Chapter III
In which it is proved, from the instances of conversion in the time of Job, long
before Christ came, from the instance of the apostle PauVs conversion, after Christ s coming in the flesh, that a converted soul must be convinced of sin,
be humbled for it, and believe on Christ for righteousness and salvation.
Set narrations of solemn conversions are rarely found in the Old Testa ment among the Jews. We read not how or by what means Isaac, or
Jacob, or Moses, or David, were wrought upon, and turned unto God ; but
here, among the records of those that were not of that genealogy, or of the Jewish line, and so not members of that church, and yet circumcised, and
retaining the profession of the true God, being Esau s seed, we find in a book of greatest antiquity, a lively description thereof, taken from the expe rimental observations of Elihu. He spreads them afore Job (chap, xxxiii.) for his encouragement and hopes of mercy from God, notwithstanding his
great sinfulness, which Elihu had charged him withal, in the former chap ters ; or maugre those deep afflictions God had visited him withal in his
body, his mind, and outward condition. It hath rejoiced me to have met with so ancient footsteps of the same doctrine, of ways, and means, and
operations in conversions so long ago, to have been for substance much one and the same, as under the gospel we have seen, and is frequently exem
plified in these last days.
The means Elihu relates to have been several dispensations of God ; as
by awakenings and inspirations, in dreams and visions in the night, which
then, when the word was not put into writing, but conveyed either bv tra
dition or immediate revelation, was more ordinary in those times. And with this means he therefore begins
* In a dream, in a
: Job xxxiii. 15-17,
vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed ; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. He instanceth likewise in God s visiting men with great and sore sick ness unto death s door ; and when humbled thereby, and not knowing what to do to be saved, he sends a messenger to open and make known God s mind to them, to shew and instruct such a one in the right way of
salvation. This you may see in ver. 19 unto ver. 27. And a seasonable word coming upon apprehensions of death, God often, bo.th then as now, blesseth wonderfully, to work upon men savingly. And Elihu shuts up these instances (which are but a few of many, and instead of all the rest he might have produced) with this conclusion, ver. 28, 29,
* Lo, all these
things, that is, both these and divers other ways and means, which he names not, doth God work by ; as also all these operations by those several means doth God work. Ere I draw forth the particulars of these workings of God with this sick man, I premise two generals.
1. That these instances do set forth the workings of saving conversion unto God ; both initial at first, or renewed conversions after great sinnings ;
yet initial especially, and most directly, as the circumstances instanced in do carry it. Although in the intended or useful aims in them to Job (who was converted already), they are directed as a prescript for him to take
CHAP. III.] IN OUR SALVATION. 367
the same course that new converts are said here to do, to be restored to
the favour of God again, by the same ways which new converts are at first admitted into. And, indeed, initial conversion, and renewed, come all to one in the substantial operations of either : All these things God works
in all and every convert, whether at first, or after in repeated repentances ; the operations are the same in both ; like as in the original draught of a
picture, the first drawing gives all the substantial lineaments, and the after-
draughts go but over the same rudiments, in additions more to the life. And
that such an original draught is intended principally, is evident from the
series of Elihu s discourse ; in that from the instances he draws this con
clusion from the premises, viz., a gracious invitation made to all, or any man ; and an encouragement given them in like manner to come in, and turn to God, with promises of like grace and mercy ; and that he plainly infers this is a corollary brought of, and deduced from the example of
this sick man s conversion ; and that the grace that God had manifested
in saving him, should be shewn to any other convert, is apparent in those
words, ver. 27, 28, He (that is, God) looketh upon men, and if any
say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me
not, he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.
This is a general proposition which concerns the sons of men; so involves those that never as yet had been wrought upon, as well as those that had been ; Elihu declaring that God would in like manner upon faith and
repentance be gracious to them ; to deliver his soul from going into the
pit. And the argument or encouragement, from the conversions of men
unregenerate afore, must needs have more force and persuasive power in it, to prevail with others that are still such. For it is not only the same case, but if the same instance had only intended men actually wrought upon
already, the encouragement and hopes given had been capable of this grand
exception, that those that had been in grace already, and had a seed of God
still abiding in them, would be easily received into God s favour, and grace renewed in him ; as a charcoal that hath been dried will easily take fire.
Oh, but an unregenerate soul might say, I who have lived all my days in such a condition of sinning, and have provoked God with so long continued a course of sins, without any the least spark of good in me, how shall I
hope to have it begun, and my person to be renewed ? But when he shall hear of so great and so long hardened sinners, who have been converted, and that God hath been gracious to them, as if they had never sinned
against him ; and not only so, but that they have been admitted into his
presence, and seen his face with joy (and such sinners as have utterly been strangers to God, do need the highest inducements, and widest door
of hope set open to them) ; such an example as this must needs be wonder
fully inviting, and give abundant hope to them. For the condition of these
is just the same with their own. Yea, the sick man instanced in seems, by his manner of speech, to be one who had hitherto been ignorant of the way of salvation until then. That providentially some messenger, and he one
of a thousand, doth shew and discover to him that uprightness and way whereby men must be saved, as good news to him, which he knew not of
till then : If there be with him an interpreter to shew to man his upright ness. And any intelligent soul, that knows what it is to be converted, will be ready to acknowledge by descrying, upon view of them, several of the most eminent lines and lineaments of such a work drawn in this dark
ancient piece ; as, namely, in general it is described to be an efficacious
368 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VIII.
* working, signified by the phrase of opening the ear, in the Old Testa ment : Isa. 1. 5, The Lord God hath opened my ear, and I was not
rebellious, neither turned away my back.
