Job 29

O be exemplary for justice! Let justice be your ornament (Job 29:14): I put on righteousness (namely justice) as a robe and a diadem. A robe for its graceful beauty; and I put it on, induebam justitiam.

Do not look at its grim face, but at the message it brings, which is to enrich us both with grace and comfort. 2. If Israel be sometimes in the house of bondage, in an afflicted state, then think beforehand of affliction; say not as Job 29:18, I shall die in my nest. In the hous…

He is the father of his country, he is to be an encourager of virtue, a punisher of vice, a father to the widow and orphan. Such a father was Job (Job 29:16): I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew not I searched out. And as magistrates are fathers, so especially…

[1.] In reference to others. (1.) To preserve the life of others. Comfort them in their sorrows, relieve them in their wants: Be as the good Samaritan, pour wine and oil into their wounds. Job 29:16. I was a father to the poor. —13. The blessing of him that was ready to perish c…

We have lost that power which was inherent in us. When we look back to our primitive glory, when we [reconstructed: shined] as earthly angels, we may take up Job's words (Job 29:2), O that it were as in months past! O that it were with us as at first, when there was no stain upo…

4. To be under the black rod is profitable, in that hereby we grow more serious and are more careful to clear our evidences for heaven. In times of prosperity when the rock poured out rivers of oil (Job 29:6), we were careless in getting, at least clearing our title to glory; ha…

1. In doing good to them that persecute us: so says our Savior Christ, Pray for them that hurt you, that you may be the children of your father which is in heaven (Matthew 5:45): for he makes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and unjust. 2.…

The good Lord by his Spirit cleave the rocks in our bosoms, that the water of repentance, and the wine of Charity may flow forth! O that England might have that encomium as once Athens, to be the Nursery of Humanity; believe it, Charity is the best policy; by helping others we h…

Do you sit alone and mourn to think where your hopes and comforts have now come? Do you read over these words of Job 29:1-5 and comment upon them with many tears: O that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me, when his candle shined upon my head, and when…

(5) From the positive marks that Christ puts on his children as marks of true blessedness (Matthew 5:3-11; Psalm 119:1-2; Psalm 32:1-2). (6) From the judgment that the saints make of themselves, and their own begun communion with God (Psalm 73:25; Psalm 18:20-22; Psalm 26:3-4, 8…

Behold and see, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. And how great an Instance was Joh of this truth, Job 29. per tot. and 30. compared? How many thousands have complained with Naom…

(2.) The seasonableness, and opportuneness of its provisions for them: for so runs the promise, Isaiah 41:17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them; and so h…

The third thing commended, is the smell of her garments: garments are that which covers our nakedness, and are for adornment externally put upon the body; sometimes by them is understood Christ's righteousness, whom we are said to put on (Galatians 3:27). Sometimes our own inher…

In this may I resemble them, and come among the people of the Lord, in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ (Romans 15:29). Oh let not those thirsty souls that wait for me as for the rain (Job 29:23), return like the Troops of Tema, ashamed with their heads cover…

Are you able with truth to deny this charge? When occasionally I pass by those places, which were once to me as Jacob's Bethel to him; I sigh at the remembrance of former passages between me and heaven there; and say with Job (Job 29), O that it were with me as in months past, a…

The wild beasts of the desert lie there; is is full of doleful creatures, the Satyrs dance in it, and Dragons cry in those sometimes pleasant places. O sad change! how sadly may we look back towards our first state! and take up the words of Job, O that I were as in months past,…

Namely, while he was in presence, or while he spoke. The like may be said of children's patience in enduring their parents' speech; which Job also notes in these words, To me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence (Job 29:9-10). Though parents in their speech seem to be long…

6 It is evident that man (ever since the fall) has [reconstructed: bruised his intellect] (damaged his chief faculties) for he knows not his time, nor how to order (his thoughts, words and actions) any of his affairs in season, which is the beauty of all. He could have said as J…

The world's fawning is worse than its frowning; and it is more to be feared when it smiles, than when it thunders. Prosperity in Scripture is compared to a candle (Job 29:3): When his candle shined upon my head. How many have burnt their wings about this candle; [reconstructed:…

Let the liberality of your hand (said Clement of Alexandria) be the ornament of your faith, and wear it as a holy bracelet about your wrists. Job 29:15: I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame; I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my judgment was as a robe and…

Let a wicked man have never so many comforts, still he is cursed; let a godly man have never so many crosses, still he is blessed. Let a wicked man have the candle of God shining on him (Job 29:3), let his way be so smooth that he meets with no rubs, let him have success — yet s…

The Swearer knowes not such Majesty is present, when the Christian is mealy-mouth'd, and so goes on and feares no colours, whose grace had it but her dagger of zeal ready, and courage to draw it forth in a wise reproof, would make sin quit the place, and with shame run into its…

Far less has it any truth that a real mercy can be removed in wrath from Infants in Jesus Christ, in whom the Nations are blessed. And we see in Deuteronomy 28, the blessing of an observed Covenant and the curses of a broken Covenant are extended to the fruit of the body, to the…

And about this time the sun was rising, and this was another mercy to Christian; for you must note, that though the first part of the Valley of the Shadow of Death was dangerous, yet this second part, which he was yet to go, was, if possible, far more dangerous; for, from the pl…

We fancy it a brave life to live at ease. And if we meet with long respites and intervals of trial beyond the usual, we are apt to say, 'We shall never be moved,' as David did (Psalm 30:6), or 'We shall die in our nest' (Job 29:18) — our hard and difficult days are over. But woe…

How many brave Christians have we read and heard of, that have rather chosen to part with their lives, than with their graces, who have 'resisted to blood, striving against sin' (Hebrews 12:4). O Christians, you live in a cheating age; many seeming Christians have lost all, and…