that almightie God spake himself by the mouth of the prophet Therfore I say which perteyneth to the first part of this chapter that the destruction of the Edomites is certayne For God himself is the author therof Vnto this parte also perteyneth the title of the prophesie in that it is called a vision Of visions there is often mentiō made in the Scriptures as in the prophesies of Ieremie Ezechiel Daniell and in the Reuelations of Iohn Daniell in a dreame sawe a vision of foure Beastes And Sainct Iohn in a traunce saw a vision of seuē candlesticks Of this and suche other visions his whole booke of Reuelations consisteth Which are declarations of things to come by similitudes darke kinds of spéech But in this prophesie a visiō is otherwise vnderstanded for it signifieth héere a declaratiō of things to come in playne words without any similitude or allegorie As a Prophet in olde time was called a Seer so heere the prophesie of Abdias is called the sight or vision of Abdias A Prophet in olde tyme was called a Seer bicause he did foresée things that shuld come to passe afterwards so héere Abdias prophesie is called a vision bicause it is a thing foreseene that shoulde be fulfilled in tyme to come These two are both one in effecte a Vision and a Prophesie yet some difference there is betwéene them For a Vision is a reuelation of that thing whiche God hath appoynted to bring to passe afterwards and a Prophesie is an vttring of that is reuealed As Prophets are dyuers so are prophesies some false some true but a visiō is always certain so called bicause it is séene reueled by god vnto mā That is truly called a visiō wherof we can testifie that haue séene it Whatsoeuer writing may truely be so called it is an argumēt that the doctrine therin conteined is true Therfore the prophet giueth this title vnto his prophesie to declare the certentie therof Our Sauior vseth the like argumēt in defēce of his doctrine saying That which I haue séene I testifie vnto you And after this sort s Iohn beginneth his first Epistle saying That which we haue heard which we haue séene with our eyes which we haue looked vpon whiche our hands haue handled that declare we vnto you The title of this prophesie is almost one with this title of S. Iohns Epistle For the vision of Abdias is as much to say as that whiche Abdias hath seene or that whiche God hath reuealed vnto him for a certayntie to be fulfilled in time to come Therefore I say this prophesie is called a vision bicause this worde conteyneth in it an argument that it shal come to passe in déede as the Prophet hath spoken or rather as God hath spoken by the mouth of the Prophet And bicause God reuealed it vnto him it is called his vision At what time this prophesie was reuealed or at what time Abdias vttred it is not expressedly declared eyther in this booke nor in any other booke of the Scripture The Iewes write that this was the same Abdias that liued in the dayes of king Ahab and dyd saue an hundred of the true Prophets hyding them by fiftie fiftie in a caue and gaue them necessarie sustenance But the opinion of the Iewes séemeth contrarie to the truthe For there is good reason to shew that Abdias liued at the same time that Ieremie and Ezechiell prophesied For they prophesie all agaynst one and the same people they all declare the miserie and calamitie of the Edomites and the causes of their destructiō Abdias doth agrée in words with Ieremie as though he had learned the maner of handling his prophesie of him as the scholer of the master Therefore it séemeth that they liued and prophesied bothe at one tyme whiche was when Nabuchodonosor had destroyed Ierusalem and caried the inhabitantes thereof prisoners vnto Babilon whiche captiuitie was full thrée hundred yeres after the reigne of Achab. Therefore that Abdias which was in his tyme could not be aliue in these dayes Moses in his prayer a lyttle before his death sayth that in his dayes the age of man was but thréescore yéeres and ten In Achabs tyme it is likely that mans age was rather shortned than prolonged bicause in his dayes the worlde was aboue fiue hundred yeres older than it was in Moses time For the older the world is the shorter is the life of man Althoughe some men liue now a dayes longer than the common sort doe yet the age of man commonly is but thréescore or fourescore yeres So Moses liued an hūdred twentie yeres And if God in like maner were so beneficial to Abdias that was in Ahabs time that he liued .40 yeres longer than the common age of man yet he could not liue vnto the captiuitie of Babilon For then he must haue liued aboue thrée hundred yeres Therfore our Abdias and he were diuers persons as their state condition was diuers for the one was a lay man the other a Cleargie man the one was a Courtier the other a Prophet But in this they do both agrée that they might both be truly named Abdias that is to say the seruaunts of god For they both did God good seruice the one