In the New Testament it is an opening the heart, as Lydia s, to attend
to the things delivered ; as likewise by a
* sealing of the instruction given,
ver. 16, impressing them as effectually on the soul, as the seal doth on the wax the image engraven on it, so as finally they resist not, but become
obedient thereunto, ver. 16. But particularly, 1. God worketh so as to
* hides
* withdraw a man from his former purpose of going on in sin, and
pride from man, by convincing him of his sins and sinful estate, and thereby
breaking the staff of pride of a man s spirit, in the sense of his sinful and woeful condition, in the ignorance of which he had stoutly gone on in
the height and pride of carnal excellencies, but now is emptied of them all, and of that his conceited righteousness he was opinionated o/ in his
former estate, and brought low (as James s word is), humbled to the
dust in the sight of his sin and misery he lies in, and thereby, 2. the soul is
wrought on, for its receiving and accepting by faith Christ s righteousness and ransom, or redemption, which was to be given him out of the free
grace of God : ver. 24, Then he is gracious, and saith, Deliver him from
: I have found a ransom ; which righteousness is
going down into the pit
the principal part of that blessed message, which that messenger or inter
preter from God brings him then, when, 3, he closeth with and betakes
himself wholly unto that, for his alone righteousness, found and provided by God for him ; he also, 4, is brought in, and represented to have prayed and supplicated God for the obtaining of these, prayer being the first
fruits of faith ; and, 5, the consequent of that is, God s gracious accepta
* seeing God s face with joy, as the words of the 23d, 24th, and
tion, and
26th verses manifestly shew : If there be a messenger with him, an inter
preter, one of a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness
: then he is
gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit : I
have found a ransom. He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable
unto him : and he shall see his face with joy ; 6, He withal confessing and forsaking his sin, and pursuing after that uprightness of holiness in
heart and life, which is the other part of that message the interpreter makes known unto him. It involveth also the renewed conversion of a man that
is declined, and hath grievously sinned, and heinously perverted that which
is right, whom God recovers and brings to himself again by some great
affliction, by which the Spirit works conviction of his sin, and reneweth
faith on the Messiah s righteousness. Whereupon God restores him to his
former comforts out of his graciousness, through the redemption of the Messiah ; and from the instance of such an one brought so low, and by
this means so raised again, Elihu (who directs all this personally to Job in
his condition) would give him ground of hopes of grace and mercy from God under this deplorable affliction that he was in.* And thus in this
parable here, Elihu, collide (as Sanctius s word is), presents himself as a
messenger from God, directing Job to the only true means whereby God is
pacified, viz., the Messiah s ransom and righteousness, and the right course
he was to take to recover the favour of God, and remove that evil that lay upon him ; namely, by having recourse to that ransom of the Messiah, and
free grace of God by faith, both which he points unto, ver. 24, joined with
repentance, in confession of sin, and turning from it, as ver. 27. Both or either of these serve to this scope, but eminently the first, viz.,
* See the Dutch Annotators.
CHAP. III.] IN OUK SALVATION. 369
the conversion of one unregenerate, as being the greater example of mercy and grace, which might give the more abundant hopes to Job in this his
case, who had long been savingly himself wrought upon, though, as Elihu
thought, greatly fallen into sin ; the recovery of a believer fallen but as the renewal of friendship of one who had long been in friendship with another, whom he had unworthily provoked. But the other is as the first begin
ing of friendship of one that had continued an utter enemy all his days
till now.
2. The second premise is this general rule, for the understanding the
workings upon this sick convert his heart (which example I make my spe cial centre of the particulars that follow, drawing all the lines thereto) ; look, what in other parts of this discourse he makes to be the inward workings upon him, he mentions afore to have been wrought upon, ver. 15-17, the same must be taken in and attributed unto this sick man s conversion also, and he to have had the same inward operations in his soul also which that other by dreams had. And the reason is clear ; for although the outward means God used was differing, as a dream or a vision to the first, and a
great sickness, &c., to this other, yet conversion from sin being said to be the effect that was wrought thereby, this is common to either, as to any true convert else in the world. And therefore, when it is said, ver. 26, Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, it is to be conceived that this sick man, when humbled by his sickness and appre hensions of death, and that a messenger from God had further instructed and informed him,
* that then God also opened this man s ear, and sealed up in his heart effectually those instructions that messenger had delivered
to him, he did hear and obey ; and therefore it is said, ver. 24, Then God
is gracious to him also. These were but differing ways, and instruments, and occasions of working, but the effect the same in both ; so whsn, in
ver. 17, he declares God s end to be that he may withdraw man from his
purpose, and hide pride from man ; that is, to turn a man from his sin
ful way and course of life he was resolved to have persisted in ; this must
in like manner be supposed to have been the end and effectual issue in this sick man s case, for this is common to all converts. When, likewise, he
further adds in the same verse, and hide pride from man ; that is, to work pride out of his heart, to bury it (as Calvin s word is), extinguished
it, which consists chiefly (as in New Testament language) in the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that
exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, 2 Cor. x. 5, it is that universal
pride in man s heart that is opposite to conversion or subjection to Christ, and not only or chiefly the pulling down the plumes of that particular sin of pride before and towards men. But this is to
* break the staff of the
pride of man s heart by nature, which bears men up in self-confidence of one s own righteousness, and creature-confidence, to work poverty of spirit in a man. Now, the same is to be understood the issue and effect that is
in this sick man s heart, and here intended ; they are the essentials of con version he sets forth, only mentioneth one piece or strain of spirit wrought in the one instance, another in the other ; even as in the New Testament, in relating conversion instances, we find them in like manner scatteredly narrated, some in one, other effects in another, which, when gathered to
gether, give us a description of the whole work completely.
This general rule I desire may not be understood, as if I meant that God did not use sundry means, as that one threatening brought home to one VOL. vi. A a
870 THE WOKK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VIII.
man s heart, another to another man s, to humble them ; as likewise seve
ral promises brought home to work faith, &c., yet still there is the same
* things wrought in the hearts of all, and common to all ; as to be humbled for sin, to confess and forsake it, to repent and turn to God,
effects, or
to believe in Christ and God s free grace, for they are the essentials, the
inwards of the new creature, as every child born into the world hath alike
the same inwards ; and of such substantiate, and none other but such, doth Elihu make mention as works in the soul, in the whole of this his
discourse.
I come to draw out the particular workings themselves, as they are re
presented, either in the instances, or any other part of his discourse.
The parts of conversion our Saviour reduceth unto three, as I have shewed in opening John xvi. 8.
