Ezek. 17.16 2. That he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the Prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord 2 Chron. 36.12 13. Hitherto he had not but now in his distresse he seeketh to this Prophet yea sendeth an Embassage Kings care not for souldiers said a great Commander till their crowns hang on the one side of their heads Sure it is that some of them slight Gods Ministers till they cannot tell what to doe without them as here Kingdomes have their cares and Thrones their thornes Antigonus cried out of his diadem O vilis pannus O base rag not worth taking up at a mans feet Julian complained of his own unhappinesse in being made Emperour Dioclesian laid down the Empire as weary of it Thirty of the ancient Kings of this our Land saith Capgrave resigned their crowns such were their cares crosses and emulations Zedekiah now could gladly have done as much But sith that might not be He sendeth to Jeremiah whom in his prosperity he had slighted and to gratifie his wicked Counsellours wrongfully imprisoned He sent unto him Pashur Not that Magor-missabib chap. 20.1 but another of his name though not much better as it afterwards appeared when seeing Jeremies stoutnesse for the Truth he counselled the King to put him to death Chap. 38. And Zephaniah the son of Maasciah Of whom see further chap. 29.25 29. 37.3 Ver. 2. Enquire I pray thee of the Lord for us He seeketh now to the Lord whom in his prosperity he regarded not so doth a drowning man catch at the tree or twig which before he made no reckoning of Rarae fumant felicibus arae In their affliction they will seek me early Hos 5. ult When he slew them then they sought him and enquired earely after God Psal 78.34 Pharaoh when plagued calleth earnestly for Moses to pray for him and Joab when in danger of his life runneth to the horns of the Altar If so be the Lord will deal with us according to his wondrous works Or it may be the Lord will deal with us c. sc As he did not long since with Hezekiah when invaded by Sennacherib Thus wicked wretches are willing to presume and promise themselves impunity See Deut. 29.19 with the Note Ver. 3. Then said Jeremiah unto them He answereth them modestly and without insultation but freely and boldly as a man of an heroik spirit and the Messenger of the King of Kings Ver. 4. Behold I will turn back the weapons of War i. e. I will render them vain and uselesse as it is God who in battel ordereth the ammunition chap. 50.25 and maketh the weapons vain or prosperous Isa 54. ult Jer. 50.9 This was plainly seen at Edge-hill-fight Ver. 5. And I my self will fight against you This was heavy tidings to Zedekiah and his Courtiers Optassent sibi Prophetas qui dixissent laeta saith Oecolampadius they could have wished for more pleasing Prophecies but those that do what they should not must look to hear what they would not Such bitter answers as this they must look for who seek to God only in a time of necessity silence or else sad answers they shall be sure of Ver. 6. They shall dye of a great Pestilence See chap. 16.4 18.21 Hippocrates calleth the Pestilence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the divine disease Sr. Jo. Heyw. Life of Edw. the sixth because there is much of Gods hand in it like as there was here in the sweating sicknesse wherewith the English only were chased not only in England but in all Countries Ver. 7. And afterward saith the Lord This is noted by the Hebrew Criticks for a very long verse as having in it two and forty words which consist of one hundred and threescore letters and it sounds very heavily all along to the Courtiers especially Potentes potenter torquebuntur Ver. 8. Behold I will set before you the way of life and the way of death They should have their option but a very sad one Saved they could not be from their enemies but by their enemies nor escape death but by captivity which is a kind of living death and not much to be preferred before death Only life is sweet as the Gibeonites held it and therefore chose rather to be hewers of wood and drawers of water then to be cut off with the rest of the Canaanites Ver. 9. His life shall be unto him for a prey And lawful prey or booty is counted good purchase Isa 49.24 He shall save his life though he lose his goods And it should not be grievous to any man to sacrifice his estate to the service of his life why else did Solomon make so many hundreds of targets and sheilds of gold Ver. 10. For I have set my face against this City I have looked this City to destruction I have decreed it and will do it When our Saviour set his face to go towards this City Luke 9.51 he was fully resolved on it and nothing should hinder him See Levit. 17.10 20.5 Ver. 11. And touching the house of the King of Judah say i. e. His Courtiers and his Counsellours which probably were now as bad or worse then they had been in his Father Josias dayes Zeph. 3.3 Her Princes within her were roaring Lions her Judges evening wolves See the Notes Ver. 12. O house of David But much degenerated from the piety of David So Mic. 2.7 O thou that art named the house of Jacob are these his doings c. See the Notes there To be a degenerate plant of so noble a vine is no small discommendation Thus saith the Lord After that the Court had sent to him he is sent to the Court with these Instructions Execute justice in the morning As David your Progenitour and pattern did Psal 101.8 Be up and at it betime and make quick dispatch of causes that poor men may go home about their businesses who have other things to do besides going to Law It is a lamentable thing that a suit should depend ten or twenty years in some Courts Oecolamp quo saturentur avarissimi rabulae omnia bona pauperum exugentes through the avarice of some Pleaders to the utter undoing of their poor Clients This made one such when he was perswaded to patience by the example of Job to reply Mane i. e. Maturè What do ye tell me of Job Job never had any suits in Chancery Jethro adviseth Moses Exod. 18. to dismsse those timely whom he cannot dispatch presently Ver. 13. Behold I am against thee I who alone am a whole army of men Van and Reare both Isa 52.12 and may better say then any other How many reckon you me at O inhabitant of the valley i. e. Of Jerusalem called elsewhere the valley of vision It stood high but yet was compassed about with mountains that were higher Psal 125.2 See there And rock of the plain The bulwark and beauty of the whole adjacent Country Pliny saith that it was the most famous of
who had lately lost his head of obstinacy Camd. Elis fol. 562 rash counsels and wilful disdaining to ask pardon and wished that the French King would rather use milde severity than careless clemency cut off the heads of treacherous persons in time c. This might have terrified Biron from those wicked attempts which he was even at this time plotting against his King had not his mind been besotted But the power of his approaching fate did so blind him that within few months after he underwent the same death that Essex did though nothing so piously and christianly as having hardened his neck against wholsome counsel Now if men harden their hearts God will harden his hand and hasten their destruction and that without remedy Vers 2. When the righteous are in authority Or are increased as chap. 28.28 See the note there The people mourn Hebrew sigh as the oppressed Israelites in Egypt did where they dare not speak out But what a bloody tyrant was Sylla who put to death M. Plaetorius onely for sighing at the cruel execution of M. Marius Act. Mon. fol. 1164. So one Lancelot was burnt in Giles his fields for pittying the cruel death of a couple of Martyrs Vers 3. Who so loveth wisdome rejoyceth his father See the Note on Chap. 10.1 But he that keepeth company with Harlots See the note on chap. 5.9 Those she sinners as they call them are costly Creatures and they that keep them care not what cost they cast away upon them Vers 4. The King by judgement stablisheth the land This one piece of Salomons Politicks hath much more good advice in it than all Lypsius his Bee-hive or Machiavels Spider-web But he that receiveth gifts Heb. A man of oblations that is as some interpret it A man that sacrilegiously medleth with things dedicated to pious uses and makes a gain of them to himself See chap. 20.25 Vers 5. A man that flattereth his neighbour c. A smooth-boots Glaber as the word signifies a butter-spoken man see Isa 3.12 or a divided man for a flatterers tongue is divided from his heart Vers 6. In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare Or a cord viz. to strangle his joy with to check and choak all his comforts in the midst of his mirth he hath many a secret gripe and little knowes the world where his shooe pincheth him Every fowl that hath a seemly feather hath not the sweetest flesh nor doth every tree that bringeth a goodly leaf bear good fruit Glass giveth a clearer sound than