Fifty Sermons, Sermons · Sermon 30
SERMON XXX.
Preached to the Countesse of Bedford, then at Harrington house. January 7. 1620.
JOB 13. 15.
Loe, though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.
THe name, by which God notified himselfe, to all the world, at first, was,Exod. 3. 14. Qui sum, I am; this was his style, in the Commission, that he gave to Moses to Pharaoh; say, that he whose name is, I am, hath sent thee, forthere, God would have it made known, that all Essence, all Beeing, all things, that fall out, in any time, past, or present, or future, had their dependece upon him, their derivation from him, their subsistence in him. But then, when God contracts himselfe into a narrower consideration, not to be considered as God, which implies the whole Trinity, but as Christ, which is onelyonly the second Person, and when he does not so much notifie himselfe to the whole world, as to the Christian Church, then he contracts his name too, from that spacious and extensive Qui sum, I am, which includes all time, to Alpha and Omega, first and last, which are peeces of time, as we see, in severall places of the Revelation, he styles himselfe: when God speakes to the whole world, his name is, Qui sum, I am, that all the world may confesse, that all that is, is nothing, but with relation to him; when he speakes to a Christian, his name is Alpha and Omega, first and last, that a Christian may, in the very name of God, fixe his thoughts upon his beginning, and upon his end, and ever remember, that as a few years since, in his Cradle, he had no sense of that honour, those riches, those pleasures, which possesses his time now, so, God knowes how few days hence, in his grave, he shall have no sense, no memory of them. Our whole life is but a parenthesis, our receiving of our soule, and delivering it back againe, makes up the perfect sentence; Christ is Alpha and Omega, and our Alpha and Omega is all we are to consider.
Now, for all the letters in this Alphabet of our life, that is, for all the various accidents in the course thereof, we cannot study a better booke, then the person of Iob. His first letter, his Alpha, we know not, we know not his Birth; His last letter, his Omega, we know not, we know not his Death: But all his other letters, His Children, and his riches, we read over and over againe, How he had them, how he lost them, and how he recovered them. By which though it appeare that those temporall things doe also belong to the care and provision of a godly man, yet it appears too, that neither his first care, nor his last care appertaines to the things of this world, but that there is a Primùm quaerite, something to be sought for before, The kingdome of God; And there is a Memorare novissima, something to be thought on after, The Ioyes of heaven; And then, Catera adjicientur, says Christ, All other cares are allowable by way of Accessary, but not as principall. And therefore, though this History of Iob, may seeme to spend it selfe, upon the relation of Iobs temporall passages, of his wealth, and poverty, of his sicknesse, and recovery, yet, if we consider the Alpha and Omega of the booke it selfe, the first beginning, and the later end thereof, we shall see in both places, a care of the Holy ghost, to shew us first Iobs righteousnesse, and then his riches, first his Goodnesse, and then his Goods; in both places, there is a Catechisme, a Confession of his faith before, and then an Inventory, and Catalogue of his wealth; for, in the first place, it is sayd, He was an upright and just man, and feared God, and eschewed evill, and then, his Children, and his substance follow; And in the last place, it is said, That Iob was accepted by God, and that he prayed for those friends, which had vext him, and then it is, that his former substance was doubled unto him.
This world then is but an Occasionall world, a world onelyonly to be us'd; and that but so, as though we us'd it not: The next world is the world to be enjoy'd, and that so, as that we may joy in nothing by the way, but as it directs and conduces to that end; Nay, though we have no Joy at al, though God deny us all conveniencies here, Etiamsi occiderit, though he end a weary life, with a painefull death, as there is no other hope, but in him, so there needs no other, for that alone is both abundant, and infallible in it selfe.
Now, as no History is more various, then Iobs fortune, so is no phrase, no style, more ambiguous, then that in which Iobs history is written; very many words so expressed, very many phrases so conceived, as that they admit a diverse, a contrary sense; for such an ambiguity in a single word, there is an example in the beginning, in Iobs wife; we know not (from the word it selfe) whether it be Benedicas, or maledicas, whether she sayd Blesse God, and die or Curse God: And for such an ambiguity, in an intire sentence, the words of this text are a pregnant, and evident example, for they may be directly, and properly thus rendered out of the Hebrew, Behold he will kill me, I will not hope; and this seemes to differ much from our reading, Behold, though he kill me, yet will I trust in him. And therefore to make up that sense, which our translation hath, (which is truely the true sense of the place) we must first make this paraphrase, Behold he will kill me, I make account he will kill me, I looke not for life at his hands, his will be done upon me for that; And then, the rest of the sentence (I will not hope) (as we read it in the Hebrew,) must be supplyed, or rectified rather, with an Interrogation, which that language wants, and the translators use to add it, where they see the sense require it: And so reading it with an Interrogation, the Originall, and our translation will constitute one and the same thing; It will be all one sense to say, with the Originall, Behold he will kill me, (that is, let him kill me) yet shall not I hope in him? and to say with our translation, Behold though he kill me, yet will I hope in him: And this sense of the words, both the Chaldee paraphrase, and all translations (excepting onelyonly the Septuagint) do unanimously establish.