1 . The conviction of sin, which we call humiliation.
2. Of Christ s righteousness, with faith thereon.
3. Of judgment, or reformation of heart and life. Let us consider if the substantiate of these are not to be descried in, or
fairly to be collected from out of the aforesaid instances ; as> namely, of
the sick man, and the circumstances whereby Elihu sets forth the story of
him, or from other parts of the discourse.
1. They shew a conviction of sin, and of a sinful estate that they had
formerly continued in ; so the visionist had his ear opened, and this in
* his purpose
struction set home, that the work (as some translate it),
(as others) is sinful and wicked, and to be forsaken, or else he will utterly
perish ; this ver. 17, 18 declare ; in ver. 17, God instructs him, That he may withdraw man from his purpose, or, his work ; which denotes his
course and way, and him to have been a worker of iniquity, a committer of
iniquity in Christ s and the apostle s sense ; translated therefore, his pur
pose, namely, of continuing in his sin. He sees likewise the danger of
going to the pit, and of perishing, ver. 18. And by these, as persuasives set on upon his heart, he is induced to leave, and break off his sin (as Daniel s phrase is), as being the way to hell and destruction. This was an instruction sealed upon his mind. But more expressly in ver. 27,
* If any man say I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and
perversion there notes out great and grievous sinnings ; these the convert
is brought to see, and confesseth.
And when the sick man hath also his sin, and unrighteousness laid open to him ; for these words of ver. 27, If any say I have sinned, &c., (which is the first A. B. C. of true repentance), thereby is strongly implied, yea,
declared, that the same was in this sick man s heart for it is an inference drawn from his example in particular ; teaching all men to do, even as
this man had done : to lay to heart his sin. It had not been an opposite* general inference, unless we suppose it to have been in that man s spirit, who is proposed as the particular example or pattern that it is drawn from.
And if any object and say, that this would then have been expressed in
words, in relating the sick man s case ; the answer is, that it needed not.
It was enough to be set down in the inference, and needless to have been
repeated over and over in both. And such manner of implications are
frequent in the Scriptures, and especially to be observed in the Proverbs.
Yea, many interpreters, eminently skilled and versed in the Hebrew, do understand and read the words of that 27th verse, as if they were the
speech of that sick penitent s, when restored ; and it is so varied in the
Qu. apposite ? ED.
CHAP. III.] IN DUE SALVATION. 871
margin as to this sense. That he, the now penitent convert, looks upon men, other men, as occasionally he meets with any, and proposeth to them
* I had sinned, and perverted that which was
his own example and says,
right, and it profited me not, but brought upon myself therewith, the danger of death, and guilt of hell upon me. But he, namely God, hath, upon my repentance,
* delivered my soul from going into the pit
: and therefore do you all in like manner repent, as I have done. And it is certain that the Hebrew will bear either readings, though I prefer that which our trans
lators have given far before it. For this reason, that phrase, He looks upon men, &c., is most properly used of God, who from heaven looks down upon men, and observes whether they repent.
Neither was this sick man only brought to be sensible of his sin, but
being brought to death s door, is made apprehensive of hell too, which is the wages of sin, the second death ; ver. 22, Yea his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers ; which words serve not
simply to set out his danger, as it was in the reality, or as it was in the
thing itself, but also to shew that he had apprehensions of it. And how
often hell is called that pit, in the Proverbs by Solomon, and in other Old Testament Scripture, I need not insist on ; in the New, that bottomless
* The angel of the bottomless pit, the devil is called. Which is likewise as often termed destruction, and is joined with hell, to
pit; Rev. ix. 11,
signify it, Prov. xxvii. 20. And the word here translated pit, in general
signifies corruption. And the dread of this for his sin, is the great distress which this sick man s soul is brought to. And this was it which gave the
advantage to this interpreter, one of a thousand, who took the opportunity to strike whilst the iron was hot. Even when his soul drew nigh to the
grave, and his life to the destroyers in his own fears ; that is, to the devils; who (as Christ said of that rich fool,
* this night they the angels of this
pit shall take away thy soul ) carry it to that pit of destruction, whereof he hath the power, Heb. ii. ; and he hath his name from thence of Apollyon, and Abaddon, in the foresaid Rev. ix. 11, that is, destroyer; and at death stands ready by an unregenerate man s bed-side, to take away his
soul. And as the grave, and pit, and destruction, are used to express hell, the thing itself, so in the Old Testament, a man that is filled with such
apprehensions about this, is brought in as using the like phrases to these,
thereby to express his sentiments thereof. Thus Heman in trouble, and
terrors of conscience for sin, and God s wrath, speaks of himself as of a man in hell, when yet he was not sick in body ; in like language to what Elihu speaks of this sick man here : Ps. Ixxxviii. 3, 4, My soul is full of
troubles, and my life draweth nigh to the grave
: I am counted with them that go down into the pit. And again, ver. 5,
* Free among the dead, cut
off from thy hand ; whom thou rememberest no more ; and verses 6, 7, Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps : thy wrath
lieth hard upon me ; and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah. This was not sickness bodily, or danger of the grave. For he speaks of himself as a man already
* laid in the lowest pit, and that all the waves
of God s wrath had gone over him. And how often is it that the approaches of death to a man s view, and fore-thoughts of these things, awaken men s
hearts, and possess them with such apprehensions, experience abundantly shews. Men s consciences naturally being subject to the fear of death all
their life long, Heb. ii. 15, much more at the sight of death s approachment to them, who have heard and known that hell immediately doth follow, as in Rev. vi. 8.
872 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VIII.
* a messenger, who is one of a thousand, as it is spoken of him. He will be sure faithfully to
But further, in this juncture of time, here comes
second this voice of conscience, by a further laying open his sinful estate
* if he turn
to him, and the spiritual danger he is in of the second death,
not. And when he is said to shew to man his uprightness, even whilst
it is adoing, a man withal is shewn what he ought to be, and what he ought to have been, and what righteousness he must get and obtain. This, when
done, will withal effectually discover unto a man his own uprightness, far more than natural conscience alone doth do. For this man speaks the holy and spiritual word, and mind of God ; and sets a man s secret sins in the
light of God s countenance, afore the man s conscience ; which natural con
science could not reach to. And the Spirit of God, joining with both these, as he did in the heart of the jailor, Acts xvi., convinceth him of sin, and
thus humbleth, and prepareth him, which, by God s ordination, is the first work in men s conversion.