Silver and many things glister besides Gold The wicked mans jollity is but the hypocrisie of mirth it may wet the mouth but not warm the heart smooth the brow but not fill the breast we may be sure that as Jezabel had a cold heart under a painted complexion so many a mans heart akes and quakes within him when his face counterfeits a smile But the righteous sing and rejoyce Good men only may be glad and none have any reason to rejoyce but they Hos 9.1 The Papists have a Proverb Spiritus Calvinianus est Spiritus melancholicus and the mad world are easily perswaded by the Devil that there is no comfort in a Christian course that your precise fellows live a melancholy and Monkish kind of life and have no joy of any thing Herein the Devil deals like those inhospitable salvages in America that make great fires and set forth terrible sights upon their Country-shore purposely to affright Passengers from landing there And as those wicked Spyes brought up an evil report of the Land of Canaan and thereby discouraged the people so doth the Devil and his Impes of the purity of religion and power of godlinesse as uncouth and uncomfortable when in truth there is no sound comfort without it no true joy but in it Though Saul could not be merry without a Fidler Ahab without Naboths Vineyard Hamon without Mordecaies courtesie yet a righteous man can be merry without all these Yea as the Lilly is fresh beautiful and looks pleasantly though among thorns so can he amidst troubles Paul than whom never any out of Hell suffered more did not only glory in tribulation but over-abound exceedingly with joy 2 Cor. 7.4 Vers 7. The righteous considereth the cause of the poor The cause not the person of the poor for that is forbidden in the Law Levit. 19.15 The great must not be favoured for their might nor the mean for their misery but Justice Justice must be done to all as Moses hath it that is even law and execution of right as the Oath runs that is given to our Judges without respect of persons The cause of the poor and needy must come into equal ballance with the rich and mighty lest hee be trampled on by those fat bulls of Basan to his utter undoing For a poor man in his house is like a Snail in his shell crush that and yee kill him But the wicked regardeth not to know it Unlesse there were more to bee got by it Felix had soon enough of Pauls defence because he expected some bribe from him but nothing came How ill-willing was that unjust Judge Luâ— 18. either to take knowledge of or to take course for the relief of the poor Widdow Aperi bursam apperiam buccam saith the greedy Lawyer they that cannot lavish mony out of the bag are little welcome to these Crâ—menimâ—lga as one calls them these Purse-suckers that will weigh your gold but not your cause and if a man put not into their mouths they even prepare war against him Mich. 3.5 Vers 8. Scornful men bring a City into a snare The Vulgar renders it Pestilent persons undoe a City or a State as Nahash did the Ammonites 1 Sam. 11.2 11. and as his son Hanan did much more 2 Sam. 10.4 with 12.31 Mocking is catching as the Pestilence and no less pernicious to the whole Country Giraldus Cambrensis tells of three Irish Kings that being derided for their rude habits and fashions rebelled and set the Country in a combustion And the young King of France jesting at William the Conquerours great belly whereof he said he lay in at Rouen so irritated him as he being recovered of a sickness entred France in the chiefest time of their fruits making spoyl of all in his way till he came even to Paris where this scornful King then was to shew him of his visiting Dan. Chron. 42 and from thence marcht to the City of Mants which hee utterly sackt and ransackt razed and harased But wise men turn away wrath They stand in the gap and divert the Divine displeasure Psal 106.23 Ezek. 13.5 Their persons are in acceptation God will look upon them and doe much for them when hee is most of all angry with the wicked Exod. 32.10 14. Job 22. ult Gen. 18.32 Their prayers also are prevalent something the Lord will yeeld thereunto when most bitterly bent against a people Matth. 24.20 and
rich fool in the Gospel either knew not or considered not Eat drink and bee merry said he to himself but God was not in all his thoughts How much better David Hope in the Lord saith he to himself and others and be doing good dwell in the Land and verily thou shalt be fed Psal 37.3 Vers 14. I know that whatsoever God doth it shall be for ever i. e. That his Decree is unchangeable that his counsel shall stand Prov. 19. that the Sun may sooner be stopt in his course than God hindered of his will or in his work sith his power and grace is irresistable Nature Angels Devils Men may all be resisted and so miss of their design Not so God For who hath resisted his will Vain men whiles like proud and yet brittle clay they will be knocking their sides against the solid and eternal Decree of God break themselves in peeces 1 King 1. as Adoniah did And whilest with Pompey vanquished by Julius Caesar they complain that there is a great mist upon the eye of Divine Providence they doe but blame the Sun because of the sorenesse of their blear eyes Certain it is and Solomon knows it though the best of Heathens doubted of it when they saw good men suffer bad men prosper that every Creature walks blind-fold only he that dwels in light sees whither they goe and that the Charrets of all effects and actions come forth from between those mountains of Brasse Gods provident Decrees and counsels most firm and immutable Zach. 5.6 That men should fear before him And not lay the reigns in the neck casting away all care upon pretence of Gods decree as that French King did Ludo. 11. that thus desperately argued Si salvabor salvabor si vero damnabor damnabor If I shall bee saved I shall bee saved and if I shall bee damned I shall bee damned therefore I will live as I list This was to suck poyson out of a sweet flower to dash against the Rock of ages to fall into the pit like a profane beast which was digged for better purpose Exod. 21.23 to stumble at the word an ill sign and yet an ordinary sinne whereunto also they were appointed 1 Pet. 2.8 A bridge is made to give men safe passage over a dangerous River but hee that stumbleth on the bridge is in danger to fall into the River So here Vers 15. That which hath been is now c. viz. With God to whom all things are present Rom. 4.17 2 Pet. 3.8 Jer. 1.5 6 7. Hence God is said to know future things Exod. 3.9 John 18.4 not to foreknow them For indeed neither foreknowledge nor remembrance are properly in God sith his whole Essence is wholly an eye or a mind it is the example or pattern of all things so that hee needs but to look upon himself and then hee seeth all things as in a glass The eye of man beholds many things at once as Ants in a mole-hill but if it will see other things at the same time it must remove the sight The mind of man can take in a larger circuit even a City a Country a World but this it doth onely in the lump or whole masse of it for else it must remove from form to form and from thought to thought But God takes all at once most stedfastly and perfectly All things without him are but as a point or ball which with as much ease hee discerneth as wee turn our eyes And God requireth that which is past Or enquireth asketh that which is by-gone hee bespeaks it as present calling those things that are not as if they were Non aliter scivit Deus creatae quam creanda saith Austin God knew things to be created as if they had been before created Vers 16. The place of judgement that wickedness was there i. e. That wrong reigned in the places of Judicature that Justice was shamefully perverted and publick Authority abused to publick injury Cato saw as much in the Roman States and complained that private robbers were laid in cold irons A. Gell. lib. 21. cap. 16. when publick theeves went in gold chains and were cloathed in Purple Another not without cause complains that even among us Christians some follow the administration of Justice as a trade onely with an unquenchable and unconscionable desire of gain which justifies the common resemblance of the Courts of Justice to the Bush whereto whiles the Sheep flyes for defence in ill weather hee is sure to lose part of his fleece Such wickedness saw the Wiseman in the place of Judgement where hee least looked for it God himself looked for judgement but behold a scab Isa 5.7 So the Hebrew hath it Vers 17. I said in my heart God shall judge c. Hee did not deny the Divine Providence as Averroes for this cause did much less did hee turn Atheist with Diagoras because hee could not have Justice done upon a fellow that had stollen a Poem of his and published it in his own name But hee concluded within himself Psal 37. that God would surely take the matter into his own hand Judge those unrighteous Judges right and relieve the oppressed bring forth their