John Trapp on Job 1:19

Verſe 19. And behold, there c[illegible: 1 letter]me a great wind] The Divel (doubtleſſe) was in this wind (as he is by divine permiſſion, the Prince of the power of the air, Eph. 2.2. and can thereby do much miſchief) what wonder then though it were a great wind, ſith ſpirited by him, and [illegible: 1 span] came on amaine, and with a [illegible: 1 word], as being driven on by the Divel It was a wonderfull wind (belike a whirlwind) and hath therefore a Behold ſet upon it; ſuch a wind as the Relator had never known before: The Rabbins ſay, that he was ſo affrighted with it, that no ſooner had he made an end of his report of it to [illegible: 1 span]. Sure it is, that he relateth the matter [illegible: 1 word] and graphically, with [illegible: 1 span], and without that moderation and making the beſt of things at firſt, as in ſuch caſes is uſuall, when parents are firſt made acquainted with the ſudden death of their children; or other ſad accidents that have befallen the[illegible: 1 letter]. This meſſenger cl[illegible: 1 letter]ttereth out all at once, being thereunto ſet on, and ſuborned by Satan (as Lava[illegible: 1 letter]er thinketh) to ſtirre up Jobs ſtomack, and to make him break off that ſo well-twiſted thred of his patience.

From the wilderneſſe] of Idumea, or Arabia, called deſerta. The divel, who haunteth dry and deſert places, was the Aeolus that ſent it. Let us bleſſe that God (the maker and maſter of theſe Meteors, and of all things elſe) who bindeth up ſuch an enemy and boundeth ſuch a power.

And ſmote the four corners of the houſe. This was extraordinary, and therefore the more dreadfull: God ſeeming to fulfil upon Job and his children, what he threatneth in the Law, Deut. 28.59. I will make their plagues wonderful. But what ſaith Solomon, and that after long debate with himſelf about occurrents of this nature? For all this I conſidered in mins heart, even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wiſe, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth, either love or hatred, by all that is before them, Eccleſ. 9.1, 2 by externals we cannot judge aright of eternals. Let it be our care to lay hold on eternal li[illegible: 1 letter]e; and then ſudden death can do us no hurt; no gueſt cometh unawares to him who keeps a conſtants table.

And it fell upon the young men, and they are dead] No doubt but they were miſerably mawled and diſ-membred by the fall, ſo that they were pulled forth piecemeale, and it could hardly be known which was which as we ſay. The like death befell Scopa[illegible: 1 letter] (a rich and noble man of Th[illegible: 1 letter]ſſaly) together with his gueſts, all oppreſſed and ſlain together by the ruin of that room where, they were feaſting, and fearing no ſuch danger, as Tully telleth us; Simonides was at that feaſt, but was at that inſtant happily called out by two young men that came to ſpeak with him,Cic. lib. 2. de Orat[illegible: 1 letter]r. Acts & Mon. fol. 78[illegible: 1 letter]. Stones Chron. cont. by Hom▪ page 130. Luther had the like deliverance by a ſpecial providence, as Mr. Fox relateth. But ſo had not thoſe Londoners in the Reign of King Willi[illegible: 3 letters] the ſecond, who periſhed by a terrible tempeſt, which blew down ſuddenly ſix hundred and ſix houſes in that chief City. No more had thoſe that died by the fall of part of an houſe in Black-Friers, where and whiles Dru[illegible: 2 letters] a Popiſh Prieſt was preaching, who (together with an hundred more Papiſts his hearers) had there their paſport; this fell out in the year 1623. And the like we had lately at W[illegible: 1 letter]tney in Oxford-ſhire, where a ſcurrilous blaſphemous Comedy was by the fall of the room wherein in was acted, Feb. 3. 1652 turned into a Tragedy, as ending with the deaths of ſix, and hurts of about threeſcore, who were bruiſed and maimed, and ſome (as it were) half dead, carried away by their friends. The narrative whereof, together with what was preached there in three Sermons on that occaſion from Rom 1.18, is ſet forth by Mr. John Rowe (Lecturer in that town) in his book called Tragicomedia.