Gods Sovereignty Displayed from Job 9:12, Treatise 1 · Chapter 1
CHAP. I.
FOr the Author of this Book, whether it were Moſes, as the Jewiſh Rabbins think, or Job himſelf, it mattereth not; we being aſſured that the Penman thereof (as of all holy Scriptures) was inſpired from above, and it came not by private motion, but the Author thereof ſpake and wrote as he was moved by the Holy Ghoſt; as S. Peter tells us, 2 Pet. 1.20, 21. yea, all the Authors of the Scriptures being as Juſtin Martyr teſtifies,Juſtin Martyr. like Lutes ready ſtrung, though not ſounding till they were ſtruck by the Finger of God: It is of no great conſequence who wrote it,Hierom. Lyra. as what is written in it. Hierom who (as Lyra teſtifieth) twice tranſlated it, once out of Greek into Latin, and out of Hebrew alſo into Latin, ſaith, that it was for the moſt part written in Hebrew Hexameter verſe: All do number it among the Poetical Books: It may ſeem a Tragedy in regard of thoſe many miſeries that Job endured, but at length it turned to a Comedy, by the happy iſſue and bleſſed deliverance that God giveth to him.
In the words of my Text Job acknowledgeth the Soveraignty, Power, and Righteouſneſs of God in all his dealings with, and Diſpenſations toward men. The word [Behold] is a note of attention, like the ſounding of a Trumpet before a Proclamation, or the ringing out of a great Bell before a Sermon, and it ſignifies ſome matter of worth, of admiration and obſervation. In the matter it ſelf ye may obſerve Gods diſpenſations toward men: Gods Diſpenſation is expreſſed in the Original in one word, he taketh away. One Expoſitor ſaith, he ſnatcheth away ſuddenly, of which kind of Diſpenſation, Job himſelf had great and ſad experience, four perſons one after another being ſad Meſſengers of four ſad and ſudden ſtrokes, Job 1.
Then their condition and carriage under Gods Diſpenſation is to be obſerved, wherein two things are to be noted.
1. It cannot be reſiſted: whatſoever he pleaſeth, he taketh away; who can hinder him, or cauſe him to reſtore? None can reſcue, or recover out of his hand.
2. It ought not to be controuled: Who will ſay unto him, what doſt thou? Who may in thought or word queſtion or call him to account for any of his Diſpenſations?