righteousness as the light and their innocency as the noon-day if not in this world yet certainly at that great Assizes to bee held by his sonne Because hee hath appointed a day in the which hee will judge the world in righteousness whereof hee hath given assurance to allmen c. Act. 17 31. His petty Sessions he keepeth now letting the Law pass upon some few corrupt Judges by untimely death disgraces banishment remorse of conscience c. as hee did upon Judge Morgan that condemned the Lady Jane Gray Judge Hales Belknap Empson Dudley that I speak not of Pilate Felix c. reserving the rest till the great Assizes 1 Tim. 5.24 Some hee punisheth here lest his Providence but not all lest his patience and promise of Judgement should be called into question as Austin well observeth His two and twenty learned Books De civitate Dei were purposely written to clear up this truth And so were Salvians eight Books De gubernatione Dei de justo praesentique ejus judicio Vers 18. That they might see that they themselves are beasts It is reckoned a great matter that wicked men are made to know themselves to bee but men and no more Psal 37 22. Psal 9.20 But God will make good men see and say with David Ambr. in Psal 72. So foolish was I and ignorant I was as a Beast before thee Pulchre addidit Apúd te saith Ambrose upon those words Elegantly said the Psalmist Before thee because in respect of God what is man but an unreasonable Beast He that is wisest among men Socrat. apud Platon said Socrates who himself was held the wisest of men if hee bee compared to God Simia videbitur non sapiens hee will seem rather an Ape
saw a pit full of mans blood O formosum spectaculum O brave sight The very name Dimon signifieth bloody so called as some think on this occasion instead of Dibon the old name ver 2. Additamenta plegarum Haymo I will bring more upon Dimon Lions upon him that escapeth of Moab Heb. I will put additions upon Dimon i. e. additions of evils viz. Lions and other like fierce and cruel creatures which shall prey upon the Moabites there Chap. 35.9 2 King 17.25 Some say by Lion is here meant Nebuchadnezzar Jer. 4.7 fitly compared to a Lion for his strength and swiftness Certain it is that God hath in store plenty of plagues for evil-doers and if they escape one mischief they shall fall into another their preservation is but a reservation except they repent CHAP. XVI Ver. 1. SEnd ye the Lamb For prevention of those Lions Chap. 15.9 submit to Hezekiah your right Liege-Lord 2 Sam. 8.2 with 2 King 3.4 a Lamb i.e. your appointed number of tribute-Lambs in token of homage But especially make your peace with God the Ruler of the whole World 1 Chron. 29.12 by paying him homage and fealty that there may be a lengthening of your tranquillity Strabo lib. 16. From Selo in the wilderness otherwise called Petra because beset with rocks whence the countrey it stood in was called Arabia Petraea Some make it the head-City of Moab others of Edom a place it seemeth it was full of cattle and by King Amaziah who took it called Jokâ—eel 2 King 14.7 Alioqui fiet Jun. Ver. 2. For it shall be that as a wandring bird c. Or Otherwise it shall be that as c. i. e. except ye do as I have advised you ver 1. a double mischief shall befal you 1 dissipation as a wandring bird c. 2 deportation at the foords of Arnon where ye shall be carried captive As a wandring bird See Prov. 27.8 with the Note Ver. 3. Take counsel execute judgment Or make a decree or deal equally and uprightly shew the like kindness to Abrahams posterity as he once did to your proginitour Lot whom he rescued or as Lot did to the Angels whom as strangers he entertained fac inquam quod suggero dum subdo Make thy shadow as the night in the midst of noonday i. e. Shelter and shade my persecuted people este illis securum perfugium jucundum refrigerium protect them refresh them do all kâ—nd offices for them which your fathers did not but the contrary Deut. 23.3 4. Ver. 4. Let mine out-casts who are dear to me Jer. 30.17 though I may seem to have cast off the care of them Out easts they may be but not castawayes See chap. 52.5 6. persecuted but not forsaken 2 Cor. 4.9 Bowels of mercy must be put on toward godly Exiles especially who are Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and should therefore be dear to us For the extortioner is at an end Heb. Emunctor the Milker or Squeezer or Wâ—inger out Prov. 30.33 so the Assyrian Tyrant is called as also Vastator Proculcator the spoiler or plunderer and Conculcator the Oppressour or Treader down is consumed out of the Land and it shall not be long ere I fetch home my banished be content therefore to harbour them awhile herein thou shalt do thy self no disservice at all Ver. 5. For in mercy or piety shall the throne be established Hezekiah's throne shall but especially Christs from whom ye may once have occasion to borrow that mercy which now you are called upon to lend to those outcasts of Israel And he shall set upon it i. e. He shall make it his business to relieve and right his people And seeking judgment Making inquisition after wrongs of such as dare not complain The Grand Signior they say shew himself on purpose weekly abroad for the receiving the poors petitions and punishing the Grandees of his Court by whom they are oppressed whence also he stileth himself Awlem Penawh i. e. the world 's Refuge And hastening justice Dispatching and dispeeding causes Ver. 6. We have heard of the pride of Moab His harsh and haughty carriage toward Gods poor people though he were advised the contrary ver 1.3 4. Good counsel is but cast away upon a proud person Now the Moabites were as much noted then for their pride as now the Spaniards are And their pride appeared by their braggs and threats But His lyes shall not be so Or his indignation is more then his strength as Hierom rendreth it His boastings and blusters shall come to nothing his pride shall be his bane and break-neck Ver. 7. Therefore shall Moab houle for Moab One Moabite to another or each within himself ut solent desperantes For the foundations of Kirharesheth Which shall be utterly rased and harased Kirhareseth is interpreted the city of brick walls as was Babylon or rather the city of the Sun as Bethshemesh and Heliopolis because there the Sun was in a special manner worshipped Shall ye mourn Or roar or mutter or muse Ver. 8. For the fields of Heshbon languâ—sh as being decayed and destroyed hence so great mourning in Moab Their father and founder was begotten in wine and themselves were likely great wine-bibbers Historians say that some of their Cities were built by Baâ—chus Fitly therefore are these drunken Moabites bereft of their vines as those gluttonous Sodomites were of their victuals Gen. 14.11 The Drunkards motto is Take away my liquour and take away my life The Lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants therereof The great Turk causeth all the vines to be cut down wherever he cometh as hearing out of the Alchoran that in every grape there dwelleth a devil Ver. 9. Therefore I will bewail with the weeping Defleo fletum Paronomasia that is the misery of Jazer Or I will with weeping bewail Jazer and the vine of Sibmah For the shouting for thy summer-fruits i.e. Thy joy and jollity over thy summer-fruits and over thine harvest expressed by songs and shouts do now fail and cease Ver. 10. And gladness is taken away Laetitia i. e. quicquid laetificum erat all matter of mirth is removed Heb. gathered up or gathered in as your harvest also is to your hand by the enemy Ver. 11. Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab The elect of God holy and beloved have bowels of mercy Ego ex intimiâ— visceribuâ— meis conturbaâ—m Jun. tenderness and kindness toward their very enemies also Colos 3.12 whom they do oft pitty more then they pitty themselves as Habakkuk did the Chaldeans calamity Chap. 3.16 and as Daniel did Nebuchadnezzars downfal Dan. 4.19 Sicut cithara plectro tacta dat sonitum in funere funereum As they have mournful musick at funerals Jer. 9.17 20. Mat. 9 23. or as the strings of a Shaulm sound heavily so do my heart-strings for miserable Moab In an harp if one string be touched all the rest sound so it should