So then, the sense of the words being thus fixed, we shall not distract your understandings, Divisio.or load your memories, with more then two parts: Those, for your ease, and to make the better impression, we will call propositum, and praepositum; first, the purpose, the resolution of a godly man, which is, to rely upon God; and then the consideration, the inducement, the debatement of this beforehand, That no Danger can present it selfe, which he had not thought of before, He hath carried his thoughts to the last period, he hath stirred the potion to the last scruple of Rheuharb, and Wormewod, which is in it, he hath digested the worst, he hath considered Death it selfe, and therefore his resolution stands unshak'd, Etiamsi occiderit, Though he dy for it, yet he will trust in God.
In the first then,1 Part. The Resolution, the purpose it selfe, we shall consider, Quem, and Quid; The Person, and the Affection: To whom Iob will beare so great, and so reverent a respect;Quis. and then, what this respect is, I will trust in him. I would not stay you, upon the first branch, upon the person, as upon a particular consideration (though even that, The person upon whom, in all cases, we are to rely, be entertainement sufficient for the meditation of our whole life) but that there arises an usefull observation, out of that name, by which Iob delivers that person, to us, in this place: Iob says, though He kill me, yet he will trust in him; but he tells us not in this verse, who this He is. And though we know, by the frame, and context, that this is God, yet we must have recourse to the third verse, to see, in what apprehension, and what notion, in what Character, and what Contemplation, in what name, and what nature, what Attribute, and what Capacity, Iob conceived and proposed God to himselfe, when he fix'd his resolution so intirely to rely upon him; for, as God is a jealous God, I am sure I have given him occasion of jealousy, and suspicion,Ezck. 16. I have multiplied my fornications, and yet am not satisfied, as the prophet speakes: As God is a Consuming fire, I have made my selfe fuell for the fire, and I have brought the fires of lust, and of ambition, to kindle that fire: As God visits the sinnes of fathers upon Children, I know not what sinnes my fathers and grandfathers have layd up in the treasure of Gods indignation: As God comes to my notion, in these formes, Horrendum, it were a fearefull thing to flesh and bloud, to deliver ones selfe over to him, as he is a jealous God, and a Consuming fire; But in that third verse, Iob sets before him, that God, whom he conceives to be Shaddai, that is, Omnipotens, Allmighty; I will speake to the Allmighty, and I desire to dispute with God. Now, if we propose God to our selves, in that name, as he is Shaddai, we shall find that word in so many significations in the scriptures, as that no misery or calamity, no prosperity or happinesse can fall upon us, but we shall still see it (of what kinde so ever it be) descend from God, in this acceptation, as God is Shaddai. For, first, this word signifies Dishoner, as the Septuagint translate it in the Proverbs,19. 26. He that Dishonoreth his parents, is a shamelesse child; There's this word; Shaddai is the name of God, 33. 1.and yet Shaddai signifies Dishonor. In the prophet Esay it signifies Depredation, a forcible and violent taking away of our goods; vae praedanti, says God in that place, woe to thee that spoyledst, and wast not spoyled; Shaddai is the name of God, and yet Shaddai is spoyle, and violence and depredation. In the prophet Ieremy, the word is carried farther, there it signifies Destruction, and an utter D…vastation; D…vastati sumus, says he, we unto us, for we are Destroy'd; The word is Shaddai, and is Destruction, though Shaddai be the name of God: yea, the word reaches to a more spirituall affection, it extends to the understanding, and error in that, and to the Conscience, and sinne in that; for so the Septuagint makes use of this word in the Proverbs,Prov. 24. 15. Psal. 91. To deceive, and to ly; and in one place of the Psalmes, they interpret the word, of the Devil himselfe. So that, (recollecting all these heavy significations of the word) Dishonor and Disreputation, force and Depredation, Ruine and Devastation, Error and Illusion, the Devill and his Tentations, are presented to us, in the same word, as the name and power of God is, that, when so ever any of these doe fall upon us, in the same instant when we see and consider the name and quality of this calamity that falls, we may see and consider the power and the purpose of God which inflicts that Calamity; I cannot call the calamity by a name, but in that name, I name God; I cannot feel an affliction, but in that very affliction I feel the hand (and, if I will, the medicinall hand) of my God. If therefore our Honour and Reputation decay, all honor was a beame of him, and if he have sucked that beame into himselfe, let us follow it home, let us labor to be honorable in him, glorified in him, and our honor is not extinguished in this world, but growne too glorious for this world to comprehend. If spoyle and Depredation come upon us, that we be covered with wrath, and persecuted, slaine and not spared, That those that fed delicately perish in the streets, and they that were brought up in scarlet embrace the Dunghill, and that the hands of pitifull women have sodden their owne children, as the prophet complains in the Lamentations; if there be such an irreparable Devastation upon us, as that we be broken as an Earthern vessell, in the breaking whereof there remaines not a sheard to fetch fire from the hearth, nor water from the pit, That our estate be ruined so, as that there is nothing left, not onelyonly for future posterity, but not for the present family, yet still God and the calamity are together; God does not send it, but bring it, he is there as soone as the calamity is there, and calling that calamity by his owne name, Shaddai, he would make that very calamity a candle to thee, by which thou mightst see him; that, if thou wert not so puffed up before, as that thou forgotst to say, Dominus dedit, It was the Lord that gave all, thou shouldst not be so dejected, so rebellious now, as not to say Dominus tulit, It is the Lord that hath taken, and committed to some better steward, those treasures of his, which he saw, thou dost employ to thine owne danger.