in sauing his Prophets from the cruel tyrannie of Iesabell and in giuing them bodily sustenance the other in vttering the Prophesie that God had reuealed vnto him and in feeding his people with spirituall foode The foode wherewith the Prophet féedeth Gods people is the foode of consolation and comforte whiche is ministred by the declaration of the certayn destruction of their enimies whiche is declared vnto them in these words Thus hath the Lorde Iehoua sayde The Lorde hathe spoken it Adonai is the Hebrue worde which signifieth such a Lorde as is an helper a sucourer a preseruer one that is of power might and also hath a care of his people Therfore was Ioseph called Adonai bicause he was an helper and succourer of the Egyptians bicause he was of great power might amōg them bicause he had not onely a care of the people but also by the pollicie wisdome that God had giuen him they were preserued in time of derth Such a Lorde sayth the Prophet hath spokē these words which he vttreth vnto the people And bicause there are many that are called Adonai or Lorde for difference sake he addeth this name Iehoua That Lorde saythe he whose name is Iehoua hathe spoken it who is God aboue all Lordes who is almightie and ruler of all the worlde and therefore is able to performe whatsoeuer he sayth and he hath alreadie sayd it it is alreadie determined and therefore can not be altered Although the minde of man may be changed God is vnchangeable he hath sayde it and therefore certeinly it shall come to passe For confirmation whereof it followeth VVe haue hearde this voyce from Iehoua The Prophet Ieremie
declaration of this double and triple sence of the Scripture and the manifolde commoditie thereof let vs consider the historie of Dauid persecuted by Saule and after exalted to the kingdome of Israell As touching the letter euery Christian mā that hath read the bookes of Samuel doth cōfesse that Dauid was liuing about a thousand yeres befere the cōming of our Sauiour in the flesh that béeing persecuted of king Saule he was diuers times in danger of death from the which God did wonderfully deliuer him and also deliuered Sauls into his hands but he would not lay hāds vpon him vnto death And when tidings was brought him that Saule was dead he executed the messenger as a murtherer bicause he confessed that he had slayn him Then he was proclaymed king and after that he was established in the kingdome he committed adultrie with Bethsabe and caused hir husband to be slayne and did other things displeasant vnto God for the whiche he was gréeuously punished This is the truth of the letter As touching the morall we learne by Dauids fall and the punishmēt of his wickednesse to looke circumspectly vnto our selues and to feare the Iudgemēt of God for our iniquities We learne by his whole life that affliction is a good scholemaster vnto godlinesse in that it restrayneth our carnall lustes and kéepeth downe our flesh but cōtrariwise prosperitie maketh vs forget the lawes of god for Dauid in aduersitie would not slay Saul the king when he was deliuered into his hands although he were his deadly enimie giuing vs an ensample of our duetie towards our Prince so narowly did he looke vnto his pathes but in prosperity he neglected Gods cōmandemēts swarued from his ordinances by cōmitting adultrie murther other offences Wherby we are taught that prosperitie is a slipperie place to stand vpon It is like an high stéepe mountayne narrow in the top vpō the which a man standing is in danger of euery wind to be blowē down to break his neck except he hold fast by some trée or hide him selfe vnder some bush or such like so in prosperity we are in dāger of euery assault of the flesh world diuel except we hold fast by a true faith in Christ who is a sure stay our only stay both in prosperitie aduersitie without whō we can not be safe neither in the moūt of honor welth nor in the valley of afflictiō For it may be that by the meanes of much rain the valley may be ouerflowē with water they drouned that dwel in it vnlesse they saue them selues by a bote or suche other meanes so in aduersitie we are in dāger to be ouerwhelmed with the waues of affliction to be prouoked to forsake God excepte we cleaue fast vnto Christ by a liuely fayth who is our only arke of saluation Therfore Dauid doth not say I trust in the valley but I trust in the Lord wherfore do they say vnto my soule flye vnto the mountains Thus much of the moral in the history of Dauid There is in it also an allegory or mystery prefiguring our sauiour Christ which we lerne by the words of the prophets Ezechiel Hoshea where God speaketh in thē after this sort I will set a shepherd ouer my shéepe he shall feede them euen my seruāt Dauid he shal féede them he shall be their shepheard I the Lord wil be their God and my seruant Dauid shall be the Prince among them he shall be king ouer thē and they shal haue one shepheard and my seruant Dauid shal be their Prince