seeth that his day is coming Psal 37.12 13. And to cut of from Tyrus and Sidon The inhabitants whereof were the Philistines kinsmen and confederates but could not rescue them or deliver themselves from the Chaldean Conquerour The remnant of the Country of Caphtor These Caphtorius were neither the Cappadocians the Cyprians nor the Colchians as sundry make them but as of the same lineage with the Philistines Gen. 10.13 14. so their complices and confederates with whom therefore they were to fare alike Levit. 19.27 28. Jer. 16.6 Ver. 5. Baldnesse is come upon Gaza i. e. Extreme grief which might have been prevented had she profited by her former calamity ver 1. But till God come in with sanctifying grace Afflictions those hammers of his do but beat upon cold iron Adrichom Askelon is cut off Or is silenced which was wont to be full of singing dancing and loud luring Here was born they say Herod the insanticide sirnamed therefore Ascalonita With the remnant of their valley Palestine lay most of it low and was yet to be laid lower Ver. 6. O thou sword of the Lord So called because whencesoever it cometh it is bathed in heaven Isa 34.5 See chap. 25.29 Judg. 7.18 20. How long will it be ere thou be quiet Erisne in opere semper wilt thou ever be eating flesh and drinking blood war the shorter the better Of the Pirates war as the Romans called it Aug. de Civit. Dei Augustine reporteth to the just commendation of Pompey that it was by him incredibili celeritate temporis brevitate confectum quickly dispatcht and made an end of Ver. 7. How can it be quiet Heb. How shalt thou be quiet Here the Prophet quieteth himself howsoever by an humble submission to his holy will who had put the sword in commission Gods will is the rule of right neither can force or entreaty prevaile ought against it in this world much lesse in the world to come where each one must hold him to his doom which is irreversible CHAP. XLVIII Ver. 1. AGainst Moab That bastardly brood infamous for their inveterate hatred of Gods Israel at whom they were anciently irked fretted vexed though no way provoked Num. 22.3 whom also they outwitted by the counsel of Balaam in the businesse of Baal-peor Num. 25. had been plagued and judged by the Kings of Israel by David especially as also by Sennacherib Isa 15 and 16. but were no whit amended and are therefore here and Ezek. 25.9 threatned with utter destruction by the Chaldeans and that very much in a scoffing way like as they were a proud petulant scornful people despisers of all other Nations but especially of the Jews their near neighbours and Allyes Woe unto Nebo Their oracular City as it may seem by the name See Esa 15.2 Eipolis Kirjathaim is confounded It is of a dual forme and so seemeth to have been a double City as was of old Jerusalem and as are now Rome Prague Cracovia Misgab is confounded It signifieth the high place and is the same say some with Bamoth Num. 21 20. Selah Isa 16.1 Ver. 2. There shall be no more praise of Moab This may be taken either of a City so called or of the whole Country as now Muscovia is oft put for all Russia Aâ—iopolis dâ—cta Adudit sâ—â—è Propheta ad singularum civitatum nomina Jun. In Heshoâ— they have devised evil against it Or better thus De Heshbone c. As concerning Heshbon they the Chaldees have devised evil against it There is an elegant allusion in the original to the names of the places both in Hâ—shbon and in Madmen Ver. 3. A voice of crying They would not cry for their sins they shall therefore cry for their miseries with desperate and bootlesse tears and yet worse one day Ver. 4. Moab is destroyed i. e. Shall be shortly Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard Whilst they either are forsaken of their parents as chap. 47.3 or else see them to be slain or carried away captives Ver. 5. Continual weeping shall go up Heb. weeping with weeping shall go up i. e. They shall weep abundantly Ver. 6. Flee save your lives Whatever else ye lose And be like the heath in the wildernesse Which is little worth See chap. 17.6 Sit there sad and solitary Ver. 7. For because thou hast trusted in thy works Thy creature-confidence and thine idolatry have undone thee Chemosh shall go forth into captivity Chemosh unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the Moabites God and is thought to be the same with Bacchus or Priapus He is here called Chemish by way of contempt Ver. 8. And the spoiler shall come i e. Nebuchadnezzar As the Lord hath spoken Who hath given him a commission and made him his executioner Ver. 9. Give wings unto Moab Let him flee his utmost addat timor alas but the Chaldaean Eagle will easily overcatch him Ver. 10. Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully Or slackly or hastingly to the halves Latè patet haec sententia The work of destroying Moab is here mainly meant But the text taketh in all lawful employments these are Gods works and must be done vigorously with all our might in obedience to God and for his greatest glory Not Souldiers only that have a good cause and in a good calling must likewise take a good courage and do execution lustily but Magistrates also who are Keepers of both Tables of the Law must do right to all without partiality accounting it better to be counted a busy Justice then an honest Gentleman Ministers must look to the Ministry which they have received of the Lord Verbi minister es hoc age Perkinsi hoc erat symbâ—lum to fulfil the same Every man in his particular place and station must be not slothful in businesse but fervent in Spirit serving the Lord non tanquam canis ad Nilum sed ut Cygnus ad Thamesin in Gods immediate service especially men must stir up themselves to take hold of him minding the work and not doing it in a customary formal bedulling way A very Heathen could say Aristides Ignavia in rebus divinis est nefaria Dulnesse in divine duties is abominable And Numa King of the Romans made a Law that none should be carelesse or cursory in the service of God and appointed an Officer to cry oft to the people at such a time Hoc agite Mind what ye are about and do it to your utmost He that is ambitious of Gods curse let him do otherwise Ver. 11. Moab hath been at ease from his youth And his ease hath destroyed him as Prov. 1.32 He dwelleth near the Mare mortuum and is become a very mare mortuum i. e. a dead Sea Because he hath had no changes therefore he feareth not God Psal 55.19 Sibi constat in facultatibus c. he is rich and resty here 's good booty for the Souldiers who should therefore bestir
own two innocent Nephews had fearful dreams insomuch that hee did often leap out of his bed in the dark and catching his sword which alway naked stuck by his side hee would go distractedly about the Chamber every where seeking to finde out the cause of his own-occasioned disquiet So Charles the ninth of France after that bloody Massacre of Paris was so inwardly terrified that hee was every night laid to sleep Thuâ—n lib. 57. and wakened again with a set of Musicians Vers 25. Bee not afraid Or thou shalt not bee afraid Nec si fractus illabatur orbis Sudden evils do commonly dis-spirit people and expectorate their abilities they be at their wits end But let a David walk through the vale of the shadow of death that is the darkest side of death death in its most horrid and hideous representations hee will not fear no though hee should go back again the same way for thou art with mee saith hee Hee had God by the hand and so long hee feared no colours Psal 23.4 Vers 26. For the Lord shall bee thy confidence The Hebrew word here used signifies both unconstant folly Eccles 7.27 and constant hope Psal 78.7 And Rabbi Solomon saith that hee had found in the Jerusalem-Targum this Text thus censured and expounded The Lord shall bee with thee in thy folly that is hee shall turn to thy good even thine inconsiderate and rash enterprizes if thou addict thy self to the study of wisdome And shall keep thy foot from being taken In the snare which thou wast near unto by chusing rather to bee held temerarious than timorous Vers 27. With-hold not good from them to whom it is due Either by the Law of equity or of charity For there is a debt of love Rom. 13.8 that wee must ever bee owing and ever pay And as wee say of thanks Gratiae habendae agendae Thanks must bee given and held as still due so must this debt of love Quicquid Clerici habent pauperum est saith Hierome It s true in a sense of others as well as of Ministers The poor Gods poor are the owners of that wee have wee are but stewards and dispensers of Gods bounty to his necessitous servants Now if our receits bee found great and our layings out small God will cast such bills back in our faces and turn us out of our stewardship They are fools that fear to lose their wealth by giving but fear not to lose themselves by keeping it When it is in the power of thy hand When thou hast opportunity and ability for wee must not stretch beyond the staple that were to marre all Neither when a price is put into our hands may wee play the fools and neglect it But wheresoever God sets us up an Altar Prov. 17.16 wee must bee ready with our Sacrifice of Alms for with such Sacrifices God is well-pleased Heb. 13. See my common place of Alms. Vers 28. To morrow Bis dat qui cito dat while yee have time do good to all your beneficence must bee prompt and present who can tell what a great-bellyed day may bring forth Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God Weoâ—sâ— Psal 58.32 currere faciet manus suas ad Dominum to note their speediness in giving Isa 23.18 saith one Tyrus also when converted once makes haste to feed and cloathe Gods poor Saints with the money and Merchandise