Yea, if those spirituall afflictions, which reach to the understanding, and are intimated and involved in this word,Lam. 1. 19. in this name of God, doe fall upon us, That we call for our lovers, and they deceive us (as we told you, the word did signifie deceit) that is, we come to see how much we mistooke the matter, when we fell in love with wordly things, (as certainely, once in our lives, though it be but upon our Death beds, we doe come to discover that deceit) yea, when the deceit is so spirituall, as that it reaches not onelyonly to the understanding, but to the Conscience, that that have been deceived either with security at one time, or with anxieties, and unnecessary scruples, and impertinent perplexities at another; if this spirituall deceit have gone so high, as that wee came to thinke our selves to be amongst them,Ier. 4. 10. of whom the prophet sayes, Ah Lord God, surely thou hast deceived thy people, and Ierusalem, that we come to suspect, that God hath misled us in a false religion all this while, and that there is a better then this, if we would looke to it; if God to punish our negligence,Ier. 5. 31. Hose. 9. 7. and surfet of his word, should suffer the prophet to prophecy lyes, That the prophet should be a foole, and the spirituall man mad, (that is, as Saint Hierom reads that place, Arreptitius, possessed, possessed with the spirit of ambition, and flattery, and temporizing, to preach to their appetites, who governe the times, and not to his instructions, who sent them to preach) yea, where this word is carried the highest of all, that this word, which is the name of God, is used for the Devill, (as we noted before,Lam. 2. 2. out of the Psalmes) That Satan was let loose, and polluted the kingdome, and the princes thereof, with false worships, yet to what height to ever, this violence, or this deceit, or this tentation should come, God comes with it; and, with God, there is strength and wisdome, He discerns our Distresses, and is able to succour us in them;Iob 12. 16. And, (as it is added there) He that is deceived, and he that deceives are his; The deceiver is his, because he catcheth the crafty in their owne nets, and the deceived are his, that he may rectifie and unbeguile them. So then the children of God, are the Marble, and the Ivory, upon which he workes; In them his purpose is, to re-engrave, and restore his Image; and affliction, and the malignity of man, and the deceits of Heretiques, and the tentations of the Devill him selfe, are but his instruments, his tools, to make his Image more discernible, and more dnrable in us. Iob will speake to God, hee will dispute with God, he will trust in God, therefore, because he is Shaddai, because neither dishonor, nor Devastation, of fortune, or understanding, or Conscience, by deceit of treacherous friends, by backsliding of false teachers, by illusion of the Devill himselfe, can be presented him, but the name and power of God accompanies that calamity, and he sees that they came from God, and therefore he should be patient in them, and how impatient so ever he be, he sees he must beare them, because they came from him.
But Iob hath another hold too, another assurance, for his Confidence in God, from this name Shaddai; It is not onelyonly because all Calamity comes from him, and therefore should be borne, or therefore must be borne; but all Restitution, all Reparation of temporall, or spirituall detriment, is included in that name too, for Shaddai is Omnipotens, Almighty, He can do all things; And the consolation is brought nearer then so, in one place, it is Omnia faciens, That, not onelyonly for the future he can, Iob. 8. 3.but for the present, he does study, and he does accomplish my good; even then, when his hand is upon me, in a calamity, his hand is under me, to raise me up againe; as he that flings a ball to the ground, or to a wall, intends in that action, that that ball should returne back, so even now, when God does throw me down, it is the way that he hath chosen to returne me to himselfe. Since therefore this name Shaddai assured Iob, that all which we call Good; and all which we call Evill, that is, prosperity, and adversity, proceed from God; that God (who in the signification of this name) is able to shatter, and scatter, to devastate and depopulate, not onelyonly our estate, but our Conscience, in an instant, with the horror of his Iudgements; and then is able to binde up, and consolidate all this againe, with his temporall, and spirituall Comforts, since he can destroy in an instant that Temple, which was so long in building, that is, overthrow that fortune, which employed the industry of man, the favor of princes, and the ruine and supplantations of other men, for many yeares, to the making thereof, and then can raise this ruin'd Temple, this overthrowne man, in three dayes, or hours, or minutes, as it pleaseth him, to measure his owne purposes since good and bad, peace and anguish, life and death proceed from him, who is Shaddai, the Almighty God, Iob had good reasons, to trust in him, in that God, though hee, that God, should kill him; which Emphaticall, and applyable significations of the name, hath occasion'd me (though it be obvious and present to every apprehension, that God is the person, who in this text, is to be relied upon) to insist upon this, as a particular part of branch; And so we passe to that, which we proposed for a second branch, from the person, (God, and God in this notion, Shaddai, Almighty) to the respect, which he promises, Trust, Though hee kill me, yet will I trust in him.