And truly that joyful word ( joyful sound the psalmist calls it) Deliver
him, ver. 24, may very rationally be judged to relate to the many fears
his soul was in, from the sight of his sins and apprehensions of damnation, upon his apprehensions *of death ; and that God, in and by that blessed word
* deliver him, pronounced his absolution from his sins and hell.
Especially it being followed and strengthened by those promises that follow, that God would favourably accept him, as the word is, and he should
see God s face with joy, in ver. 26, both which in conjunction speak that kind of God s manifesting of his face, which is by lifting up the light of
his countenance immediately upon the soul ; which gives more joy, as
the psalmist his experience assures us, than oil and wine, or all temporal mercies whatsoever. These speeches are too big to express the mercies of
this life only. They are promises, though in this life, yet not of this life, but the beginnings of that which is to come. And those speeches of
* seeing God s face, and accepting with favour, do refer unto it. And indeed many of those interpreters that would understand these phrases of deliver ance only from bodily death, in a great sickness, yet withal acknowledge this sick man to have been delivered therefrom, upon his true conversion unto God in the sight of his sins, his true faith, and sincere repentance, and prayer unto God for the continuance of his life in this world. And
7 verse and circumstance in the story do abundantly declare. And
this ever}
further, that the sight of his sins, and the sense of death s approach, being not sufficient of themselves to work faith and conversion in him, that
therefore God afforded the spiritual assistance of a messenger, &c., whose errand must be supposed to be, to discover and press upon his soul such
things as are most persuasive and productive to draw on true faith and
repentance in him. And those things, or motives, we know are such as
belong to the other world after death, and mainly of hell that follows it, Rev. vi. 8 ; which all that die in their sins will immediately be carried into, when they turn not from them. This messenger also, by declaring and
laying open the rich mercies that are in God, gives him hopes, not of
recovery only out of sickness, but teacheth him to pray unto God, as ver.
26, for pardon and forgiveness of his sins, deliverance from hell, accepta tion of his person, and seeing God s face. And had there not been this use of such a soul-messenger to instruct, guide, and direct him in these
great concerns of his soul ; a physician or worker of miracles that could have raised the sick, had been more useful and proper to have been sent, than such an interpreter, if restoring unto natural light only had been all
CHAP. III.] IN OUR SALVATION. 373
the intent. Nor are the simple concerns of this life, as deliverance from
bodily death, and bestowing temporal blessings of this life, without the mixture of the motives from, and knowledge of the things of the other,
sufficient to work spiritual conversion, faith, and repentance in men, which were wrought in this man here ; and which serve not only for such low
things as those of this world are, but for the great things of the other world, pardon of sin, acceptation of our persons into grace and favour. For
pardon of sins is that special mercy, that great grace and spiritual blessing appertaining to the other world : Eph. i. 7, In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his
grace. And therefore it is not bodily life only, or bodily death simply, that are ultimately here intended in those words with which he concludes ; ver. 39, 40, Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to
bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the
living. And although it often falls out that, together with pardon of sins,
&c., God vouchsafes a present deliverance from bodily death, and from out
of such or such a sickness, and that through Christ s ransom ; yet they are but some small things added, as Christ s word is, and cast into the bargain, which is therefore mentioned, ver. 25, Then shall his flesh come as the
flesh of a child, &c., yet this were but a small thing, and for a moment. But that God should produce and bring forth his hidden treasures, and
allege that infinite price of redemption laid down for men s souls, when it
is so rarely spoken of in the Old Testament, upon occasion of delivering a man only from a sickness, &c., this holds no decorum or proportion. That had been a light thing, as Christ in the prophet speaks of the reward of
his redemption ; but to be delivered from sin, and sins infinite in their
weight, and infinite in number, to be delivered from hell and eternal death ; to be discharged at once for ever, so as never to see death, nor set a foot
in the pit, not to enter into condemnation and he that undertook for, and
paid this price, and knew best the estimate of both, thus sets out this
deliverance and redemption purchased to believers, and promised from the
* he that believes in me shall never die,* John xi. this is something indeed, this is a redemption some way worthy
time of their regeneration that
of, that is, suitable and answerable to, so great a ransom, and worthy of such a mention, so rare, and so unwonted.
And then by that other phrase, to be enlightened with the light of the
living, is meant, that through those gracious workings upon the soul God
gives and brings a man into the light of life eternal, which is begun here, and with which a man is enlightened at first conversion, and thereby brought into a new world, and to see the kingdom of God :
* Arise from
the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. They do therefore very, ill that would limit these phrases, and the issues of these workings, to be a
temporal deliverance (and that only), and restoring a penitent sinner to
natural life. And therefore many interpreters* that seem to verge that
way, interpose and inject in their expositions of these phrases, a morte
utrdque, from both deaths ; or d morte (sterna, from eternal death ; and
cannot forbear to do it, though literally they expound them otherwise.
* Mercer on the 30th verse ; Piscator on verse 24. Redime eum, id est, a morte
ceterna. Calvin on verse 18. He pulleth back from the grave or pit, these words
(says he) concerns not only bodily death, but by a similitude. The everlasting damnation is termed here a grave or pit. And in his 125th sermon, interpreting that of verse 24, Deliver him from the pit. The case here standeth not only upon temporal death, but upon damnation. And thus divers others.
374 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK YIII.
Thus much for the conviction of sin, and of the soul thus prepared, and humbled, and chastised for his sin (as inverse 19), which word signifies also instructed ; for his chastising thus even to death, helps forward the
instructing man in these things.
2. I come to the second work, to effect which, indeed, is the main errand of this interpreter, to whom God had committed the word of reconciliation of such a soul to God ; and here his part begins, and God s effectual work
ing therewith.