shee was wont to heap up and hoard Vers 29. Devise not evil against thy neighbour Heb. Plow not evil i. e. plot not One of the Rabbines renders it Suspect not shun evil surmises 1 Tim. 6.4 Most unkindnesses among friends grow upon mistakes misprisions charity is candid and takes every thing in the best sense and by the right handle 1 Cor. 13. Vers 30. Strive not with a man without cause If mens hearts were not bigger than their sutes there would not bee half so many It is a fault to go lightly to Law but especially with such as have done thee no harm Zuinglius renders this Text thus Ne temere litem cum quoquam suscipias quo minus superior factus malum tibi retribuat Others sim mendax nisi rependat tibi malum Life of Card. Wolsey How Cardinal Wolsey when hee became Lord Chancellour paid home Sir James Paulet for setting him by the heels when as yet hee was but a poor School-master is well known How much better Arch-bishop Cranmer of whom the proverb passed Do my Lord of Canterbury a shrewd turn and you shall have him your friend for ever after Act. Mon. And Robert Holgat Arch-bishop of York of whom it is recorded that in the year 1541. hee obtained a benefice in a place where one Sir Francis Askew of Lincolnshire dwelt by whom hee was much troubled and molested in Law Upon occasion of these sutes hee was fain to repair to London where being hee found means to become the Kings Chaplain and by him was made Arch-bishop of York and President of the Kings Council for the North. The Knight before-mentioned happened to have a sute before the Council there and doubted much of hard measure from the Archbishop whose adversary hee had been But hee remembring the rule of the Gospel Godw. Catalog 625. to do good for evil yeelded him all favour that with justice he might saying afterwards merrily to his friends hee was much beholden to Sir Francis Askew for that had not hee been hee must have lived a hedge-Priest all the daies of his life Vers 31. Envy not the oppressor That grows rich by unjust quarrels and vexatious Law-sutes It is not for nothing surely that our Saviour Luke 12.15 after Who made mee a Judge adds Take heed and beware of covetousness Implying that most men go to Law with a covetous oâ— a vindictive mind whereas if they will needs wage Law they should do it as Charles the French King made war with our Henry the seventh more desiring peace than profit or victory It should bee with men in this case as it was with St. Austin and Hierom in their Disputations It was no matter who gained the day they would both win by understanding their errours Vers 32. For the froward is abomination The Vitilitigator the Wrangler the Common-barreter though hee may prosper in the world yet God cannot abide him his money will perish with him Hee will one day say to his cursed heaps of evil-gotten goods as Charles the fifth Emperour Phil. Morn in his old age did of his victories trophees riches honours hee cursed them all saying Abite hinc abite longe Avaunt bee packing hence away But his secret They shall bee of his Cabinet-councel that chuse rather to lye in the dust than to rise by evil arts by wicked principles such were Joseph Micaiah Daniel c. Vers 33. In the house of the wicked His wife children family possessions all are accursed his fine cloaths have the plague in them Or his house which
Hee that keepeth his mouth As the guard keepeth the gates in a siege God hath set a double guard of lips and teeth before this gate and yet unless hee himself set the watch and keep the door all will bee lost Psal 141.3 But hee that openeth wide his lips As shee did her feet to multiply her Whoredomes Ezek. 16.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gaping-mouthed men are noted for fools by Lucian and Aristophanes Scalig Arab Prov. cent 1. Prov. 75. An open mouth is a purgatory to the Master say wee And cave ne feriat lingua tua collum tuum say the Arabians in their Proverb Take heed that thy tongue cut not thy throat Vers 4. The soul of the sluggard desireth c. Vult non vult piger so the Vulgar reads it The sluggard would and hee would not hee would have the end but hee would not use the means hee would sit at Christs right hand but hee would not drink of his cup or bee baptized with his baptism Lyra compares these men to Cats that would fain have fish but are loath to wet their feet This is an English Proverb for Lyra was a famous English Jew and flourished in the year of Grace 1320. Affection without endeavour is like Rachel beautiful but barren But the soul of the diligent shall bee made fat i. e. Those that work as well as wish that adde endeavours to their desires as 2 Cor. 8.11 David ravished with the meditation of the good mans blessedness presently conceives this desire and purlues it not Oh that I had this happiness but Oh that I could use the means that nay wayes were so directed Psal 119.4 5. Vers 5. A righteous man hateth lying Hateth it as hell Rom. 12.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I hate and abhor lying saith David Psal 119.163 and yet among other corruptions hee had an inclination to this sin See how roundly hee tells three or four lyes together 1 Sam. 21.2.8 and 1 Sam. 27.8 10. but hee both hated it in himself and prayed against it Psal 1â—9 29 But a wicked man is loathsome Stinks above ground a lyer especially is looked upon as a Pest Riches cannot make a man so graceful as lying will disgrace him for a poor man walking in his integrity is better than a rich man that is a lyer Prov. 19.22 Hence the lyer denies his own lye because hee is ashamed to bee taken with it Some read it thus A wicked man maketh others loathsome and casteth shame upon them sc by raising or reporting lyes of them by blasting or blemishing their good names Thus Core and his Complices sought to cast an odium on Moses the Pharisees upon our Saviour the Arrians upon Athanasius the Papists upon Wicliffe whom Biâ—ius slanders for his missing the Bishoprick of Worcester to have fallen upon that successful contradiction Epiphan like as the spiteful Jews said Paul did because hee could not obtain the High-priests daughter to wife Vers 6. Righteousness keepeth him that is upright That though belyed or otherwise abused hee will not let go his integrity Job 27.5 Davids feet stood on an even place Psal 26.12 The Spouse though despoiled of her veil and wounded by the watch yet cleaves close to Christ Cant. 5. Not but that the best are sometimes disquieted in such cases for not the evenest weights but at their first putting into the ballance somewhat sway both parts thereof not without some shew of inequality which yet after some little motion settle themselves in a meet poize and posture But wickedness overthroweth the sinner Hebr. the sin as if the man were transformed into sins image What is the transgression of Jacob Is it not Samaria Lips Antiq. lect Mic. 1.5 Tubulus quidam paulo supra Ciceronem Praetor fuitâ— homo tam projecte improbus ut ejus nomen non hominis sed vitii esse videretur saith Lipsias The Pope is called the Man of sin 2 Thess 3.2 to note him Merum scelus saith Beza made up meerly of sin Vers 7. There is that maketh himself rich Such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the witty Gretian calleth them there are not a few that stretch their wing beyond their nest that bear a port beyond their estate that trick up themselves with other mens plumes laying it on above measure in cloaths fair building c when not worth a groat but dye in prison or make a fraudulent composition This is no better before God than rapine and robbery There is that makes himself poor c. As the new-elected Pope doth when in his Lateran procession hee casts among the people peeces of brass and copper B. Halls Serm. saying Silver and gold have I none but such as I have I give you So the Friats are a race of people saith one that hath been long amongst them that are alwaies vowing obedience Spec. Europ but still contentioâ—s Chastity yet most luxurious Poverty yet every where scraping and covetous No Cappucine may take or touch silver at the offer of it hee starts back as Moses from the Serpent B. Halls Epist 5. D c. 1. Godw Catal. yet hee carries a boy with him that takes and carries it and never complains of either metal or measure Wee had in King Stephens dayes a rich Chancellor of England who yet was and would bee called Roger paupere censu Vers 8. The ransome of a mans life are his riches They may help a man out at a dead lift and get him a release out of captivity or a lease of his life Slay us not say they Jer. 41.8 for wee have treasures in the field c. So hee forbore and slew them not among their brethren Some read it thus The price of a mans life are his riches It costs him his life that hee is rich as Naboth and as many Turkish Visiers Dio in Calig In the dayes of Caligula the Tyrant publicum crimeu fuit divicem fuisse it was crime enough to bee rich And in the reign of Henry the second of France many were burned for Religion as was pretended but indeed Hist of Councel of Trent 387. to satiate the covetousness of Diana Valentina the Kings Mistress to whom hee had given all the confiscations of goods made in the Kingdome for cause of heresie But the poor heareth not rebuke Hee scapes many times as not considerable as not worth a chiding as under law In a Tragedy there is no place for a poor man but onely to dance as Arrian hath observed upon Epictetus Sol non patitur celipsin sed videtur tautum pâ—â—i Vers 9. The light of the righteous rejoyceth As the Sun rejoyceth to run his race and seemeth sometimes to suffer eclipse but doth not A Saints joy is as the light of the Sun fed by heavenly influence and never extinct but diffused through all parts of the world But the Lamp of the wicked shall bee put out Their joy is but as the