It is a higher degree of Reverence and Confidence,Quid. to trust in one, then to trust one. we see it so expressed in the Articles of our Creed; Credimus in Deum, we beleeve in God, and in Christ, and in the Holy Ghost; And then Credimus Ecclesiam Catholicam, we beleeve the Catholique Church. We will beleeve a honest man, that he will doe as he sayes, we beleeve God much more, that he will performe his promises; we will trust God, that he will doe as he sayes; But then, Iob will trust in God, That though God have not spoken to his soule as yet, though he have not interessed him in his promises, and in his Covenant, (for Iob is not conceived to be within the Covenant made by God to his people) yet he will trust in him, that in his due time, he will visit him, and will apply him those mercies, and those means, which no man, that had interest in them, can doubt, or distrust. And therefore Iob professes his trust in God, in that word, which hath in the use thereof in Scriptures, ordinarily three acceptations; The word is Iakal, and Iakal signifies Expectavit Deum, foreignhis eye, his expectation was upon nothing but God; And then it signifies speravit, he Hoped for him, As he looked for nothing else, so he doubted not of him; And then it is Moratus est, As he was sure of him, so he prescribed him not a time, but humbly attended his Ieasure, and received his temporall, or spirituall blessings thankefully, whensoever it should be his pleasure to afford them.
First then,Expectavit. Expectavit, He trusted in him, that is, he trusted in nothing but him. For, beloved, as we have in the Schooles, a short and a round way, to prove that the world was made of nothing, which is, onelyonly to aske that man, who will need deny the world to be made of nothing, of what it was made; and, if he could find a preexistent matter, of which he thought the world was made, yet we must aske him againe, of what, that preexistent matter was made, and so upwards stil, till at last it must necessarily come to nothing: so we must aske that man, that will not be of Iobs mind, to trust in God, in what he would trust; would he trust in his riches? who shall preserve them to him? The Law? Then he trusts in the Law. But who shall preserve the Law? The King? Then his trust is in him. And who shall preserve him? Almighty God; and therefore his trust must be at last in him.Deut. 14. To what nation is their God come so near to them as the Lord our God is come neare unto us? what nation hath laws, and ordinances, so righteous as we have? Moses sayd this historically of the Iew, and prophetically of us; Tis true, we are governed by a peaceable, and a just law; Moses his prophecy is fulfilled upon us, and so is Esays too,49. 23. Reges nutricii, Kings shall be thy nursing fathers; It is true to us, The law is preserved to us, by a just, and a peacefull prince; but how often have the sinnes of the people, and their unthankfulnesse especially, induc'd new laws, and new princes? The prince, and the law, are the two most reverend, and most safe things, that man can rely upon; but yet (in other nations at least) sacred, and secular story declares, that for the iniquity of the people the law hath been perverted by princes, and for the sinne of the people, the prince hath been subverted by God. Howsoever there may be some collaterall, and transitory trust in by things, the radicall, the fundamentall trust, is onelyonly in God.
Iob trusted in him, that is, in nothing but him: but then, speravit, Speravit.he hoped for something at his hands; none can give but God; but God will give to none that doe not hope for it, and that doe not expresse their hope, by asking, by prayer; God scatters not his blessings, as Princes doe money, in Donatives at Coronations or Triumphes, without respect upon whom they shall fall. God rained downe Manna and Quailes, plentifully, abundantly; but he knew to what hand every bird, and every graine belonged. To trust in nothing else, is but halfe way; it is but a stupid neglecting of all; It is an ill affection to say, I look for nothing at the worlds hands, nor at Gods neither. God onelyonly hath all, and God hath made us capable of all his gifts; and therefore we must neither hope for them, any where else, nor give over our hope of them, from him, by intermitting our prayers, or our industry in a lawfull calling; for we are bound to suck at those breasts which God puts out to us, and to draw at those springs, which flow from him to us; and prayer, and industry, are these breasts, and these springs; and whatsoever we have by them, we have from him. Expectavit, Iob trusted not in the meanes, as in the fountaine, but yet speravit, he doubted not, but God, who is the fountaine, would, by those meanes, derive his blessings, temporall and spirituall, upon him.