for euer The children of Israell shall turne and séeke the Lorde their God Dauid their king and shall feare the Lorde his goodnesse in the later days These Prophets Hoshea and Ezechiel liued the one thrée hundred yeres the other foure hundred yeres after Dauid Therfore séeing they prophesie of a Dauid to come after them in the later dayes and bicause they call him an euerlasting king which can not be verified of Dauid literally béeing a mortall man it is euident that they do meane an other prefigured by Dauid that is to say our Sauiour who gouerneth the true Israelites that is to say the elect people of God for euer who also in the Gospel calleth himselfe the good shepheard giuing vs to vnderstand that he is that Dauid the shepheard of Gods people of whome the Prophets do speake Therfore the historie of Dauid is mystically expounded thus Dauid in aduersitie therby brought downe as I may say vnto hell dothe signifie our Sauiour taking our nature vpon him and debacing him selfe vnto the lowest degrée hūbling him selfe vnto the death euen vnto the death of the crosse and Dauid deliuered from his enimies and placed in the kingdome doth signifie our Sauiour rising frō death and ascending vnto heauen where he is exalted vnto the right hand of God and gouerneth all the worlde Thus this historie may truly be expounded wherby we may vnderstande that in the holy scriptures much more is to be considered than the letter at the first sight offreth vnto vs After this sorte also the Apostle teacheth vs to expounde the historie of Salomon Dauids sonne God sayd vnto Dauid that he would giue him a sonne whose throne he would establish for euer and he would be his father and he should be his sonne where the letter directeth vs vnto Salomon who then had established the kingdome vnto him selfe when he had put to death those that rebelled against him and his father But the holy Ghost in the person of Salomon as in a type and figure teacheth vs that our sauiour Christ hauing subdued all the enimies of his father and of him selfe shall reigne for euer quietly with his faythfull seruants that herken vnto his lawes submit themselues vnto his gouernment Vnto this expositiō the Apostle leadeth vs where he applieth the words of almightie God vnto our sauiour saying Christ is so much the more excellent than Angels as he hath gotten him a more excellent name thā they For vnto which of the Angels saide he at any time Thou art my sonne this day haue I begotten thée And agayn I wil be his father he shall be my sonne Therefore séeing that the Apostle expoundeth the words to be spokē of our Sauiour which literally do appertein vnto Salomō I say that Salomō was a figure of our sauiour that in the history of Salomon there is an allegory besides the letter Likewise Ionas in the whales belly after deliuered by the power of God was not only an example of Gods omnipotent goodnesse but also a figure of the buriall resurrection of our Sauiour as we are taught by his owne interpretation in the Gospell And Hoshea the Prophet declaring the benefites of God towards the Israelites their vnthankfulnesse for the same reciteth their deliuerance out of Egypt In whom God
speketh those words out of Egypt I haue called my sonne Where the letter teacheth vs nothing else but the deliuerance of the Israelites out of captiuitie but the holy Ghost vnderstandeth moreouer the returning of our sauiour out of Egypt into his own couÌ„trey after the death of Herod For so the Prophets words are expounded in the Gospel Finally the Prophet Ieremy declaring the deliuerance of the Israelites out of captiuitie describeth first their gret affliction saying Thus saith the Lord a voyce was herd on high a mourning and bitter wéeping Rachell wéeping for hir childreÌ„ would not be comforted bicause they wer not Thus saith the Lord refraine thy voyce froÌ„ wéeping thine eyes from teres for thy work shal be rewarded saith the Lord they shal come again froÌ„ the laÌ„d of their enimies Here the letter teacheth vs only the returning of the Israelits froÌ„ the captiuity of BabiloÌ„ But the holy ghost therby vnderstaÌ„deth the lameÌ„tatioÌ„ of the Israelites for their Infants whoÌ„ Herode slue at the birth of our sauiour Christ as the EuaÌ„gelist witnesseth So I say in this Prophet Abdias besides that hath béene alreadie noted we are taught Christ and the destruction of our enimies by him for he hathe applied the writings of all the Prophets vnto him selfe when he accompanied the two Disciples vnto Emaus after his resurrection For S. Luke sayth that he began at Moses and at al the Prophets and interpreted vnto theÌ„ in all the scriptures those things that were written of him And S. Peter sayth Al the Prophets froÌ„ Samuel and thence foorth euen as many as haue written haue foretolde of those dayes that is to say of the wonderfull workes then wrought in the name of Christ and of his death and resurrection Also Zachary Iohn Baptist father praiseth