unsearchable Profundum sine fundo God gave Salomon a large heart even as the sand that is on the Sea-shore 1 Kings 4.29 A vast capacity an extraordinary judgement and wisdome to reserve himself No bad cause was too hard for him to detect no practices which he did not smell out no complotter which he did not speedily intrap in their wiles as Adonijah Vers 4. Take away the drosse from the silver The holy Prophets were not onely most exactly seen in the peerless skill of Divinity but most exquisitely also furnished with the entire knowledge of all things natural Hence their many Similies wherewith they learnedly beautifie their matter and deck out their terms words and sentences giving thereunto a certain kind of lively gesture attiring the same with light perspicuity easiness estimation and dignity stirring up thereby mens drowsie minds to the acknowledgement of the truth and pursute of godliness Vers 5. Take away the wicked Who are compared elsewhere also to dross Ezek. 22.19 and fitly for as dross is a kind of unprofitable earth and hath no good metal in it so in the wicked is no good to be found but pride worldliness c. Forbisher in his voyage to discover the Straits being tossed up and down with foul weather snows and unconstant winds returned home having gathered a great quantity of stones which he thought to be minerals from which when there could be drawn neither gold nor silver nor any other metal we have seen them saith Master Camden cast forth to mend the high ways Evill Counsellours about a Prince Camd. Elisah fol. 189. are means of a great deal of mischief as were Doâ—g Haman Rheoboams and Herods flatterers Pharoahs sorcerers c. Of a certain Prince of Germany it was said Esset alius si esset apud alios He would be another man if he were but amongst other men Say they be not so drossie but that some good oar is to be found in them yet all is not good that hath some good in it It is Scaligers Note Malum non est nisi in bono The original nature of the Devil is good wherein all his wickedness subsisteth When one highly commended the Cardinal Julian to Sigismund hee answered Tamen Romanus est yet he is a Roman and therefore not to bee trusted Those Cardinals and Popish Bishops being much about Princes have greatly impoysoned them and hindered the Reformation Zuinglius fitly compares them to that wakeful Dragon that kept the golden fleece as the Poets have feigned They get the royalty of their ear and then doe with them whatsoever they list David therefore vows as a good Finer to quit the Court of such drosse Psal 101.4 and gives order upon his death-bed to his Son Salomon to take out of the way those men of bloud 1 King 1. that his throne might be established in righteousnesse Vers 6. Put not forth thy self in the presence of the King Ne te ornes coram rege Compare not vye not with him in apparel furniture house-keeping c. as the Hebrews sense it This was the ruine of Cardinal Wolsey and of Viscount Verulam And stand not in the place of great men Exalt not thy self but wait till God shall reach out the hand from Heaven and raise thee Psal 75.5 6 7 8. Adonijah is branded for this that he exalted himself saying I will be King 1 King 1.5 When none else would lift Hildebrand up into Peters Chair he gat up himself Quintil. lib. 9. cap. 2. For who said he can better judge of my worth than I can Harden thy fore-head said Calvus to Vatinius and say boldly that thou deservest the Praetorship better than Cato Ambition rides without reigns as Tullia did over the dead body of her own father to bee made a Queen See my common-place of Ambition Vers 7. For better it is that it be said unto thee From this Text our Saviour takes that Parable of his put forth to those that were bidden to a feast Luk. 14.10 Now if before an earthly Prince men should carry themselves thus modestly and humbly how much more before the King of heaven And if among guests at a feast how much more among the Saints and Angels in the holy assemblies That is an excellent saying of Bernard Omnino oportet nos orationis tempore curiam intrare coelestem in qua Rex regum stellato sedet solio circumdante innumerabili ineffabili beatorum Spirituam exercitu Quantâ ergo cum reverentiâ quanto timore Bern. de divers quantâ illuc humilitate accedere debet è palude sua procedens repens vilis ranuncula At prayer-time we should enter into the Court of heaven where sitteth the King of Kings with a guard of innumerable blessed Spirits With how great reverence then with how great fear and self-abasement should wee come like so many vile Vermine creeping and crawling out of some sorry pool or puddle Vers 8. Goe not forth hastily to strive Contention is the Daughter of Arrogance and Ambition Jam. 4.1 Hence Salomon whose very name imports peace perswades to peaceablenesse very oft in this Book and sets forth the mischief or strife and dissention Stir not strife saith he but make haste to stint it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heredot so the words may be rendred you may doe that in your haste that you may repent by leasure Hasty men wee say never want woe If every man were a law to himself as the Thracians are said to be there would not bee so much lawing warbling and warring as there is There is a curse upon those that delight in War as King Pyrrhus did Psal 68.30 but a blessing for all the children of peace Mat. 10. who shall also bee called the Children of God Mat. 5. Paul and Barnabas had a sharp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but short fit of falling out Acts 15.39 Hierom and Austine had their bickerings in their Disputations but it was no great matter who gained the day for they would both win by understanding their errours When thy Neighbour hath put thee to shame That is when thine Adversary hath got the upper hand and foyled thee Those are ignoble quarrels saith one Vbi vincere inglorium est atteri sordidum wherein whether a man get the better or the worse he is sure to go by the worse to sit down with loss in his name state or both Vers 9. Debate thy cause with thy Neighbour c. What shall I do then may some say if I may not right my self by law You may saith he so you do it deliberately and have first privately debated the cause out of desire of agreement and moved for a compremise See Mat. 18.15 And discover not the secret of another Meerly to be revenged on him for some supposed injury There are that in their rage care not what they disclose to the prejudice of another Charity chargeth the contrary 1 Cor. 13. It claps a plaister on the sore
Father who tells him there that which hee found true by experience Loe children are an heritage of the Lord c. for by all his Wives Salomon had none but one Son and him none of the wisest neither Vers 2. What my son and what the son of my wombe An abrupt speech importing abundance of affection even more than might be uttered There is an Ocean of love in a Parents heart a fathomless depth of desire after the Childes welfare in the mother especially Some of the Hebrew Doctors hold that this was Bathsheba's speech to her son after his fathers death when she partly perceived which way his Genius leaned and lead him that then shee schooled him in this sort q. d. Is it even so my son my most dear son c. O doe not give thy strength to women c. Vers 3. Give not thy strength to women Waste not unworthily the fat and marrow of thy dear and precious time the strength of thy body the vigor of thy spirits in sinful pleasures and sensual delights See chap. 5.9 Nor thy wayes to that which destroyeth Kings Venery is called by one Deaths best Harbinger It was the destruction of Alexander the great of Otho the Emperour called for his good parts otherwise Miraculum mundi of Pope Sextus the fourth qui decessit tabidus voluptate saith the Historian dyed of a wicked waste and of Pope Paul the fourth of whom it passed for a Proverb Eum per candem partem animam profudisse per quam acceperat The Lacedemonian Common-wealth was by the hand of Divine Justice utterly overturned at Leuctra for a rape committed by their Messengers