Verse 23. If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one of a
thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness.
I will analyse the words into these parts or heads.
1. I will consider what kind of person this messenger is, with some observations thereupon. It is a fond and utterly unwarranted interpreta tion, that it should be some good angel sent from heaven, as Mercer, mis led by his Jewish Kabbis, would put this upon ; to whom I refer the reader. For that which follows will not agree therewith, as not to say of an angel sent from heaven, he is one of a thousand ; for in comparison unto what other angels is it that this is spoken ? To be sure, not of devils, the destroyers. It were a dishonour to any of these elect angels to have
any comparison made with them, to set forth their excellencies thereby ; and if with others, the good, certainly any one of those glorious creatures, coming with a message from God, would have had the same efficacy on
this man s heart, and would have been sufficient, if that had been the
meaning. Nor do we find that God used in those times their ministry to
convert, and to work saving faith in any, though with other messages they were entrusted. They gave the law, but that is the ministration of death. No ; God hath betrusted the ministry of reconciliation unto us men, and not angels. Much less not to be mediators between God and souls, and to present their prayers to God, or to be employed to carry news of their
faith and repentance, that thereupon God should then say to that angel, Deliver him, I have found a ransom, as these interpreters would have it. But men eminently holy, or else prophets, teachers, and instructors of
others, employed by God for the conversion and salvation of souls, are
styled angels, that is, God s messengers. Thus, in the Old Testament, John the Baptist, Mai. iii. 1, and indeed the whole tribe of Levi, the
priesthood to whom was betrusted by covenant, Mai. ii. 5, the law of God, the conversion of souls, ver. 6, he, or the whole fraternity of them, are
( the messenger of the Lord, ver. 7. In the New, the ministers or bishops of those seven churches are so dignified. And souls that are truly wrought upon by them, do reverence them as an
( the angel (as here), or
styled
angel of God, as the apostle, Gal. iv. 14. And these are called angels or
* sent by God to work faith in men : as Rom. x. 15,
messengers, because
( How shall they preach except they be sent ? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.
By an interpreter is meant an expounder of God s mind and will in this covenant of grace, touching men s salvation, and of the way to be taken by man for the obtaining it : To shew unto man his uprightness, is the matter of the message here. And he is one of a thousand who is able to reveal the things of God touching man s salvation, and give right directions
unto such disconsolate souls that are unfeigned, * and taken quite off from
all their false supports and confidences, and their ignorant carnal pleas that
* Qu. unhinged ? ED.
CHAP. III.] IN OUR SALVATION. 375
their estates were good and blessed ; to settle such souls upon a right, sound, and new basis, and bottom of unhinged
* faith and thorough repent ance. This is not every man s skill, that yet is learned in many other great mysteries, but of one who is experimentally versed in soul work, to whom God hath given the tongue of the learned, to speak a word in season, unto him that is weary, and hit his case and condition home, and speak to his heart, and apply the word aright ; and whose spirit God s presence accompanieth with the power and spirit of the gospel. Such an one is one of a thousand. He that converteth souls is wise, Prov. xi. 30. Obs. 1. That natural knowledge, though improved and quickened to the
height, is not sufficient to be effectual to work regeneration in men. The inhabitants of those countries where Job and Elihu lived, were the most raised in natural knowledge, participating of all what their bordering neigh bours of Chaldea, Egypt, and Phoenicia had. Witness the many golden sands, and ore of such knowledge, dispersed and inserted up and down in this book. This raised these indwellers in those regions to a greater height than Greece, which lighted their candles with the light of these. Likewise that natural knowledge these had, though impregnated and actuated to the
height by the apparent approach of death, when conscience is awakened, when sin that lay at the door, as a dog asleep, comes in and takes a man by the throat ; when
* the iniquity of a man s heels does compass him
about, as the Psalmist speaks, and the other world is near to view, and but as the land that is on the other side of a narrow river ; yet all these were not found sufficient savingly to work in any of them. It may conduce to
convince, as such apprehensions did the jailor, Acts xvi. But the work
stays there, yea, turns into despair, if there be not a messenger, an inter
preter of God s mind from heaven, and he one of a thousand too,
* to shew
to man his uprightness, the right way of salvation, which natural light is
utterly ignorant of, so far as may effectually bring men into God s favour, the state of grace. There must be a revelation for this, a shewing it to a man
by a farther means than nature. Job himself had in a large harangue dis coursed this in chap, xxviii. throughout, in the midst of which he cries out, ver. 12, But where shall wisdom be found ? true wisdom, the fear of the
Lord, as he expounds himself, ver. 28, by which eulogy that religion which
only is saving was still signified under the Old Testament. And ver. 20, 21,
* Whence then cometh wisdom ? And where is the place of under
standing ? seeing it is hid from the eyes of all the living, and kept close from the fowls of the air. It is God alone that understandeth the way
thereof, ver. 23, that invented it of old ; ver. 27, Then did he see it, and
declare it ; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out. He searched it out,
4 and prepared it for them that love him ; and no man knows it, so as to be saved by it, but that man to whom he reveals it : God said unto man,
&c., ver. 28.
Obs. 2. We see God used then the ministry of man ; that is, of men that
are interpreters of God s mind, to open and declare his will ; teachers of
righteousness, as Noah is called a preacher of righteousness afore the
flood. And the like we see hereafter continued, and to be the ordinary converters of souls ; and the word the means of conversion : Ps. xix. 7,
1 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul ; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. And the same course he continueth
to this day, to work saving faith in men : Rom. x. 14, 15, How shall they then call on him in whom they have not believed ? and how shall they * Qu. unfeigned ? ED.