the Lord God of Israel for our redeÌ„ption by Christ our mightie sauiour as he had promised by the mouth of his holy Prophets that haue bin from the beginning of the world Therfore séeing that all the Prophets haue forespoken of saluatioÌ„ by Christ Abdias also with the residue hath prophesied of him so that in this Prophet we may finde our deliuerance by Christ and consequently the destruction of Antichrist Which he dothe here first teach vs vnder the name of Edom Esau The signification of the word EdoÌ„ pointeth vs to the person and also to the place where Antichrist dwelleth For Edom in the Hebrue tong signifieth red or bloudie The Bishop of Rome which is Antichrist sheweth him selfe to be Edom that is red and bloudy both in outwarde appearance and also in his secrete deuises for he and his Cardinals his doctors and other his adherents are clothed in red the seruing men of his Clergie goe in red This is their colour wherewith they are delighted So also their dooings are red and bloudie For this is the fyrst decrée of their secret counsel at Trent Al they that professe the Gospel and are enimies vnto the Church of Rome shall be rooted out they shall be slayne and put to death their bloud shall be shed vpon the earth This is their bloudy decrée which they haue practised to the vtter most of their power héer in England in Scotland and of late in FrauÌ„ce and in many other places of Christendome as Germany Flanders Spayne and Italie So that they are altogither delighted in bloud and wil neuer be satisfied Therefore they maye well be called Edomits red bloudy meÌ„ Moreouer not only the signification of the worde but also the testimonie of diuers ancient writers leadeth vs to vnderstand by this name EdoÌ„ the Antichrist of Rome who are persuaded that he is not onely in outwarde pompe and shew and in déedes an Edomite but also in bloud kinred as one that had his beginning of the Edomites For Moses Gerundensis writing of the beginning of the Romanes sayth we haue heard in the bookes of the Chronicles of Ioseph ben Gorian and in other bookes of Antiquities that Sappho the sonne of Eliphas the sonne of Esau the father of the Edomites prouoked Ioseph the sonne of Iacob to warre wheÌ„ he was gouernour of Egypt In the which war Sappho the Edomite and his valiaunt captaynes were taken and caried into Egypt and there committed vnto prison where they remayned as long as Ioseph liued And when he was dead Sappho fledde away and went into Campania and reigned ouer Kittim at Rome At the length he was made king ouer all Italy and this was the first king of Rome Also Dauid Kimchi writing vpon this Prophete sayth The Edomites are nowe so mingled among other Nations that a man can not knowe them from the Ammonites and Moabites and the people of other Countreys sauing that the greater parte of the Edomites hath béene from the beginning of the kingdome of Rome Therefore what soeuer the Prophets haue spoken of the desolation of Idumea in the latter ende of the worlde they haue spoken it agaynst Rome For when soeuer Rome shall be destroyed Israell shall be deliuered Thus besides that these writers testifie that the Romanes had their beginning of the Edomites Kimchi saythe that by the Edomites the Prophetes doe vnderstande the Romanes And hée saythe moreouer Abdias prophesieth onely agaynst Edom not that externall Edom as it séemeth but an other that is to say agaynst the spirituall Edom the Antichrist of Rome whiche was little despised in the beginning but through the pride of his heart much exalted like an Eagle making his nest aboue the starres and rioting vpon the mounte of Sion Moreouer an other olde writer the author of the booke called Seder olam that is to say a rehearsall of antiquities calleth Rome Edom in these words Aspatian for so he termeth VespatiaÌ„ came and wasted the temple and caried away many families of the house of Dauid into Spayne and this was the. â—80 yeres of Edom or of the Romanes Finally Ionathan the Chaldey paraphrast in many places where the Prophetes name Edom in stéede therof he nameth Rome As for example The floudes of Edom sayth the Prophet shall be turned into pitche Which words the Paraphrast interpreting sayth The flouds of Rome shal be turned into pitche And vpon the last verse of this Prophet he sayth And they shal folow the sauiour froÌ„ the mount of Sion to giue senteÌ„ce agaynst the mount of Esau and that sayth he is the mount of Rome Thus it appereth by the iudgemeÌ„t of these writers that by the destruction of EdoÌ„ is vnderstanded the destruction of the Antichrist of Rome This is it therefore that the Prophet teacheth vs besides that hath bin already noted That almightie God hath determined to ouerthrow the persecuter of his children The Embassadour our sauiour Christ is alreadie sent and proclaymeth at this present by the mouth of his Preachers war against him saying vp let vs arise against Rome vnto battell let vs with al the gifts that God