Hee Hoped; now Hope is onelyonly, or principally of invisible things, for Hope that is seen,Rom. 8. 24. is not hope, says the Apostle. And therefore, though we may hope for temporall things, for health, wealth, strength, and liberty, and victory where Gods enemies oppresse the Church, and for execution of laws, where Gods enemies undermine the Church; (for, whatsoever we may pray for, we may hope for, and all those temporall blessings are prayed for, by Christs appointment, in that petition, Give us this day our daily bread) yet our Hope is principally directed upon the invisible part, and invisible office of those visible and temporall things; which is, that by them, we may be the better able to performe religious duties to God, and duties of assistance to the world. When I expect a friend, I may go up to a window, and wish I might see a Coach; or up to a Cliffe, and wish I might see a ship, but it is because I hope, that that friend is in that Coach, or that ship: so I wish, and pray, and labour for temporall things… because I hope that my soule shall be edified, and my salvation established, and God glorified by my having them: And therefore every Christian hope being especially upon spirituall things, is properly, and purposely grounded, upon these stones; that it be spes veniae, a hope of pardon, for that which is past, and then spes gratiae, a hope of Grace, to establish me in that state with God, in which, his pardon hath placed mee, and lastly spes gloriae, a hope that this pardon, and this grace, shall lead me to that everlasting glory, which shall admit no night, no eclipse, no cloud.
First, for the first object of this hope, pardon, we are to consider sinne, in two aspects, Spes veniae.two apprehensions; as sinne is an injury, a treason; yea a wound to God; And then as sinne is a Calamity, a misery fallen inevitably upon man. Consider it the first way, and there is no hope of pardon, Nectalem Deum tuum putes, qualis nec tu debes esse, is excellently said by Saint Augustine: never imagine any other quality to be in Christ, then such, as thou, as a Christian, art bound to have in thy selfe. And, if a Snake have stung me, must I take up that Snake, and put it into my bosome? If so poore a snake, so poore a worme as I, have stung my Maker, have crucified my Redeemer, shall he therefore, therefore take me into his bosome, into his wounds, and save me, and glorifie me? No, if I look upon sinne, in that line, in that angle, as it is a wound to God, I shall come to that of Cain, Major iniquitas, my sinne is greater, then can be forgiven, and to that of Iudas, Peccavi tradens, I have sinned in betraying the innocent bloud, that is, in Crucifying him againe, who was crucified for me, in betraying his righteous bloud, as much, by my unworthy receiving, as Iudas did, in an unjust delivering of it. But if I look upon sinne, as sinne is now, the misery and calamity of man, the greater the misery appears, the more hope of pardon I have; Abyssus Abyssum, Psal. 42. 7.as David speakes, One Depth calls upon another; Infinite sinnes call for infinite mercy; and where sinne did abound, grace, and mercy shall much more. First David presents the greatnesse of his sinnes, and then followes the Miserere mei, have mercy upon me, according to the greatnesse of thy mercy. Is there any little mercy in God? Is not all his mercy infinite, that pardons a sinne done against an infinite majesty? yes; but herein the greatnesse appeares to us, that it delivers us from a great calamity. Quia infirmus, Because I am weake, (borne weake, and subject to continuall infirmities) Quia oss a conturbata, Because my bones are troubled, (my best repentances, and resolutions are shaked) Quia vexata anima, because my soule is in anguish, when after such resolutions, and repentances; and vowes, I relapse into those sinnes, these miseries of his, were Davids inducements why God should pardon him, because it is thus with me, have mercy upon me. And so God himselfe seemes to have had a diverse, a two-fold apprehension of our sinnes, when he says,Gen. 6. 5. that because all the imaginations of the thoughts of mans heart, were onelyonly evill continually, therefore he would spare none, 8, 21.he would destroy all, and after he says, that because the imaginations of the thoughts of mans heart, were evill from his youth, he would no more smite all things living, as he had done; for sinne, he would destroy them, and yet for sinne, he would spare them: when we examine our sinnes, and finde them to be out of infirmity, and not out of rebellion, we may conclude Gods corrections, to be by way of Medicin, and not of poyson, to be for our amendment, and not for our annihilation, and in that case, there is spes veniae, just hope of pardon.
