Surely — Job having in the last chapter discoursed of God's various providences toward wicked men, and shewed that God doth sometimes, for a season, give them prosperity, but afterwards calls them to a sad account, and having shewed that God doth sometimes prosper the wicked all their days, so they... [ Continue Reading ]
Perfection — Whatever is deeply wrought in the deepest caverns. Stones of darkness — The precious stones which lie hid in the dark bowels of the earth, where no living thing can dwell.... [ Continue Reading ]
Breaketh out — While men are searching, water breaks in upon them. Inhabitants — Out of that part of the earth which the miners inhabit. Forgotten — Untrodden by the foot of man. Dried up — They are dried up, (or, drawn up, by engines made for that purpose) from men, from the miners, that they may n... [ Continue Reading ]
Fire — Coals, and brimstone, and other materials of fire. Unless this refer, as some suppose, to a central fire.... [ Continue Reading ]
Sapphires — Of precious stones; the sapphire, is one of the most eminent, being put for all the rest. In some parts of the earth, the sapphires are mixed with stones, and cut out of them and polished. Hath — The earth continueth. Dust — Distinct from that gold which is found in the mass, both sorts... [ Continue Reading ]
A path — In the bowels of the earth. Vulture's eye — Whose eye is very quick, and strong, and searcheth all places for its prey.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lion — Which rangeth all places for prey. The birds and beasts have often led men to such places as otherwise they should never have found out; but they could not lead them to these mines, the finding out of them is a special gift of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
He, &c. — This and the two next verses mention other eminent works of God, who overturneth rocks, and produceth new rivers.... [ Continue Reading ]
Seeth — Even those which no human art or industry was ever able to discover.... [ Continue Reading ]
That wisdom — Man hath one kind of wisdom, to discover the works of nature, and to perform the operations of art; but as for that sublime wisdom which consists in the knowledge of God and ourselves, no man can discover this, but by the special gift of Cod.... [ Continue Reading ]
Found — Among men upon earth, but only among those blessed spirits that dwell above.... [ Continue Reading ]
The depth — This is not to he found in any part of the sea, though a man may dig or dive ever so deep to find it, nor to be learned from any creature.... [ Continue Reading ]
Whence, &c. — By a diligent inquiry, we find at length, that there is a twofold wisdom; one hid in God, which belongs not to us, the other revealed to man, which belongs to us and to our children.... [ Continue Reading ]
Hid — The line and plummet of human reason, can never fathom the abyss of the Divine counsels. Who can account for the maxims, measures and methods of God's government? Let us then be content, not to know the future events of providence, 'till time discover them: and not to know the secret reasons o... [ Continue Reading ]
Death — The grave, the place of the dead, to 'which these things are here ascribed, as they are to the depths, and to the sea, by a common figure. Though they cannot give an account of it themselves yet there is a world, on which these dark regions border, where we shall see it clearly. Have patienc... [ Continue Reading ]
God — God alone. The way — The methods which he takes in the management of all affairs, together with its grounds and ends in them. The place — Where it dwells, which is only in his own mind.... [ Continue Reading ]
For — He, and he only knows it, because his providence, is infinite and universal, reaching to all places, and times, past, present, and to come; whereas the most knowing men have narrow understandings, and the wisdom, and justice, and beauty of God's works are not fully seen 'till all the parts of... [ Continue Reading ]
Winds — God manageth them all by weight, appointing to every wind that blows, its season, its proportion, its bounds, when, and where, and how much, and how long each shall blow. He only doth all these things, and he only knows why he doth them. He instanceth in some few of God's works, and those wh... [ Continue Reading ]
When — At the first creation, when he settled that course and order which should he continued. A decree — An appointment and as it were a statute law, that it should fall upon the earth, in such times, and places, and proportions.... [ Continue Reading ]
It — Wisdom, which is the subject of the present discourse. This God saw within himself; he looked upon it in his own mind, as the rule by which he would proceed in the creation and government of all things. Declare — Or reveal it. Prepared — He had it in readiness for doing all his works, as if he... [ Continue Reading ]
Man — Unto Adam in the day in which he was created. And in him, to all his posterity. Said — God spake it, at first to the mind of man, in which he wrote this with his own finger, and afterwards by the holy patriarchs, and prophets, and other teachers, whom he sent into the world to teach men true w... [ Continue Reading ]