376 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VIII.
believe in him of whom they have not heard ? and how shall they hear without a preacher ? And how shall they preach except they be sent ? Conversion was the same then that now, and his ordination of instruction from the word by man s ministry is the same. And the apostle there con
* So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, that is, by the appointment of God.
cludes, ver. 17,
2. I come to the matter of the message itself, the discovery of which is used as the means of this man s salvation and conversion. It is summed
up in one word, as the apostle speaks of the law, Gal. v. 14, to shew to man his uprightness, which is no other than the word of reconciliation under the New, 2 Cor. v. 19, revealing both on God s part how he comes
to be reconciled to us ; to wit, God was in Christ reconciling the world to
himself, by making Christ sin for us ; and, on our part, how we are recon
ciled to God, by laying hold on this by faith, that thereby we might be made the righteousness of God in him, and therewith turning unto God, out of love wrought by faith, apprehending that righteousness. These words,
1 to shew to man his uprightness, comprehending both these, were the
message committed to this interpreter s trust ; even as the word of recon
ciliation under the New is unto ours in these expressions, the word of
* By which word, God out of
truth, the gospel of salvation : Eph. i. 13,
his own will doth beget all that are begotten of him ; James i. 18, this one
word, man his uprightness, comprehends both. And indeed those in the Old Testament
* were saved by the same grace of the Lord Jesus, though darkly and afar off revealed, as we under the New, Acts xv. 11. And the shewing this, for the substance of it, which is the Old Testament phrase here and elsewhere also, though in a more obscure manner ; and man s
hearing and closing with it, and obeying of this message, was that which saved them then, as well as the clearer revelation of it (which is the New Testament phrase) doth us now.
The great inquiry then must be, What is to be understood by man s
uprightness ? the hearing of which shewn and declared to him by this inter
preter, and this sick man s soul closing with and obeying of it, then saved him. What that is, the papists carry it to a man s own merits ; our latter
protestant interpreters unto that duty on man s part, consisting in faith and
repentance, and upright walking. But Calvin in his sermons on Job, published in French the year afore his death, hath clearly and fully pitched it on the righteousness of justification, whereby God, pardoning our sins,
accepts us for righteous for his Son s sake, and through his ransom and
* This is the righteousness, says he,
* which is spoken of in
redemption.
this place. Thus in Sermon 126, and again in Sermon 127. His reason
* of a wretched creature in trouble, that feels God s wrath and vengeance ; and there is no way to comfort him but this ; that it is not that men are righteous in themselves, or that they are able to stand before God, but that his righteousness is that whereby God burieth all their sins in the blood of Jesus Christ ; and the shewing man his righteousness is his shewing good remedy for us to be discharged of the bond of death wherein we were bound. Which remedy is to put our whole
is, because Elihu speaks it
trust in the death and passion of our Lord Jesus. Thus he. I join to him John Cotton, an interpreter one of a thousand, in those imperfect notes of
exposition on the 1st Epistle of John, upon those words, chap. ii. 29, If
ye know that he is righteous. A ground, says he, of wonderful consola tion to every poor soul that is burdened with his own unrighteousness. This comfort Elihu gives to a man in extremity of body and soul, Job xxxiii. 23,
CHAP. III.] IN OUR SALVATION. 377
to declare where his righteousness is to be found ; that is, it is not to be
" Deliver him from going down to the pit ; I have found a ransom." I forbear to mention others who
found in himself. God will say of such a soul,
speak near to this. But of late Mr Caryl, in his complete and accurate comment on that book, on these words, doth ultimately come fully up to
the righteousness of justification chiefly (as his word is), though he takes
in the whole of a man s duty in all other parts of uprightness in himself.
And I like well enough, and exclude not any part of the duty of upright ness on a man s part towards God. For unto justification by Christ s
righteousness, faith, or an act of closing with it, and reliance upon it, for a man s particular justification, is necessary ; which is the duty of man, and yet requisite on man s part to his justification ; though, as such, justi
fication itself is not attributed unto it, otherwise than in respect unto Christ
its object, and as apprehended by it. And as for repentance, and man s
turning to God in his first conversion, and his future obedience, that I
acknowledge to be intended also, provided that this righteousness on God s
and Christ s part for justifying a sinner be first served, according to the
merit thereof, and the sole honour thereof in justifying be kept inviolable
in the prerogative thereof. And then I take both in, although these two
be different righteousnesses, because the Holy Ghost, choosing out but one word to express the whole errand and matter of this interpreter s exhorta
tion, that came to instruct him in what was necessary to his salvation, it
was meet it should be such an one as was most comprehensive. And
therefore we are to involve all that may any way be justly understood and
signified thereby, and are consistent together, the word righteousness being used to express both Christ s righteousness, viz., made ours by faith only, and our own righteousness inherent also, and both requisite to, and con
current in conversion, though in various ways, and to differing purposes ; and conversion being the subject of Elihu s discourse, it is apposite to take
in both.
I begin first to shew that the righteousness of justification through Christ s
righteousness is here intended, and this may several ways appear out of
the text.
1. Uprightness or rectitude (which Piscator says ought to be retained, and Vatablus so renders it) are all one with righteousness in Scripture
: Eccles. vii. 29, God made man upright, that is, righteous ; and so here, only there it is used to express the righteousness of man in
phrase
his first creation, whose righteousness of justification and of holiness was
but one single righteousness, and the whole of it was in himself ; but here
in Job is meant the righteousness of man fallen, with which he must appear
afore God s tribunal, and which must be the righteousness of Christ alone. And indeed that righteousness, in ver. 26, that flows,* and uprightness
here, are in Elihu s intention one and the same, appears by comparing both
ver. 23 and 26, what is man his uprightness in ver. 23, is in ver. 26 man
his righteousness; the thing is the same, though the words are not the
same ; so then righteousness it is.
2. This must be understood to be such a righteousness as this sick, sin
ful, dying man might with boldness appear afore God withal, at the bar of
his strict justice and judgment. It must also be a righteousness which this
sick man lays hold of, when now he is made sensible of his sin, the heinous-
ness, the multitudes of them, and of hell the desert of them, which he sees
he can no way escape by himself, or anything in himself ; he looks to die, * Qu. follows ? ED.