Another degree of hope is, spes gratiae, Spes Gratiae. Rom. 5. 10.hope of subsequent grace; for, as Saint Paul builds his argument, If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, by the death of his Sonne, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life: in like manner, every sinner may build his trust, and hope in God, He that hath pardoned us, the sinnes we have done, will much more assist us with his grace, that we may be able to stand in that state with him, to which he hath brought us. He that succoured us, when there was nothing in us, but his enemies, will much more send new supplies, when the town is held for him, and by his friends. And this hope of pardon, for that which is past, and of grace for the present, Spes Gloriae.continues to the hope of glory to come: of which glory we apprehend strong and effectuall beames here, by conforming our selves, to that Gospell, which the Apostle calls the glorious Gospell of the blessed God; and for the consummation of this glory,1 Tim. 1. 11. we doe with patience abide for it,Rom. 8. 25. says the Apostle: which is the last of those three senses, in which we noted, this word, in which Iob expresses his trust in God, to be used in the Scriptures, Iakal, moratus est; he did trust in nothing else, did trust in him, and then, he staied his leasure.
Iacob makes a solemne prayer to God,Moratus est. in Genesis, 32. O God of my Fathers, Abraham, and Isaac, then he remembers God of his promise, (Thou saydst unto me returne, and I will doe thee good) he tells him his danger, (I feare my brother Esau, will come and smite me) he makes his petition, (Deliver me from the hand of my brother) And yet, for all this, though he trusted in God, yet God infuses not that confidence into him, as to goe on: He sent his present to his brother, but himselfe tarried there all night, says the text. Yea, God was so far, from giving him present meanes of deliverance, that he made him worse able to deliver himselfe, he wrastled with him, and lam'd him: but after all, in Gods appointed time, he and his brother were reconciled. If thou pray to Almighty God, in temporall, in spirituall calamities, if God doe not presently enlighten thine understanding in every controversie of Religion, in every scruple of Conscience, if he doe not rectifie thine estate, when it is decayed, thy reputation, when thou art reproached, yea if he wrastle with thee, and lame thee, that is, bring all to a greater impotency, and improbability of amendment then before, yet thou hast thy Rule from Iob, thou hast thy example from Iacob, that to trust in God, is not onelyonly to trust in nothing else, nor onelyonly to hope particularly, for pardon, for grace, for glory from him, but it is to stay his leasure, for the outward, and inward seales of all his mercies, and his benefits, which he shall, in his time, bestow upon thee. The ambitious man must stay, till he, whose office he expects, be dead: the Covetous man must stay, till the six moneths be run, before his use come in. Though thou have a religious ambition, a holy covetousnesse even at Gods graces,Psal. 119. 131. thou must stay his time. Os aperui, & attraxi, says David, I opened my mouth, and panted, because I loved thy Commandements; He loved them, and he longed for them, yet he had not presently a full satisfaction. Domine labia mea aperies, says he also first it must be the Lord that must open our lippes, in all our petitions; It must not be the anguish of the calamity onelyonly, nor the desire of that which thou prayest for onelyonly, that must open thy lippes, but the Lord, that is, the glory of God: when the Lord hath opened thy lips in a rectified prayer,Psal: 145. 16. then followes the Aperuit manus, the eyes of all things waite upon him, & he gives them their meate in due season; he opens his hand, & filles every living thing, at his good pleasure: Here's plentifull opening, and filling, and filling every thing, but still in due season, & that due season expressed, At his pleasure: for, as that is the Nature of every thing, which God hath imprinted in it,Augustin. so that is the season of every thing, which God hath appointed for it. Thou wouldest not pray for harvest at Christmas; seek not unseasonable comforts, out of Musique, or Comedies, or Conversation, or Wine in thy distresses, but seek it at the hand of God, and stay his leasure, for else thou doest not trust in him.
We have now passed over all those branches,2 Part. which constituted our first part, that which we called Propositum, what is the purpose and resolution of a godly man, in Iob: that he would not scatter his thoughts in trusting upon Creatures, and yet he would not suffer his thoughts to vanish and evaporate, he would rest them upon something, and not leave all to fortune, he would rest upon God, and yet stay his time for the execution of his gracious purposes. There remaines yet, that which we called praepositum, in which we intended, the foundation, and ground of that purpose and resolution; which seems in Iob, to have been, a debatement in himselfe, a contemplation of all dangers, the worst was death, and yet, Si occiderit, if I dye for it, and dye at his hands, Though he kill me, yes will I trust in him. For when the children of God take that resolution, to suffer any affliction, which God shall lay upon them, patiently, and cheerfully, it must not be a sodaine, a rash, an undebated resolution, but they must consider why they undertake it, and in whose strength, they shall be able to doe it: They must consider what they have done for God, before they promise themselves the glory of suffering for him. When they which enterprised the building of Babel, Gen. 11.did no more but say to one another, Come let us make bricke, go to, let us build a towre, whose top may reach to heaven, how quickly they were scattered over the earth? The way is,Luke 14. 28. if you minde to build, to sit downe and count the cost; if you purpose to suffer for Christ, to look to your stock, your strength, and from whence it comes. The King that intends a war, in that Gospell, takes counsaile, whether he be able with his tenne thousand to meet the enemy with twenty thousand. We are too weake for our enemy; the world, the flesh, and the Devill, are mustered against us; but yet, with our ten thousand, we may meet their twenty thousand, if we have put on Christ, and be armed with him, and his holy patience, and constancy; but from whom may we derive an assurance, that we shall have that armor, that patience, that constancy? First, a Christian must purpose to Doe, and then in cases of necessity, to suffer: And give me leave to make this short note by the way, no man shall suffer like a Christian, that hath done nothing like a Christian: God shall thanke no man, for dying for him, and his glory, that contributed nothing to his glory, in the actions of his life: very hardly shall that man be a Martyr in a persecution, that did not what he could, to keep off persecution.