on the two Daughters of Scedosus And what befell the Benjamites on a like occasion is well known out of Judg. 20. that I speak not of the slaughter of the Shechemites Gen. 34. c. Vers 4. It is not for Kings to drink wine i. e. To bee drunk with Wine wherein is excess Ephes 5.18 where the Apostle determines excessive drinking to bee down-right drunkenness viz. when as Swine do their bellies so men break their heads with filthy quaffing This as no man may lawfully doe so least of all Princes for in maxima libertate minima est licentia Men are therefore the worse because they are bound to be better Nor for Princes strong drink Or as some read it where is the strong drink It is not for Princes to ask such a question All heady and intoxicating drinks are by statute here forbidden them Of Bonosus the Emperour it was said that he was born non ut vivat sed ut bibat not to live but to drink and when being overcome by Probus he afterwards hanged himself it was commonly jested that a tankard hung there and not a man But what a Beast was Marcus Antonius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strabo Camd. Elis that wrote or rather spued out a book concerning his own strength to bear strong drink And what another was Darius King of Persia who commanded this inscription to bee set upon his Sepulcher I was able to hunt lustily to drink wine soundly and to bear it bravely That Irish Rebel Tiroen Anno 1567. was such a Drunkard that to cool his body when hee was immoderately inflamed with Wine and Uskabagh hee would many times bee buried in the earth up to the chin These were unfit men to bear rule Vers 5 Lest they drink and forget the Law Drunkennesse causeth forgetfulness hence the Ancients feigned Bacchus to bee the sonne of forgetfulness and stands in full opposition to reason and religion when the Wine is in the Wit is out Plutarch in Sympos Seneca saith that for a man to think to be drunk and yet to retain his right reason is to think to drink rank poyson and yet not to dye by it And pervert the judgement c. Pronounce an unrighteous sentence which when Philip King of Macedony once did the poor woman whose cause it was presently appealed from Philip now drunk to Philp when hee should be sober again The Carthaginians made a Law that no Magistrate of theirs should drink wine The Persians permitted their Kings to be drunk one day in a year only Solon made a Law at Athens that drunkenness in a Prince should be punished with death See Eccles 10.16 17. Vers 6. Give strong drink to him c. To those that stand at the barre rather than to them that sit on the bench Wine maketh glad the heart of man Judg. 9.13 Psal 104.15 Plato calls Wine and Musick the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mitigaters of mens miseries Hence that laudable custome among the Jews at Funerals to invite the friends of the deceased to a feast and to give them the cup of consolation Jer. 16.7 And hence that not so laudable of giving Wine Bacchus afflictis requienâ— mortalibus affert Tibul. mingled with Myrrhe to crucified Malefactors to make them dye with lesssense Christ did not like the custom so well and therefore refused the potion People should be most serious and sober when they are to dye sith in Death as in Warre non licet bis errare if a man miss at all he misses for all and for ever Vitellius trepidus dâ—in temâ—lentus Vitellius therefore took a wrong course who looking for the messenger Death made himself drunk to drown the fear of it And Wine unto those that be of heavie hearts Heb. bitter of spirit as Naomi was when she would needs be called Marah Ruth 1.20 as Hannah was when she pleaded that she had neither drunk Wine nor strong drink though at that time she had need enough of it but was a Woman of a sorrowful spirit 1 Sam. 1.15 as David was when his heart was leavened and sowred with the greatness of his grief and he was pricked in his reins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 73.21 This grief was right because according to God 2 Cor. 7.11 so was that bitter mourning Zach. 10.12 and Peters weeping bitterly These waters of Marah that flow from the eyes of repentance are turned into wine they carry comfort in them there is a clear shining after this rain 2 Sam. 23.4 Such April-showers bring on May-flowers Dejicit ut revelet premit ut solatia praestet Enecat ut possit vivificare Deus Vers 7. Let him drink and forget his Poverty And yet let him drink moderately too lest he increase his sorrows as Lot did and not diminish them for drunkennesse leaves a sting behind it worse than that of a Serpent or of a Cockatrice Prov. 23.32 Wine is a prohibited ware among the Turks which makes some drink with scruple others with danger The baser sort when taken drunk are often bastinadoed upon the bare feet And I have seen some saith mine Author after a fit of drunkennesse lye a whole night crying and praying to Mahomet for intercession Bluâ—tâ— voyage p. 105. that I could not sleep neer them so strong is conscience even where
Doncaster he advised them to clap a pair of hornes on the head of it and then instead of a god it would make an excellent devil Ver. 21. Have ye not known have ye not heard Both Jews and Gentiles went against the light the former of the Word the latter of their own consciences in thus changing the glory of the incorruptible God into the similitude of a corruptible creature Rom. 1.23 Their ignorance was wilful and affected some render this text Will ye not know will ye not hear Idolaters are brutish and blockish they that make them are like unto them Ver. 22. It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth As Soveraign and is he fit to be pourtrayed In Thebe a town of Egypt Plutarch de Isid Osir they painted God in the likeness of a man blowing an egge out of his mouth to signifie that he made the round world by his Word Others set him forth as an Emperour with a Globe in one hand and a Light-Bolt in the other Pencer and others tell us that if there were a path made round the circle of the earth an able footman might easily go it in nine hundred dayes Ver. 23. That bringeth Princes to nothing After their part acted here a while they go off the stage of life and are seen no more Augustus Caesar said that his life was nothing else but a kind of a Comedy and that he had acted his part as became him and therefore at his death he called for a Plaudite Ver. 24. Yea they shall not be planted They are like grass that is neither planted nor well rooted but as weeds that grow on the top of the water vel tanquam podii folium Hieron quod mane candidum meridie purpureum vespere caeruleum aspicitur And he shall blow upon them Two fits of an ague shook to death great Tamerlan in the midst of his preparations for the conquest of Turkey Ver. 25. To whom then will ye liken me See ver 18 19. Cicero Ver. 26. Lift up your eyes on high Who is there saith an Heathen that looketh up toward Heaven and presently perceiveth not that there is a God we may well add and an Almighty God Why then should the vanities of the Heathen come in competition with Him or why should Jacob say My way is hid from the Lord c. as ver 27. as if God neglected them or were weary of helping them ver 28. And behold who hath created these things Without toole or toile ver 28. And shall the creature be worshipped rather than the Creatour God blessed for ever That bringeth out their host by number As if he had them set down in his muster-roles Astronomers take upon them to number and name the chiefest of the starres reliquas nomenclationi Dei permittere coguntur Abraham could not number them Gen. 15.5 and yet Aratus and Eudoxus vainly vaunted that they had done it Ver. 27. How saist thou O Jacob and speakest c. q. d. Fy for shame what unbecoming language is this for such Doth God know and order the starres and hath he cast away the care of his people never think it let it be enough and too much for an Heathen to say Saepe mihi dubiam traxit sententia mentem Claudian Curarent superi terras an nullus inesset Rector incerto fluerent mortalia casu And my judgement is passed over q. d. I thought I should have had a day of hearing ere this sed comperendinor Ver. 28. He fainteth not nor is weary Or he is neither tired nor toiled viz. as earthly Judges may be And his own people for thinking otherwise of Him are here taken up as tartly as those Idolaters before ver 21. with Hast thou not known hast thou not heard There is no searching of his understanding Submit to Him therefore as to the only wise God De sera Num. vindic This the very Heathens taught men to do as Plutarch Ver. 29. He giveth power to the faint How then should he himself faint or why should any good mans heart faile him The Jews among their Benedictions whereof they are bound to say an hundred every day have this for one Blessed be God who giveth power to the faint Ver. 30. Even the youths shall faint All that trust to their own strength shall tire