378 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK YIII.
and expects no other, and then follows judgment ; and where shall such a
righteousness be found to come afore God with ? Not any righteousness of a man s own, Phil, iii., either past, for in unregeneracy a man hath no
thing but unrighteousness ; or present, that is, his present repentance ; or
to come, that is, his filial obedience. No ; David cuts off all pleas
: Ps.
cxliii. 2, Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. No ; none of his best and dearest servants dare venture or stand at that bar in their own obedience nor righteousness, either at or after conversion ; and yet appear before God they must, and be justified by some such righteousness, or they will be condemned ; and where shall such a righteousness be found ? as Job says of wisdom. No where but in Christ, to be prehended and pleaded by faith, looking out of a man s self to Christ as a Saviour for righteousness and justification thereby. These are express in Isaiah, speaking of Christ: chap, xli., A
* There is no Saviour but me, and therefore look unto me (alone) and be saved, all ye ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none besides me, vcr. 22. And this is our Christ, as appears by what follows : ver. 23, I have sworn by myself, that unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear ; which is punctually applied to Christ, and that twice, in the New Testa ment : Rom. xiv. 10, We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ (to be justified, namely, as was said, or condemned), For it is
just God and a Saviour ; there is none beside me, ver. 21 ;
written, Every knee shall bow to me, &c. And again, Phil. ii. 10, 11,
this, as distinct from the Father, is spoken of there, That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And what, both in
this world and at the judgment seat, shall the righteous confess, for
their righteousness, the prophet goes on to tell you
: ver. 24, Surely shall one say (all men shall not say this, though all shall bow, &c.), In the Lord I have righteousness and strength, and to him shall men come (for both these), ver. 25. Will you have it yet plainer? In the Lord shall
all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory. Now here is a messen
ger, one of a thousand, from God, on purpose to shew a poor wretch wherein the righteousness of fallen man doth lie. And what other righteousness can he allege and produce to make void that caveat and bar put in against him (whenever he comes afore God s judgmentseat), and all men living, yea, against the best servants God ever had on earth, which he finds written
over the door of that court, at the very entrance : Enter not into judg ment, Lord ; seconded with this as the unalterable ground thereof : Cursed is he that continues not in all things to do them. Now where with shall the clamours that his soul is filled withal be quieted, but by this
perfect and alone righteousness of Christ s, current (we see by Isaiah) under the Old Testament ; God s free grace accepting it for this man, without works ; but now the righteousness of God, without the law, is mani
fested, Rom. iii. 21, being witnessed by the law and the prophets (and one of these prophets that testifies to is this Elihu, and that is this very speech of his in Job, who testifies it with the rest), even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all, and upon all them that
believe, for there is no difference, ver. 22. That it is said but now is
manifest, in ver. 21, respects the times of the New Testament, when this
is most broadly and openly, and clearly revealed, but was darkly afore, and
whispered in the times of the law and the prophets ; and as in the dark, was yet catched hold of by souls that were saved ; it was the current
CHAP. III.] IN OUR SALVATION. 379
righteousness among the godly then ; one and the same righteousness, and but one and the same both in the Old and the New ; so as we may con
clude, that this messenger had not deserved the character of one of a
thousand, or of some prophet (by which interpreters frequently notify him), had he not mentioned and spoken of this righteousness above all; he had otherwise fallen short of his undertaking to relieve this forlorn soul, if
this had been left out.
As the nature, necessity, and reason of the matter, or thing itself, and those circumstances touching the person in the text, even now specified, requireth this interpretation, so three words there are, and three sayings spoken of in the text, which duly examined, in the reference or aspect which those speeches of them do cast one upon the other, will prove them to be one and the same thing, and that thing to be Christ s ransom, and our
righteousness or justification thereby. And so as if one of the three prove to be Christ s righteousness and redemption, then the other two also are
to be understood to be the same, and all one thereupon. These three words or things spoken of are, 1. man his uprightness ; 2. ransom ; 3. man
his righteousness. The three things or sayings spoken of them are, 1. * to shew to man his uprightness, in ver. 23, which is done by the messenger and interpreter, and with that sentence he begins the round to the other two. 2. Christ s ransom, or price of redemption found by God, and the saying or sentence concerning this is God s, He himself says, I have
found a ransom, ver. 24, and owneth it to be a satisfactory ransom for
righteousness, for and unto that man ; and herein himself doth second and
verify that word spoken by his messenger, who had shewn the man that a
righteousness there was to be found with God for man fallen ; and together therewith a righteousness which might be obtained by this man, if he would seek out for it ; which righteousness having been first laid open by the
messenger, God himself seconds him in it, and explains to be a ransom of
redemption which himself hath found. 3. There is to man his righteous ness rendered, ver. 26, and the saying or thing spoken thereof is Elihu s, uttered of God, For he will render to man his righteousness ; but still uttered of this same God, who in those words afore had himself said,
* I have found a ransom ; and Elihu hereupon says, for he renders, or gives
it forth to whom it belongs as his due upon his conversion, and laying hold upon it, and renders it as his due, which cannot be withheld from him. So then, in reality, these three are one and the same thing put into three
distinct words, uprightness, ransom, righteousness ; and these sentences about them do, in their mutual aspects and references one to another,
agree in one, and utter this harmonious sound jointly, that man s
righteousness for his justification is Christ s ransom and redemption ; at
least it is included and aimed at in them all, though uprightness, ver. 23, and righteousness, ver. 26, may perhaps secondarily involve something on our parts besides it.