Thus then Iob comes first, to the Si occiderit; If he should kill me; If Gods anger should proceed so far, as so far, it may proceed. Let no man say in a sicknesse, or in any temporall calamity, this is the worst; for a worse thing then that may fall: five and thirty years sicknesse may fall upon thee; and, (as it is in that Gospell) a worse thing then that; Distraction, and desperation may fall upon thee: let no Church, no State, in any distress say, this is the worst, for onelyonly God knowes, what is the worst, that God can doe to us. Iob does not deny here, but that this Si occiderit, if it come to a matter of life, it were another manner of triall, then either the si irruerent Sabaei, if the Sabaeans should come, and drive his Cattell, and slay his servants; more, then the si ignis caderet; if the fire of God should fall from heaven, and devoute all; more, then the si ventus concuteret, if the winde of the wildernesse, should shake downe his house, and kill and all his children. The Devill in his malice saw, that if it came to matter of life, Iob was like enough to be shaked in his faith; Skin for skin, and all that ever a man hath will he give for his life. God foresaw that, in his gracious providence too; and therefore he took that clause out of Satans Commission, and inserted his veruntamen animam ejus servae, medle not with his life. The love of this life, which is naturall to us, and imprinted by God in us, is not sinfull: Few and evill have the days of my pilgrimage been, says lacob to Pharaeoh: though they had been evill, (which makes our days seem long) and though he were no young man, when he said so, yet the days which he had past, he thought few, and desired more. When Eliah was fled into the wildernesse, and that in passion, and vehemence he said to God, Sufficit Domine, tolle animam meam, It is enough O Lord, now take away my life, if he had been heartily, thoroughly weary of his life, he needed not to have fled from Iesabel, for he fled but to save his life. The Apostle had a Cupie dissolvi, a desire to be dissolved; but yet a love to his brethren corrected that desire, and made him finde that it was far better for him to live. Our Saviour himselfe, when it came to the pinch, and to the agony, had a Transeat Calix, a naturall declining of death. The naturall love of our naturall life is not ill: It is ill, in many cases, not to love this life: to expose it to unnecessary dangers, is alwayes ill; and there are overtures to as great sinnes, in hating this life, as in loving it; and therefore Iobs first consideration is, si occideret, if he should kill me, if I thought he would kill me, this were enough to put me from trusting in any.
But Iobs consideration went farther, then to the si occideret, Though he should kill me, for it comes to an absolute assurance that God will kill him; for so it is in the Originall, Ecce occidet, Behold, I see he will kill me; I have, I can have no hope of life, at his hands. Tis all our cases; Adam might have liv'd, if he would, but I cannot. God hath placed an Ecce, a marke of my death, upon every thing living, that I can set mine eye upon; every thing is a remembrancer, every thing is a Judge upon me, and pronounces,Heb. 9. 27. I must dye. The whole frame of the world is mortall, Heaven and Earth passe away: and upon us all, there is an irrecoverable Decree past, statutum est, It is appointed to all men, that they shall once dye. But when? quickly; If thou looke up into the aire,Iob 7. 7. remember that thy life is but a winde; Iam. 4. 14.If thou see a cloud in the aire, aske St. Iames his question, what is your life? and give St. Iames his answer, It is a vapour that appeareth and vanisheth away. If thou behold a Tree, then Iob gives thee a comparison of thy selfe; A Tree is an embleme of thy selfe; nay a Tree is the originall, thou art but the copy, Iob 14. 7.thou art not so good as it: for, There is hope of a tree (as you reade there) if the roote wax old, if the stock be dead, if it be cut down, yet by the sent of the waters, it will bud, but man is sick, and dyeth, and where is he? he shall not wake againe, till heaven be no more. Looke upon the water, and we are as that, and as that spilt upon the ground: Looke to the earth, and we are not like that, but we are earth it self: At our Tables we feed upon the dead, and in the Temple we tread upon the dead: and when we meet in a Church, God hath made many echoes, many testimonies of our death, in the walls, and in the windowes, and he onelyonly knowes, whether he will not make another testimony of our mortality, of the youngest amongst us, before we part, and make the very place of our buriall, our deathbed. Iobs contemplation went so far; not onelyonly to a Si occideret, to a possibility that he might dye, but to an Ecce occidet, to an assurance that he must dye; I know there is an infalliblenesse in the Decree, an inevitablenesse in nature, an inexorablenesse in God, I must dye. And the word beares a third interpretation beyond this; for si occiderit, is not onelyonly, if he should kill me, as he ma…, if he will, and it may be he will; nor onelyonly, that I am sure he will kill me, I know I must dye, but the word may very well be also, though he have killed me. So that Iobs resolution that he will trust in God, is grounded upon all these considerations, That there is exercise of our hope in God, before death, in the agony of death, and after death. First, in our good dayes, and in the time of health, Memorare novissima, sayes the wise man, we must remember our end, our death. But that we cannot forget, every thing presents that to us; But his counsell there, is, in omnibus operibus, In all thine undertakings, in all thine actions, remember thine end; when thou art in any worldly work, for advancing thy state, remember thy naturall death, but especially when thou art in a sinfull worke, for satisfying thy lusts, remember thy spirituall death: Be afraid of this death,Psal. 120. 