue, then our ſinnes continue. To have Peace returne and our hearts unturn'd, were infinitely worſe then warre.
And as Repentance is better then Peace, ſo it will be an argument, that we ſhall have Peace: May wee not well conclude that God is upon the giving-hand, when he gives a new heart? And that hee hath ſomewhat elſe to give, when he hath given a love unto, and a longing after his Truth?
When God feeds us with (and we have a right taſte of) this Manna in our Wilderneſſe, wee may rest aſſured that God hath humbled us all this while (and all the while his Wiſdome ſhall ſee fit to humble us yet, will be) only to proove us, that he may doe us good at our latter end, and make this Nation (at leaſt) like Job, in the end, which he will make.
Yee have heard of the Patience of Job, and what end the Lord made? Could we but heare of the Repentance of England, all the world (I am perſwaded) ſhould heare and wonder at the end, which the Lord would make: Even ſuch an end as he made for Job, if not a better; he would give us twice as much in Temporals, double Riches, double Oxen and Sheepe, double Bracelets and Earings, double Gold and Silver, double Sonnes and Daughters: And hee would give us (which is not ſpecified in the Inventorie of Jobs repaire) ſeven-fold more in Spirituals, ſeven-fold more knowledge of his Truth, purity in his worſhip, order in his houſe; he would make the light of our Moone to be like the light of the Sunne, and the light of our Sunne to be ſeven-fold, as the light of ſeven dayes, in the day, wherein he bindes up our outward breaches, and heales the stroake of our wound. Thus, we may looke to be reſtored (not only as Job) to more in kind, but to better in kind, I am ſure to better in degree: We may looke, that, for braſſe we ſhall have Gold, or our Gold more refined; that, for Iron wee ſhall have Silver, or our Silver more purified; that, for wood we ſhall have Braſſe, or our Braſſe better furbiſhed; that, for Stones we ſhall have iron, or our Iron better tempered; We may look, that, our Officers ſhall be peace, and our Exactours righteouſneſſe, that violence ſhall no more be heard in our Land, waſting nor deſtruction within our borders, but men ſhall call our Walls ſalvation and our Gates praiſe.
When theſe glorious iſſues of our troubles ſhall be, is in his hand, who held Jobs eſtate in his hand, ſo faſt, that Satan could not touch a Sheepe nor a ſhoe-lachet, till himſelfe willed: and who, when his time came, reſtored Jobs eſtate double, to a Sheep and a ſhoe-lachet, whether Satan and his Sabeans would or no. We have already ſeen, in Job, an Epitome of our former proſperitie and of our preſent troubles, the good Lord haſten the latter part of our National likenes unto him, in the doubled (and O that it might be a ſeven-fold) reſtauration of our Peace and Truth.
In the meane time theſe Meditations upon this Scripture, well digested and taken-in, may be (through the bleſſing of God upon them) a help to our patience, in bearing theſe afflictions upon the Land, a help to our faith in beleeving, & to our hope inwaiting for the Salvations of the Lord. Whatſoever things were written afore-time, were written for our learning (but this Booke was purpoſely written) that we through patience and comfort of this Scripture might have hope. Nor doe I doubt, but that the Providence of God (without which a Sparrow fals not to the ground) directed my thoughts to this Booke, as (not onelyonly profitable for all times, but) ſpecially ſeaſonable for theſe times. It is a word in ſeaſon, and therefore ſhould as a word upon the Wheeles, making a ſpeedy paſſage into all our hearts: And how ſhould it not? While wee remember that theſe Wheeles are oyl'd with bloud, even with the heart-bloud of thouſands of our deareſt friends and brethren.
I finde, that this is not the firſt time, that this Booke hath beene undertaken by way of Expoſition, in ſuch a time as this. Lavater a faithfull Miniſter of the Tigurine Church, opened this Scripture in preaching, and printed it in the Germane tongue, which was afterwards publiſhed in Latine by Hartmanus Sprunglius (as himſelfe expreſſes in the Title) to ſupport and refreſh the afflicted mindes of the godly in that laſt (as he then ſuppoſed) and ſaddeſt decliyyning Age of the world.
Ferus (a Popiſh Fryer, but very devout according to the Devotion of that Religion) Preacher at Ments, Anno 1552.choſe this Scripture in the time of Warre and publick Calamity, (as the Title alſo of his Booke holds forth) to comfort his Citizens. In his fourth Sermon hee makes this obſervable digreſſion. You know (ſaith hee to his Hearers) that I began to expound this Hiſtorie of Iob, to the end I might comfort and exhort you to patience in theſe troubleſome times. This was and is my Intendment, this mooved me to handle and explaine this Booke. But now in my very entrance upon it, the Storme grows ſo blacke, that I ſee you amazed, dejected, and almoſt deſperate: Some are flying, others are preparing to flie; and in this great Calamitie, no man is found to comfort his Brother: But every one encreaſes his Neighbours feare, by his owne fearefullneſse. Hee preſcribes (as farre as their Principles will admit) Cordials for the reviving of their ſpirits, and medicine for the cure of theſe diſtempers. The whole Booke of JOB, is a ſacred Shoppe, ſtor'd with plentie and varietie of both: that you may open your hearts to receive, and with wiſdome to apply the Conſolations and Inſtructions here tender'd from this part of it, is, (and through the ſtrength of Chriſt) ſhall bee, the deſire and prayer of
November 8th, 1643. Your very loving Friend and Servant for the helpe of your Faith IOSEPH CARYL.
ERRATA.
PAg 3. lin. 33. for more particulars, reade in particular. Pag. 5. l 24, for ſinne …. ſinne. p. 9 l. 2. for diſtinctions r diſtinct ones. p 27. l 39. for whence r. whom. p. 30 l. 21. for all grace goes r. all graces goe, p. 40. l. 21. dele But. p. 106. l. 8. r. former. p. 118. l. 34. r. and, before in ſuch. p. 124 l. 1. dele the. p. 179. l. 40. for garments r. garment. p. 1…3. l. 21 for we r. he. p 206 l. 39. r. leſſe love. p. 207. l. 5. r. of a Fathers love. p. 239 l. 39. for ſi r. as. p 273. l. 39. for troublers r. troubler. p. 306. l. 15. miſplaced. p. 323 l. 34 for ceiſe r. ſeiſe. p. 338. l. 38. for ſight r. ſite. pag 371. l. 16. for the r. then. p. 402. l. 40. for interrupted r. uninterrupted. p. 424. l. 8. adde, that. p. 452. l. 38. for utmost his r. his utmoſt. p. 454. l 35. for was r. were. Divers errors have eſcaped in the Poyntings, which the underſtanding Reader may eaſily correct, where the ſenſe is obſcured, as p. 321. l. 11, there wants a Colon, after the word Counſell, &c.