1. They are one : this is proved by two parts. 1. That uprightness, shewn to that poor man, ver. 23, is one with righteousness rendered, ver. 26, not only because uprightness is used to express righteousness (which was
afore observed), but that addition in both places of to man his righteous ness, and
* shew to man his uprightness, thus set to both, doth apparently argue them to be one thing in Elihu s intention ; for that addition is appro-
priative to man, and as distinguishing it from the righteousness of angels. 2. That middle word, * a ransom, is as plainly comprehended in that of
uprightness, shewn by the messenger, ver. 22, for these words, I have
380 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VIII.
found a ransom, are not only God s own verifying and acknowledgment that he had indeed found, as this messenger had told him that God had favour to him, and shewn the man that it was to be found with God, and to be had from him for his deliverance and salvation ; but in this return and answer of God s upon it, God particularizeth more distinctly what man ner of thing that righteousness, whereby man is saved and delivered, is ; it
is a deliverance by way of ransom, a redemption of him from sin, hell, and the grave, procured by a price of redemption laid down for him by another, whom he procured to lay it down for him. Christ is made sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him ; and by calling it a ran som, he beats man off from vain imagination of his own righteousness, for that is nowhere called a ransom. No ; the redemption of the soul is more
precious than so, as the psalmist speaks : no ; it was so far from that dream, that such way by ransom at the full rate and quantum of it, as should satisfy for sin, could never have entered into a sinner s heart or
thought to perform ; it was past his finding out, as the aspect intimates : but / (says God) have found this ransom, and therefore give me the glory of that. God was the founder, or procurer, and Christ the finder, as we use to speak of the price as paid in another. And then this middle word and speech, for I have found a ransom, hath such a correspondency with the third and last word and sentence of the three, that shews that ransom
placed in the middle of the other two, to be included in that righteousness specified at the close spoken by Elihu upon it ; He shall render, &c., and refers clearly to God s saying, I have found ; and is but as if he had
said, that God had found it for that man as a price paid for him by another redeemer, which God will surely render and give forth to that man ; and that otherwise God should retain from man, that which himself acknow-
ledgeth he had found for him, in ver. 24, and Elihu, in the 26th verse, calls that which God renders to man, the man s righteousness ; and there fore ransom and righteousness are one also.
The other instance I shall give of a converted soul s having a sight and sense of sin, is the conversion of the apostle Paul. There are many accounts of it of several kinds : the history of it in the book of the Acts, related two or three several times ; the infinite riches of
grace that were in it : 1 Tim. i., the work of faith and love wrought in him
thereby towards Jesus Christ at his first turning ; also in his being deli vered from the power of the law, and married to Christ, in Eom. vii., with a narrative of his humiliation for sin, which in him was a saving work : in Eom. vii. ver. 4, 5, he there involving his own example when he was in the flesh ; ver. 5, 6, and from ver. 7th of that chapter, and so on, he pro fessedly applies it unto his own conversion ; and again the same, Gal. ii. 19, 20,
< For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
The only question that I know may be raised is, whether these words, I am dead to the law by the law, which are spoken of the work of humi liation in him at conversion, be to be understood of a saving sanctifying work begun to be wrought in him, yea or no. Now that it was part of a work of that kind is clear by the 9th verse, where that he speaks of that work which was the beginning of his conversion out of unregeneracy, is evident ; for (says he) I was alive without the law once. Those words note the whole time of his unregeneracy, which he had lived in until this turn,
j IN OUR SALVATION. 381
CHAP. III.
unto which those other words, ver. 19, I am dead by the law to the law, do refer ; alive before once, but now dead, his death and his life must be measured to be of one and the same kind of life and death. Now, the life he had before was an opinion of himself to have been alive by the works of
the law, and the death he mentions must be from the contrary apprehen
sion, which did strike him dead in his spirit. And, secondly, during his former time, when he speaks of that once, he says he was without the com mandment : Rom. vii. 9,
* I was alive without the law once ; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. How was Paul without the law in that former time of his, but in this respect, that that which was the
soul and spirit of the law he was wanting in, he had not the due appre hension and the right knowledge of it, so that he reckoned as not the
law, all that he apprehended about it in the time of his pharisaism ? He
says he had lived without law all that time, who yet had been so zealous
for the law, as elsewhere you read ; but he wanted the true soul and spirit of it, which makes it the law. He tells us in the 7th verse,
* I had not known sin but by the law, for I had not known lust unless the law had
said, Thou shalt not covet ; for the knowledge of this inward corruption was that which killed him, and he calls it the law. I had not known sin,
says he, but by the law, but by the light of this one notion let into his
soul. He now saw, looking back upon his former estate, this inbred sin inherent in his own nature had taken occasion by the commandment, and had wrought in him all manner of concupiscence, for without the law sin was dead. And, thirdly, I call this sight of sin, as it had been wrought in
* We know
himself, the spirit of the law ; for in the 14th verse he says,
that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin, even after he was converted. He speaks this of himself after his conversion, and he
speaks the same of the law at the 10th verse ; of that law, the knowledge whereof he now had, and not before ;
* wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, which had discovered lust to be sin, to be sin to him. And the knowledge of this law was that which did convert him, that struck him dead, and put him out of his jolly life he had led, which was from the
thought and apprehensions that he should have been justified by the out ward performance of the law, in which he was deceived : And so the com mandment, which was ordained to life, says he, I found to be but unto
death. And this was effected in him when the commandment came, that is, that which was, in the true light of it, the commandment itself, that never came before ; and so sin revived, like the snake in the fable, that was
brought in benumbed with cold, but laid by the fire, the heat revived it, and I died, says he ; sin revived, and stung me to death. And this sin, he afterwards tells us, was that sin that dwelt in him : ver. 20, that sin
that dwelleth in me, which causeth me to do that which I would not, and
is opposed by another self opposite thereto. In respect whereof he says, It is no more I that do it, which opposes the corrupt self in me, which he calls sin that dwelleth in me, ver. 20. From hence I gather, that a true and spiritual sight of lust to be sin,
mingling itself with all a man s ways, is from a spirit of holiness begun to be wrought in the mind. For such a light as this was Paul s, wrought in the entrance into his conversion, and such must therefore be the light in any one that hath it ; and true conversion follows upon it, as it did in
Paul. And I give this reason for it, that out of that principle by which we see the spiritual evil of sin, whereof this was the light that gave the
knowledge of it, it is that any man sees the spiritual good, in opposition to
382 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VIII.
lust, to be in him. For as the same visive faculty in man, the same eye whereby a man discerns one contrary, it also discerns the other, as the same eye that sees white also discerns what is black, or e contra ; so the same light that discerns grace in the spiritual nature of it, discerns sin, and on the contrary in like manner. And this principle the apostle s dis
course in this chapter clearly runs upon.