out like as the Hare that trusteth to the swiftness of her legs is at length overtaken and torn in pieces when the coney that flieth to the holes in the rockes doth easily avoid the dogs that pursue her Ver. 31. Shall renew their strength Heb. shall change quotidie seipsis fortiores prodeuntes by the new supplies of the spirit Phil. 1.19 they shall passe from strength to strength Psal 84. They shall mount as Eagles See Psal 103.5 R. Saadias saith that every tenth year the Eagle mounteth up to the Orb of the Sun cingeth her wings there and so reneweth her age till she be an hundred CHAP. XLI Ver. 1. Keep silence before me O Islands i. e. O Islanders so the Hebrews called all that were beyond sea to them with whom God being about to contest calleth for silence that he may be heard The people of Rome could hardly digest a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Keep silence from their Emperour Adrian Dio in Adrian as too severe but when God thundreth it men wriggle into their holes as so many wormes And let the people renew their strength Come as strong as they can into the Court with their best Advocates and arguments sith they are to debate the cause concerning their Religion Let them come near together in Judgement This is a wonderfull condescention En in quantum se demittat Deus Ver. 2. Who raised up the righteous man from the East Who but my self which of your Idols can boast of such a man as Abraham was like as I can Called him to his foot Making him follow his call with a blind obedience for he winked and put himself into Gods holy hand to be led at his pleasure He knew not whither he went Heb. 11.8 nor much cared so long as he had God by the hand or might follow Him as a guide step after step He gave the Nations before him Gen. 14.14 his posterity also prevailed exceedingly And thus God stoppeth the mouths of those Idolaters who insulted over the Israelites because afflicted and subdued by other Nations as Cicero doth in his Oration for Q. Flaccus extolling therefore their Idols above the true God Ver. 3. He pursued them and passed in safety He gat an unbloody victory over the four Kings not losing a man of all those unexpert Souldiers this was a great mercy if not a miracle War is usually utrique triste victory is oft like a golden fish-hook which lost or broken cannot be paid for with that it taketh Ver. 4. Who hath wrought and done it Here the Gentiles should have answered for God which because
2.13 32. Ver. 14. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon See chap. 2.13 which may stand for a Commentary on this Verse The rocks of Lebanon were still covered with Snow whence also it was called Lebanon i. e. white Now the Lord was to the Jews as this snow was to the thirsty traveller cooling and comforting and therefore in no wise to be left Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken Heb. shall strange cool flowing water be forsaken or fail Ver. 15. Because my people hath forgotten me Not forsaken me only Of all things God cannot abide to be forgotten this is that very horrible thing ver 13. this is filthinesse in Virgin Israel which is most abominable From the ancient paths Chalked out by the Law and walked in by the Patriarches and Prophets Vepreta avia Heb. paths of antiquity or of Eternity Set a jealous eye upon novelties and shun untrodden paths as dangerous Ver. 16. To make their land desolate Not intentionally so but yet eventually Idolatry is a land-desolating sin Ver. 17. I will scatter them Wherry and whirle them up and down as chaff before the force of the enemy I will shew them the back and not the face This was woful but just upon them for their unworthy dealing in like sort with the Lord 2 Chron. 29.6 chap. 2.27 32.33 Ezek. 8.16 Every transgression and disobedience hath a just recompence of reward Heb. 2.2 Ver. 18. Then said they Come let us devise devices Words savouring of a most exulcerate spirit against God and his faithful Prophet quem toto coelo hic explodunt whom they shamefully slight and desperately oppose both with their virulent tongues and violent hands Hence his ensuing complaint and not without cause For the Law shall not perish from the Priest c. As he would perswade us it shall We shall have Priests Sages and Prophets still berter then he is any let us therefore stop his mouth or make him away there will be no great losse of him Come let us smite him with the tongue By loading him with slanders and laying false accusations against him Some men have very sharp tongues He that was famous for Abuses stript and whipt had nothing but his tongue to whip them with Some render it Let us smite that tongue of his that is tie it up and tamper it that he reprove us no more Or if he do yet Let us not give heed to any of his words If we cannot rule his tongue yet let us rule our own ears and say Tu linguae nos aurium domini And is not this the very language of the Romists Non tam ovum ovo simile c. Ver. 19. Give heed to me O Lord Though they will not yet do thou I beseech thee This is ordinary with good men when wearied out with the worlds misusages to turn them to God and to seek help of him Ver. 20. Shall evil be recompensed for good q. d. That 's greatest disingenuity and unthankfulnesse To render good for evil is Divine good for good is humane evil for evil is bruitishâ—s but evil for good devilish Lo with such breathing devils had Jeremy here to do and indeed what good man hath not See 1 Sam. 24.17 Psal 35.12 109.5 Ver. 21. Wherefore deliver up their children to the famine He who had prayed so hard for them could and did pray here as earnestly against them yet not out of private revenge but by a prophetick spirit whereby he foretelleth their calamities auxesi verborum per hypotyposin This is usual with the Psalmist and other Prophets And let their men be put to death Heb. be killed with death See Rev. 2.23 with the Note Ver. 22. When thou shalt bring a troop The Vulgar rendereth it Latronem a thief or robber viz. Nebuchadnezzar that arch-thief whose Monarchy was grande latrocinium and whose regiment without righteousnesse was robbery by authority Ver. 23. Yet Lord thou knowest all their counsel Though I know it not yet thou art privy to it and canst prevent it for wisdom and might are thine Dan. 2.20 To slay me All malice is bloody Forgive not their iniquity He knew their sin to be unpardonable and therefore prayeth for vengeance upon them unavoydable This was fulfilled upon the Jews by the Babylonians in respect of Jeremy and by the Romans in respect of Christ Neither blot out their sin from thy sight A heavy curse Woe to such as whose debts stand uncrossed in Gods book Their sins may sleep a long time like a sleeping debt not called for of many years as Sauls sin in slaying the Gibeonites was not punished till forty years after as Joabs killing of Abner slept all Davids dayes Mens consciences also may sleep in such a case for a season but their damnation sleepeth not nor can their condition be safe till God have wiped out their sins for his own sake till he have crossed out the black lines of our iniquities with the red lines of his Sons blood and taken out of his coffers so much as may fully satisfie c. CHAP. XIX Ver. 1. THus saith the Lord By the former Type of a Potter and his Vessel God had shewed the Jews what he could do to them viz. break them at his pleasure and remake them upon their repentance Here by a like prophetical paradigme is set forth what the Lord now will do to them viz. break them so for their obstinacy as that they should never be repaired and restored to their ancient lustre and flourish And this the Prophet Jeremy fortissimus ille Dei athleta as One calleth him that valiant Champion of the Lord telleth them freely though he kissed the flocks and was well beaten for his boldnesse chap. 20.2 Where it is worthy our observation that as the Prophets task was more and more increased so was his strength and courage Deus gratiam multiplicat onere ingravescente So it was with Athanasius Luther Latimer Calvin c. Goe and get a Potters earthen bottle Called in Hebrew Bakbuk Onomatopaejae either from the emptinesse and hollownesse of it or else from the gugling sound that it made when it was either filled or emptyed By a like figure it is said of the vulturine Eagle Jegnalegnudam Job 39.30 that they doe glutglut blood And take of the ancients Of both sorts for witnesses Ver. 2. And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom See chap. 7.3 that where the Jews had sinned there they might be sentenced Which is by the entry of the East-gate Or as others render it Portam fictilem seu testaceam the Potters gate because the Potters dwelt near to it and thereby carried forth their potsheards called also the dung-gate saith the Chaldee Paraphrase an allusion being hereby made both to the pot he carried and to the pieces of it when broken which should be cast to the dunghil Inde ad gehennam via erat This