5. and thou wilt never feare the other: Thou wilt rather sigh with David, My soule hath too long dwelt with him that hateth peace: Thou wilt be glad when a bodily death may deliver thee from all farther danger of a spirituall death: And thou wilt be ashamed of that imputation, which is layd upon worldly men, by St. Cyprian, Ad nostros navigamus, & ventos contrarios optamus, we pretend to be sayling homewards, and yet we desire to have the winde against us; we are travelling to the heavenly Ierusalem, and yet we are loath to come thither. Here then is the use of our hope before death, that this life shall be a gallery into a better roome, and deliver us over to a better Country: for,1. Cor. 15. 19. if in this life onelyonly we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most miserable.
Secondly, in the agony of death; when the Sessions are come, and that as a prisoner may looke from that Tower, and see the Judge that must condemne him to morrow, come in to night; so we lye upon our death-bed, and apprehend a present judgement to be given upon us, when, if we will not pleade to the Indictment, if we will stand mute, and have nothing to say to God, we are condemned already, condemned in our silence; and if we do plead, we have no plea, but guilty; nothing to say, but to confesse all the Indictment against our selves; when the flesh is too weake, as that it can performe no office, and yet would faine stay here, when the soule is laden with more sins then she can bear, and yet would faine contract more; in this agony, there is this use of our hope, that as God shall then, when our bodily eares are deaf, whisper to our soules, and say, Memento homo, Remember, consider man, that thou art but dust, and art now returning into dust, so we, in our hearts, when our bodily tongues are speechlesse, may then say to God, as it is in Iob,10. Memento quaeso, Remember thou also, I beseech thee, O God, that it is thou that hast made me as clay, and that it is thou that bringest me to that state againe; and therefore come thou, and looke to thine owne worke; come and let thy servant depart in peace, in having seen his salvation. My hope before death is, that this life is the way; my hope at death is, that my death shall be a doore into a better state.
Lastly, the use of our hope, is after death, that God by his promise, hath made himself my debter, till he restore my body to me againe, in the resurrection: My body hath sinned, and he hath not redeemed a sinner, he hath not saved a sinner, except he have redeemed and saved my body, as well as my soule. To those soules that lye under the Altar, and solicite God, for the resurrection, in the Revelation, God sayes,6. 11. That they should rest for a little season, untill their fellow-servants, and their brethren, that should be killed, even as they were, were fulfilled. All that while, while that number is fulfilling, is our hopes exercised after our death. And therefore the bodies of the Saints of God, which have been Temples of the Holy Ghost, when the soule is gone out of them, are not to be neglected, as a sheath that had lost the knife, as a shell that had spent the kernell; but as the Godhead did not depart from the dead body of Christ Jesus, then when that body lay dead in the grave, so the power of God, and the merit of Christ Jesus, doth not depart from the body of man, but his blood lives in our ashes, and shall in his appointed time, awaken this body againe, to an everlasting glory.
Since therefore Iob had, and we have this assurance before we dye, when we dye, after we are dead, it is upon good reason, that he did, and we do trust in God, though he should kill us, when he doth kill us, after he hath killed us. Especially since it is Ille, He who is spoken of before,Deut. 32. 39. he that kills, and gives life, he that wounds, and makes whole againe. God executes by what way it pleases him; condemned persons cannot chuse the manner of their death; whether God kill by sicknesse, by age, by the hand of the law, by the malice of man, si ille, as long as we can see that it is he, he that is Shaddai, Vastator, & Restaurator, the destroyer, and the repairer, howsoever he kill, yet he gives life too, howsoever he wound, yet he heales too, howsoever he lock us into our graves now, yet he hath the keys of hell, and death, and shall in his time, extend that voyce to us all, Lazare veni for as, come forth of your putrefaction, to incorruptible glory. Amen.